I tried to hunt down where that pic originated to no avail. So I asked AI and it said that although it could not exactly find the image either...... it had ideas, lol. This is what it said. No idea if it's correct or not.....

What I can tell you from the image itself: it shows soldiers in heavy winter coats standing at the entrance of earthen/timber dugouts (bunkers) with stovepipe chimneys venting smoke, dug into a flat, treeless snow-covered landscape. That combination — sod-roofed dugouts with smoking chimneys on an open steppe-like plain — is very characteristic of Eastern Front winter positions from World War I (roughly 1914–1917), such as those built by Russian, German, or Austro-Hungarian troops in Poland, Galicia, or the Baltic region, where flat open terrain and harsh winters made this kind of dugout construction common.

…. That’s about as far removed from from coloreds and Kansas as you can get lol

They don't look like soldiers to me, no uniforms. Every man is wearing something different.

Here is a quote from someone arriving at Nicodemus in 1878:

"When we got in sight of Nicodemus, the men
shouted, 'there is Nicodemus!' Being very sick, I
hailed this news with gladness. I looked with all the
eyes I had. 'Where is Nicodemus? I don't see it.' My
Husband pointed out various smokes coming out of
the ground and said, 'That is Nicodemus.' The
families lived in dugouts...The scenery was not at
all inviting, and I began to cry."

-- Willina Hickman
Spring 1878

Based on that, it is apparent that the inhabitants were living near each other in dugouts, perhaps dugouts similar to the ones in the photograph, but I don't think that photo is of Nicodemus. More likely eastern front WW1 like AI suggested. The men have the same coats on, are white, and the dugouts all appear identical. Strikes me as military vs civilian.

Maybe 330 will tell us where he got this photo and description.

That’s some tough living!

Firewood looks scares!

The Eastern Front sounds more pleasant than Kansas.

What are they burning in the dugouts? No sign of wood in the pic?

Well there is smoke coming from all the dugouts with only men with no women at the one. Its obviously an Amish settlement and they don't want their pictures taken, so are staying hid, lol !

I don't see a latrine either so I will let you draw your own conslusions.

Buffalo dung -

I've burned it out west when i'm hunting antelope, and I hanove a campfire at night.. Course that was from domestic herford's

You seriously sit down wind of cow crap burning? Why not bring an arm load of Red Oak with you? At least head up in the mountains and cut some dead lodgepole.

Kansas coal

160 , because I hunt antelope, or the antelope, are sage brush and cow dung...

Fully dried cow chips don't smell like anything when they burn... And they're free