Vista: Early Photography in the Great West

VISTA e arly p hotography in the Great WesT

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41 Spadina Road, Suite One Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5R 2S9 Art Direction: Neil D. MacDonald, Design: sol Legault.

All rights reserved. Not intended for reproduction. Š2014 Image credits: Title page: Charles Bierstadt, 1310. Donner Lake., c. 1873

INTRODUCTION

1

THE EXPLORATION ERA

35

THE FRONTIER

47

THE CANADIAN WEST

VISTA e arly p hotography in the Great WesT We are pleased to present to you this offering of original antique photographs. The aim is to give a representation of the Gallery’s holdings in Early Western landscape images, arranged roughly in three sections: The Exploration Era; The Frontier; and a selection of material from the Canadian West.

We can wonder on the adventures that produced these works of art. During this first era of exploration with the camera, predating the first personal cameras (beginning with the Kodak Brownie) that have taken us into this digital image age, it was the professional or studio photographer that created most of these pictures.

Aside from their aesthetics, I see these visual records as also documenting the opening of a then wild continent, and the rugged beauty that remains, and they should be preserved today.

I am mindful of the toils it took to get to these locales, of the technical skills required to make the photographic plates, and of the privilege it is now to gaze upon the scenic majesty of the topography of the mountains and the land that met the first travellers and photographers venturing west.

The Exploration Era

This section includes works by Carleton Watkins, whose mammoth plate albumen prints show the splendor of Yosemite, and were so influential in the establishment of the national park. Also shown

is a rare group of views by Charles Bierstadt, and some of William Henry Jackson’s work in Colorado and Utah. The compositions and subject of the vast mountain vista also reflect the taste found in Western salon painting of the time.

The Frontier

The time of settlement, mining and agriculture, the building of railways, travel by stagecoach, and the advent of tourism are present throughout these images. We gain a sense of pioneer life, of small towns emerging from settlement, and of a landscape vanishing for the indigenous people.

The Canadian West

Rocky mountain valleys and peaks, trestle bridges and dense forest and river scenery echo the harmony and chaos of the natural environment. Included is a mammoth album of a Canadian tour formerly in the collection of Pierre Berton. A fine British Columbia album is from the Notman studio. Besides other fine prints by Notman and Byron Harmon, we offer some examples from artists rarely encountered, including Boorne & May, Bullen, J. H. Clarke, and S. A. Smyth.

Neil David MacDonald

© Rare Photo Gallery 2014

THE EXPLORATION ERA

1 CARLETON E. WATKINS

The Great Yo Semite Fall mammoth plate albumen print, mounted 1865 - 1866 mount 53.5 x 80.4 cm print 33.2 x 58.3 cm

2 CARLETON E. WATKINS

Sentinel Rock mammoth plate albumen print, mounted 1865 - 1866 mount 53.5 x 80.4 cm print 33.2 x 58.3 cm

3 CARLETON E. WATKINS

Three mounted albumen prints, inscribed; views of the Yosemite Valley c. 1865 each approx.: mount 20.5 x 27.1 cm print 14.6 x 20.1 cm

left, above

3 a The Three Brothers,Yo-semiteValley. left, center

3 b On the Road toYo-semite Falls. left, below

3 c Yo-semite Falls, from Camp Ground.

6

4 CARLETON E. WATKINS, [Att.]

[Around the Garrison, Columbia River] from his Columbia River, Oregon series albumen print, mounted c. 1867 14 x 20.4 cm

7

5 [CARLETON E. WATKINS] TABER

Two albumen prints on one mount; views of  Yosemite c. 1880 mount 34.6 x 26.9 cm

left (recto) A 41. Glacier Point, 3,257 feet,Yosemite, Cal. print 28 x 20.5 cm verso (not shown) A 48. Mirror Lake, Yosemite, Cal. print 22 x 29.4 cm

6 UNKNOWN

Gibsonville [Sierra County, California] carte de visite c. 1865 mount 6.2 x 10 cm print 5.5 x 7.8 cm

9

7 CHARLES bierstadt

Ten mounted albumen prints; views of the Y osemite Valley (nine shown) c. 1873 each approx.: mount 25.0 x 30.2 cm print 11.6 x 19.4 cm

7 a 1288. North and South Dome, mirror view

7 .1 Views About Niagara tourist views; accordion-folded lithographs in brass medallion c. 1869 case 6 cm (dia.); pages 4 cm (dia.)

Charles Bierstadt, an accomplished early stereo photographer, was the elder brother

of noted Western artist Albert Bierstadt, and a third brother, Edward, held the exclusive American rights to the ‘Albertype’ printing process. All three of them had been initially drawn to photography, trading their established woodworking shop in New Bedford, Massachusetts, for cameras and a stereo-photography business. By the early 1860s they had established a thriving business in New York City. In 1867 Charles moved the business to Niagara Falls, there taking photographs of the Falls to sell to tourists as mementos.

Larger format “mono” images from Charles’ studio are very rare. They may have been special order or exhibition prints, or used as order examples for stereoviews. Today, the most common of Bierstadt’s stereo views are those he took of Niagara Falls. He also issued a series of Rogers Groups (1868) and “skeleton leaves.” Bierstadt journeyed west in 1873 and made many views in California, including views of the Sierra Madre and Yosemite Valley.

He visited the Holy Land and North Africa making negatives, and returning west in 1882, photographed Iowa and Colorado.

Although it is a Watkins image that is often credited as the source for the work Big Tree-Grizzly Giant, one of Albert Bierstadt’s most famous paintings, negative #1304 by Charles gives us an interesting piece of evidence that his photographs should be more closely examined as a source of reference for some of Albert’s work. Item 7.1 (above) is an early ‘souvenir token’ of Niagara issued by the studio circa 1869, advertising that California views were available at the Niagara Falls gallery.

12

List of photographs 1276. Yo-SemiteValley, from best general view. .......... p19 with photographer’s label on verso (see below)

1278. Looking into theValley from Mariposa Trail ..... p18 1280.Three Brothers .................................... p14 1282.Yo-Semite Falls ........................... (not shown) 1283. Yo-Semite Falls .................................. p16 1288. North and South Dome, mirror view ............ p11 12[9]9. Cathedral Rock, MirrorView ...................... p13 1304. Big Trees, Grisley Giant .......................... p17 1310. Donner Lake ..................................... p15 1311.Tree Studies ....................................... p17

7 b 12[9]9. Cathedral Rock, MirrorView.

13

7 c 1280. Three Brothers.

14

7 d 1310. Donner Lake.

15

7窶各 1283. Yo Semite Falls.

16

7 f

7 g

1304. Big Trees, Grisley Giant.

1311. Tree Studies.

17

7 h 1278. Looking into theValley from Mariposa Trail.

18

7 i 1276. Yo-semiteValley, from best general view.

19

left

8 W. H. JACKSON [Att.]

[Canyon railroad view, Colorado] albumen print, mounted c. 1880 mount 25.3 x 20.3 cm print 19.8 x 15 cm

right

9 W. H. JACKSON [Att.]

[Cathedral Rocks, Garden of the Gods, Colorado] mammoth plate albumen print, framed c. 1880 frame 10.5 x 17.4 cm print 8.2 x 14.3 cm

21

10 W. H. JACKSON [att.]

[Yellowstone Park mineral deposits] albumen print

22

c.1870 24.2 x 28.8 cm

11 W. H. JACKSON [att.]

Two boudoir cards after 1880 each 13.3 x 21.4 cm

above 11 a

Castle Gate. 4429.

Utah below 11 b

841. Echo Cliffs, Grand River Colorado

23

12 W. H. JACKSON [att.]

BARKALOW BROS. [imprint]

[601.] Royal Gorge. Grand Cañon, Arkansas River. boudoir card after 1880 20.3 x 12.6 cm

24

13 [a.w.] DENNIS

Track laying in Glenwood / Tunnel in distance boudoir card after 1880 12.5 x 20.2 cm

25

26

14

15

T. HINE, CHICAGO

UNKNOWN

Siamese Twins, Garden of the Gods

[Hoodoo]

boudoir card

mounted albumen print

c. 1880 20.2 x 12.6 cm One of the earliest photographers to make images of  Yellowstone

after 1880 mount 39 x 31.2 cm print 22.7 x 17.2 cm

16 F. J. HAYNES

Three boudoir cards c. 1890

right: recto, verso 16 a

3586 The Beach Spring Yellowstone Park 13.3 x 21.5 cm

not shown 16 b

3586 The Beach Spring Yellowstone Park 13.3 x 21.5 cm 16 c

3586 The Beach Spring Yellowstone Park 13.3 x 21.5 cm

27

17 J. L. ALLISON

[Montana] carte de visite c.1870 6.2 x 10.4 cm

18 C. A. MARSTON

[Western ‘type’ portrait] carte de visite 1875 - 1886 10.6 x 6.3 cm

28

20 The w. e. hook wholesale view company

[Colorado] carte de visite c.1890 10.4 x 6.2 cm

19 william edward HOOK

Vulcan’sWorkshop, Monument [Park] mounted albumen print c.1890 mount 41.7 x 31.8 cm print 17.9 x 10.9 cm

29

30

21 CHARLES E. HARRINGTON J. COLLIER Photographer

Summering in Colorado (Denver: Richards & Co., 1874) with 10 tipped-in albumen prints 19.6 x 13.7 x 2.0 cm

31

22 Prof. Samuel Kneeland M. M. HAZELTINE Photographer [Att.] John P. Soule Photographic Printer

TheWonders of theYosemiteValley and of California (Boston: Alexander Moore, 1871) with 10 tipped-in albumen prints, deluxe leather publisher’s binding

32

opposite [Figures with horsedrawn carriage and redwoods]

above [Waterfall, with onlooker]

right, above [Leisurely group by the water]

right, below [Mountain and river vew]

33

THE FRONTIER

23 l. c . watkeys, SANTA MONICA After J. H . PICKARD

[Kearney Street, San Francisco] silver print, copied from original daguerreotype 1907 (original, 1849) mount 27.8 x 35.5 cm print 16.5 x 23 cm Believed to be one of oldest views of San Francisco, the original daguerreotype by Pickard, father-in-law toWatkeys, survived the earthquake and fires of 1906, later to be rephotographed byWatkeys, as shown here.

left

24 H. H. BUCKWALTER, DENVER

[Western ladies in log house] silver print, mounted c.1900 mount 25.2 x 30.5 cm print 15.2 x 20.7 cm

opposite

25 o. v. lange, SAN FRANCISCO

[Oakland S. F. Express] albumen print, mounted 1880 - 1890 mount 28 x 35.8 cm print 18.9 x 24.7 cm

38

26 VARIOUS PHOTOGRAPHERS

[Views of Montana] Eleven mounted silver prints, one boudoir card by E.D. KELLER c.1890

40

opposite above left, above right

opposite, below

this page

26 a

26 b

26 c

E.D. KELLER

UNKNOWN

UNKNOWN

[North Pacific Stable]

[Indian burial ground]

[Overland stagecoach]

(verso and recto) 13 x 21.3 cm

mount 27.8 x 35.5 cm print 11 x 19 cm

mount 27.8 x 35.5 cm print 10.5 x 19 cm

41

26 d UNKNOWN [Horsedrawn carriage on valley road] mount 27.7 x 35.6 cm print 10.5 x 19 cm

42

26 e UNKNOWN [Horsedrawn carriage near aqueduct] mount 27.9 x 35.4 cm print 10.5 x 19 cm

43

27 H. R. I. *

Pecos Bridge (S. Pac. Rrd) Completed 18892 [sic] / 328 Ft. High cyanotype, mounted

44

c.1895 mount 25.4 x 30.2 cm print 18.6 x 24.3 cm

28 pillsbury pictures [Att.]

[Four views of Y osemite waterfalls] silver prints, original oak frame 1910 - 1920 frame 48.3 x 84.8 cm prints approx. 38.5 x 17.5

45

THE CANADIAN WEST

29 MAMMOTH CANADIAN TOUR Album from the collection of Pierre Berton including Photographs by: Bailey Bros., W.H.B., GOETZMAN, S.J. THOMPSON, Topley, etc.

Folio photographic album, containing from one to four photographs per page album: full red calf, gilt, re-backed; 71 photographs: various processes c.1895 album 36 x 53 x 6.3 cm prints from 12 x 9.4 to 30.6 x 42.7 cm

29 far left

[View of a bridge spanning a canyon] near left

[View of a canyon]

This important and large album presents a Grand Canadian Tour,

including many fine views of monumental western landscapes; overall an impressive album with wonderful narrative threads. Perusing its pages, we travel through Vancouver’s Stanley Park, British Columbia’s valleys, the Selkirk Mountains, Mount Stephen, the Fraser River and Yale. We see an image by Bailey Bros. of a Cree Indian standing beside a teepee at Medicine Hat, a fine portrait of buffaloes in the Cascade Mountains, and a ‘dog train’, which could be useful at its next destination, for we then traverse to Dawson, Yukon, for the 1900 visit of the Governor General, with decorated welcome arches in the streets.

We then travel back to Ottawa with a series of large views, possibly by Topley, including a dramatic night scene at the Parliament buildings for the Queen’s Jubilee in 1897, followed by views of Chaudière Falls and

Rideau Falls. We are then met with a shocking series documenting the aftermath of the Hull fire, showing sprawling destruction and tangled wreckage. Other fine large Ottawa views include the Parliamentary Library before the fire, and an artistic composition with a bicycle at a Western Block archway.

The album ends with a group of Canadian Pacific Railway mountain and engineering scenes. Many are exquisite and have Richard Maynard qualities, through may have been made by someone such as Edouard Deville, for the Dominion Lands Surveys. The album closes with miscellaneous landscape views, including a rare shot of Rossland, B.C.,

by Carpenter P. Miller.

Provenance: Collection of Pierre Berton.

49

29 left bailey bros., vancouver, b.c.

C 603 The Scuzzey River and Bridge C.P.R. near North Bend above

[Cairn at water’s edge]

50

29 left

Mount Stephen Tunnel, looking down center

Waggon road and Fraser River Canon right

Mount Stephen Tunnel, looking up 51

Rideau Falls in winter

29 Hull Fire showing 2 miles of burnt district Hull Fire showing Court House and Post Office

Hull Fire showing north bridge Hull Fire showing south bridge 53

29 right

High trestle bridge, over Ceadar Creek below

Queen’s Jubilee

opposite, left

Buffalo, foot of Casade Mt. Dog Train opposite, right BAILEY BROS., vancouver

X 748 Glacier Hotel and Glacier C.P.R., Selkirks Midwinter X 803 Cree Indian Camp, Medicine Hat

54

55

30 notman photo co., BOSTON, MASS. After a painting by J. WESTON

A Bend in the Bow River, Alberta Hand-coloured photogravure, framed 1894 frame 71.5 x 106 cm print 53 x 88 cm

opposite

31 neelands [Att.]

[Four Tracks] printing-out paper print c.1890 25.2 x 33.8 cm

right

32 neelands [Att.]

[View of a river valley] printing-out paper print c.1890 33.5 x 26.2 cm

59

33 BULLEM PHOTO CO.

Capilano Canyon, NorthVancouver silver print c.1900 23.5 x 18.3 cm

34 NOTMAN, MONTREAL

3110 Stony Creek Bridge. silver print c.1900 23.4 x 18.1 cm

61

35 S. A. SMYTH, CALGARY

534 Devil’s Canyon, National Park (winter) albumen print cabinet card c.1890 13 x 21.1 cm

36 BOoRNE & MAY, CALGARY

[Hot spring] albumen print cabinet card c.1890 12.3 x 20 cm

62

37 J. H. CLARKE, Manitoba

East side of Mt. Stephen, showing edge of glacier printing-out paper print, matted c.1894 mat 50.8 x 40.6 cm print 23 x 17.6 cm photographer’s stamp on verso

63

38 J. H. CLARKE, Manitoba

Cascade Mountain, Banff printing-out print paper, matted 1894 mat 50.6 x 40.6 cm print 17.7 x 22.6 cm photographer’s stamp on verso

opposite

39 J. G. NOBLE

[View of Mt. Rundle, Banff] gelatin silver print 1910 – 1920 sheet 27 x 34 cm image 16.6 x 24.2 cm

40 UNKNOWN

Eleven printing-out paper prints with extended handwritten captions, mounted on recto and verso of four cards c.1900 mounts: approx. 18.6 x 25.2 cm shown above left, above right

Banff Hot Springs Hotel (recto) / Bow RiverValley (verso) below right

Banff, Cascade Mountain (recto detail) not shown Banff, Bow River & falls / Banff, Bow River from the Bridge Ottawa, LookingWest / North Bay Station / C.P.R.Track Winnipeg [City Hall] / Jack Fish Station / C.P.R.Track 67

41 BBE* Group of 8 silver prints; views of British Columbia and Banff, AB c.1910 20.4 x 16.5 cm to 28.5 x 16 cm

left Beat-heaven opposite left, right Johns[t]on Canyon [Banff] Takakkaw Falls, 1200 ft. [B.C.] not shown Freale’s House & Gauley Looking from the clay bank down stream Kicking Horse River [B.C.] Emerald Lake [B.C.] Elk River [B.C.]

68

42 W. H. notman & SON [William McFarlane Notman]

Album of 26 silver prints; views of British Columbia An impressive album from one of the studio’s most successful Western trips. The 1904 excursion photographs for the C.P.R. are considered “some of the finest mountain photographs to be seen.” - Stanley Triggs, The Stamp of a Studio, p76 1904 album 28.2 x 40.3 x 2.2 cm prints each approx. 18.6 x 24 cm

3819 Cathedral Peak (Alt. 10,284.) Kicking Horse Valley.

42 2036–Three Sisters, Canmore.

72

3098–Castle Crags, Lefroy, Hazel & Lake Agnes

1760 Fraser Can[y]on, showing four tunnels above Spuzzum.

above left 3800 Lake Agnes and the Beehive. below left On the Canadian Pacific Railway / 2120 Showing Four Tracks

below 2080–Mount Burgess, Emerald Lake.

75

43 HANNA

On the Red Deer. mounted silver print, framed c.1905 frame 35.5 x 42 cm print 19.5 x 24.5 cm

44 E. ANDREWS, DOUGLAS, ALASKA

Auk Lake and Mendenhall Glacier silver print

78

1920 - 1930 16.8 x 30 cm

45 B. Harmon, Banff

Albert Canyon [B.C.] silver print in original frame 1920 - 1930 frame 72 x 51.5 cm print 53 x 33 cm

79

left: recto; above: label on frame verso

46 H. L. DEITS

Railroad Creek Valley From Head of 9 Mile Creek [Washington State] gelatin silver print, framed c. 1920  frame 40.2 x 49 cm print 22.2 x 32.5 cm 81

FURTHER READING Cavell, Edward

Journeys to the Far West: Accounts of the Adventurers in Western Canada 1858 to 1885 Toronto: James Lorimer & Company, 1979 Fraenkel Gallery

Carleton E.Watkins: Photographs 1861-1874

San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery; Bedford Arts Publishers, 1989 Mautz, Carl

Biographies of Western Photographers: A Reference Guide to Photographers Working in the 19th Century American West Nevada City, CA: Carl Mautz Publishing, 1997 Naef, Weston J.

Era of Exploration:The Rise of Landscape Photography in the American West, 1860-1885 New York: Albright-Knox Art Gallery; The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1975 Nickel, Douglas R.

Carleton Watkins:The Art of Perception

San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art; New York: Harry N. Abrams, 1999 Palmquist, Peter E. and Thomas R. Kailbourn

Pioneer Photographers of the FarWest: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865 Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 2000 Silversides, Brock V.

Waiting for the Light: Early Mountain Photography in British Columbia & Alberta, 1865-1939 Saskatoon; Calgary: Fifth house, 1995

RARE PHOTO GALLERY 2014 rarephotogallery.com