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Crossing the Timber Line. Pike's Peak Railway
Crossing the Timber Line. Pike's Peak Railway
Crossing the Timber Line. Pike's Peak Railway

Crossing the Timber Line. Pike's Peak Railway

Maker (American, 1843-1942)
Datec. 1900
MediumPhotochrom
Dimensionsimage/paper: 4 1/2 in x 6 7/16 in
Credit LineGift of an anonymous donor
Object number2015:151
About the ArtistWilliam Henry Jackson created some of the first photographs of the American West in 1871, when he participated in a federally funded expedition with geologist Ferdinand Hayden and a group of approximately thirty-five other men, including renowned painter Thomas Moran. The expedition covered areas in present-day Wyoming, Oregon, Colorado, and Utah that had previously remained unexplored by non-Native people to dispel claims that the West—rich with bubbling hot springs and spouting geysers—was hellish and to be feared. Jackson’s photographs and Moran’s paintings portrayed the remarkable beauty of the land and were included in a comprehensive report Hayden presented to the US Congress to argue against its sale at public auction. Their efforts were effective, and in 1872, President Ulysses S. Grant signed the Act of Dedication, establishing Yellowstone as the first National Park, protecting 2,219,789 acres of land as “pleasuring ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the people.”

Using eight-by-ten-inch glass plate negatives, Jackson’s equipment weighed around three hundred pounds and after exposure had to set or dry for forty-five minutes in his portable darkroom. To create Photochrom prints, like the ones in the Museum of Contemporary Photography collection, Jackson worked in partnership with the Detroit Photographic Company using lithographic limestone plates to add color to his black-and-white negatives with each color requiring its own plate. These prints became the world’s first postcards, and were cheaply sold, collected, and mailed from the late nineteenth century until the end of World War I.

Pikes Peak from near Colorado City
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Pike's Peak from Gateway, Colorado
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Pike's Peak from near Colorado City
Jackson, William Henry
1901
Sunrise from Pike's Peak
Jackson, William Henry
1899
Sunrise from Pike's Peak, Colorado
Jackson, William Henry
1899
Cedar Creek Canyon
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Spanish Peaks
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Georgetown Loop, Colorado
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Castle Gate, Price Canyon, Utah
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Chipeta Falls, Black Canyon of the Gunnison
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Mines in Eagle River Canyon
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900
Cheyenne Mountain
Jackson, William Henry
c. 1900