Early Photography of the West

In 1850, a new photographic technique, the cellodion wet plate process, allowed for the spectacular scenic photographs of the frontier West.  This process, unlike the daguerreotype technique, produced a negative from which prints could be made.  As a result, homes now showed more pictures and postcard baskets of the western frontier's beauty.

The problem with the wet plate technique was that the plates were heavy, fragile and had to be developed on the spot.  The larger the picture, the larger the plate.  This created a nightmare for photographers having to tote bags filled with bulky cameras, large heavy glass plates, chemicals, a portable darkroom, not to mention camping equipment, food and firearms.

In the flat country, equipment could be fitted on a buckboard that could double as a makeshift darkroom.  But on the rough terrain, everything had to be backpacked up canyons, strapped to mules.  Crossing rivers meant plates and cameras had to be put in rubber sacks inside covered crates, then into waterproof compartments in a boat just to get to the other side.

Some of the most well-known photographers included Edward Curtis, who spent 30 years taking 40,000 photos of the Indians and their culture.  Henry Peabody illustrated lectures with his photography with everything from daguerreotype to 35 millimeter film.  W.H. Jackson photographed Yosemite and sold his photos to the Union Pacific Railroad.  He and his brother started a picture firm in Omaha.  Eadward Muybridge photographed the drama of Yosemite using the sun in shadows.  He was the pioneer of photography with figures in motion.

So next time you see an old black and white photo of the Wild West, you can better understand what went into that one picture!

Next time...John Muir's Yosemite
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Today in Pioneer History:  "On December 10, 1901, the first Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm, Sweden, in the fields of physics, chemistry, medicine, literature, and peace. The ceremony came on the fifth anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite and other high explosives.