Review by Ed Quillen
William Henry Jackson: Framing the Frontier
by Douglas Waitley
Published in 1998 by Mountain Press
ISBN 0-87842-382-6
IN THIS ERA OF Polaroid prints processed in a minute or less, one-hour developing for color film, and digital pictures that can emerge at computer speeds, it’s hard to imagine what it took to take a picture in the wilderness in the 19th century.
But we can get some idea from Douglas Waitley’s biography of the West’s eminent photographer, William Henry Jackson:
“Large pictures were much in demand at this time [1872], and because it was not yet possible to make enlargements from small negatives, Jackson had to transport 11″x14” glass plates. Not only were such plates bulky and heavy, but they had a far greater tendency to crack or break as a mule stumbled under the weight. On top of this, because the larger plates did not fit into Jackson’s developing dark-box, he was also forced to carry an extra tent as a darkroom….
“Within the tent Jackson would coat a glass plate with chemicals, then put the glass in a dark satchel and carry it to his prefocused tripod camera. After inserting the glass in the camera and snapping the photo, he would put it back in the satchel and hurry to the tent to develop the picture. Taking one picture consumed most of an hour.”
Exposure time was a matter of guesswork, and when his mule “Gimlet” slipped near Twin Lakes, a month’s worth of work was shattered beyond repair.
Despite those difficulties, Jackson created some of the most memorable images of the West. He confirmed the existence of the rumored Mount of the Holy Cross. His grand photos of Yellowstone helped persuade Congress to create the first National Park. He captured Oro City miners at their sluice boxes and presented the Utes in their last days as a free people.
This biography covers Jackson’s long life (1843-1942) quite well, starting with his boyhood in upstate New York and New England. Jackson fought in the Union army at Gettysburg, and after a falling-out with his fiance, he headed west as a bullwhacker on the Oregon Trail. His early training was in drawing and painting; he picked up photography along the way, and his big career move came in 1869.
The just-completed Union Pacific Railroad wanted to attract passengers with photographs of the scenery along its route, and Jackson got the commission. That led to his most famous work, accompanying the government surveys of the West led by Dr. Ferdinand Hayden. The surveys began in 1870 with a trip along the Oregon Trail through Wyoming. The next summer, they were in the Tetons and the Yellowstone area, where he took the first picture of Old Faithful.
It was among the pictures presented to Congress to lobby for protecting the area. “There was a great deal of public opposition to withholding any area from the westward surge of land-hungry men and women, and many congressmen were undecided on how to vote. There were also powerful interests who wanted to build cheap hotels throughout the Yellowstone area. Others would buy individual geysers and hide them behind circus-style billboards, charging admission to see them. Congressmen were being swayed by promises of tantalizing contributions to their campaign funds.”
As Jackson prepared the photographic portfolio, he was grieving — he was on the road while his young wife, Mollie, died in childbirth, and the infant daughter died a few days later.
In 1873 and ’74, Jackson was part of the Hayden surveys of the Colorado Rockies. Both expeditions crossed and recrossed Central Colorado. Jackson wanted to photograph the Utes, but most were not coöperative. “Whenever Jackson set up his camera, someone would toss a blanket over the lens or kick the tripod over.”
On his own a few years later, Jackson visited the Southwest, returning with photos of ruins, and as his celebrity grew, he traveled around the world.
It was a long and productive life, and by and large, the story is well told here. The biography gives full due to Jackson’s considerable professional accomplishments, and it also covers a personal life that was marred by tragedy and complicated by his extensive traveling.
I found a few geographic errors, such as putting Poncha Pass on the Continental Divide.
This is a smooth-reading straightforward biography, without much in the way of analysis. Even so, there’s plenty in here for anyone who’s ever been curious about the life and career of the photographer who, more than any other single person, defined the image of the West for Americans.
–Ed Quillen
