Getty Museum

First Construction Train passing the Palisades, Ten Mile Cañon

Date: negative 1866–1869; print after 1870
Medium: Albumen silver print
Culture: American
Department: Photographs
Institution: Getty Museum
Object ID: 967aa337-c695-4af9-b27c-8d342c1c6df5

From the Getty Museum record

The bold cliffs of Colorado's Ten Mile Canyon form a striking background for a Central Pacific Railroad train passing through on its way from California to Utah. Not visible in the image, however, are the Shoshone Indians who inhabited this region. While the railroad successfully united the states, it routinely disrupted the Native American environment and way of life. Trains brought settlers to the new, western lands and thus played a significant role in displacing native peoples. Though Alfred A. Hart made this stereograph, its mount bears Carleton E. Watkins's name. Watkins was a San Francisco-based photographer who also chose the railroad as a primary subject. Because Hart's negatives belonged to the Central Pacific Railroad, they were subsequently printed by other company photographers who, like Watkins, did not properly credit Hart.

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