Getty Museum

Canal Lock Under Construction

Date

about 1849

Medium

Daguerreotype

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

This photograph represents the process of constructing a lock along an unidentified canal in the eastern United States. From atop a construction rig, the photographer provided a view of the lock's nearly completed gates. Construction debris litters the seeping canal floor. Stonemasons and carpenters provide a sense of scale and bring a human perspective to this vast engineering enterprise. The large size of the daguerreotype plate indicates the importance placed on creating this visual document.

The authoritative record is held by Getty Museum. LinkedCulture surfaces this object and its connections; it does not alter institutional metadata.