Getty Museum

[Young Orchard, Palermo, Butte County]

Carleton Watkins

Date

about 1888–1891

Medium

Albumen silver print

Culture

American

Department

Photographs

Institution

Getty Museum

In 1880 Carleton Watkins spent almost two weeks in Los Angeles, where he was transfixed by the process of water transforming a vacant landscape into bountiful fields. In this picture of a young orchard, the receding rows of saplings create a compelling geometric composition. After the financial collapse of 1873, Collis P. Huntington, one of the executives of the Southern Pacific Railroad, devised a plan to sell real estate along the railroad's right-of-way for agricultural purposes. Watkins's appealing photographs of successful orchards and farms contributed to the success of Huntington's plan.

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