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

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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