Descriptive Summary
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division
Photograph Collection
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
3000 Old Main Hill
Logan, UT 84322-3000
Phone: 435 797-2663
Fax: 435 797-2880
Email: scweb@usu.edu
USU_P0019
Hayden,
F. V. (Ferdinand Vandeveer), 1829-1887.
'Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery' photograph
collection,
1868-1870
1 box
Contains albumen photographs by A.J. Russell showing
various views of Utah, Wyoming, Nevada, and California that were taken during
construction of the Pacific Railroad from 1868-1869.
Collection materials are in English.
Restrictions
Open to public research.
Copyright
It is the responsibility of the user to obtain permission to publish from the owner of
the copyright (the institution, the creator of the record, the author or his/her
transferees, heirs, legates, or literary executors). The user agrees to indemnify and
hold harmless the Utah State University Libraries, its officers, employees, and agents
from and against all claims made by any person asserting that he or she is an owner of
copyright.
Permission to publish material from the 'Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery' photograph
collection must
be obtained from the Special Collections Photograph Curator and/or the Special Collections
Department Head.
View selected digitized images from the Sun
Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery photograph collection.
'Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery' photograph collection, 1868-1870. (P0019). Utah
State University. Special Collections & Archives Department.
Register completed by Daniel Davis, June 2001.
Biographical Note
Russell (1829-1902) grew up in Nunda, New York but moved to Hornell in 1859 and New York City in 1860. He was a painter
of landscapes, portraits, and moving panoramas. He enlisted in the Union Army as a captain in 1863 and he
became a military railroad photographer. After the war he returned to
New York City but in 1868 he was given an opportunity by the Union Pacific Railroad to photograph the
building of the transcontinental railroad. Between 1868 and 1869 he traveled from Nebraska to California and took over 900
stereographic and 10x13 inch large-format glass-plate negatives. In 1870 Russell returned to
New York City and published his own series of
stereo-views with over 600 images. Later his Union Pacific negatives ended up in the hands of paymaster O.C. Smith and then Stephen Sedgwick.
These two men issued their own series but did not credit Russell as the photographer. He worked from 1870 to 1880 as an illustrator and
photographer for Leslie's Illustrated.
Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden (1829-1887) was a pioneer geologist and the head of various
geological and geographical surveys in the West from 1867 to 1886. Hayden was raised in
New York and graduated with an M.D. from the Albany Medical School in 1853. During the
civil war he was a surgeon, but before the war, he spent most of his time in the West
exploring and studying geology.
Arrangement: Numeric by photo number.
Collection consists of the book Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain
Scenery, with a Description of the Geographical and Geological Features, and some
Account of the Resources of the Great West; Containing Thirty Photographic Views
Along the Line of the Pacific Rail Road, from Omaha to Sacramento, which was
published in 1870 by F.V. Hayden. This book is stored in the vault, but copy negatives
and contact prints of the images are available for researcher use.
Hayden was in charge of the United States Geographical and Geological Survey and he
wanted to capitalize on interest in visual images of the West and to promote the study
of geology. Hayden explains in the book: "The pictures have been arranged so as to
commence with the first range of mountains west of Cheyenne, and to continue thence to
the Salt Lake Valley with the view that the book may be used as a guide by those who
will avail themselves of the grand opportunities for geological study..." This book
comes with thirty albumen photographs taken by photographer Andrew Joseph Russell that
illustrate not only geological, but also man-made structures in Wyoming, Utah, and
California.
Images
Russell,
Andrew J.
Union
Pacific Railroad Company--Photographs.
Geology--Rocky Mountains.
Overland journeys to the
Pacific.
West
(U.S.)--Pictorial works.
Rocky
Mountains--Pictorial works.
Albumen prints--West
(U.S.)--1868-1870.
Container List
01
Moore's Lake - Head of Bear River, Uintah Mountains, Utah
02
Granite Rock - Buford Station, Laramie Mountains, Wyoming
03
Skull Rock (Granite) - Sherman Station, Laramie Mountains, Wyoming
04
Malloy's Cut - Sherman Station, Laramie Range, Wyoming
05
Dial Rock - Red Buttes, Laramie Plains, Wyoming
06
Laramie Valley - from Sheephead Mountains, Wyoming
07
Snow and Timber Line - Medicine Bow Mountain, Wyoming
08
High Bluffs - Black Buttes, Wyoming
09
Bitter Creek Valley - near Green River, Wyoming
10
Burning Rock Cut - Green River Valley, Wyoming
11
Citadel Rock - Green River Valley, Wyoming
12
Castle Rock - Green River Valley, Wyoming
13
Church Buttes - Near Fort Bridger, Wyoming
14
Lake at the head of Bear River - Uintah Mountains, Utah
15
Conglomerate Peaks - Echo, Utah
16
Sentinel Rock - Echo Canyon, Utah
17
Hanging Rock - Echo City, Utah
18
Coalville - Weber Valley, Utah
19
Thousand Mile Tree - Weber Canyon, Utah
20
Wilhelmina's Pass - distant view of serrated rocks or Devil's Slide, Weber
Canyon, Utah
21
Serrated Rocks or Devil's Slide (near view) - Weber Canyon, Utah
22.
Tunnel No. 3 - Weber Canyon, Utah
23.
Devil's Gate (from below) - Weber Canyon, Wasatch Mountains, Utah
24
City Creek Canyon - Wasatch Mountains, Salt Lake Valley
25
Wasatch Range of Rocky Mountains - from Brigham Young's Woolen Mills,
Utah
26
Salt Lake City - Camp Douglas and Wasatch Mountains in the Background,
Utah
27
Great Mormon Tabernacle - Salt Lake City, Utah
28
Trestle Work - Promontory Point, Salt Lake Valley, Utah
29
Summit of Sierra Nevada - snow sheds in foreground, Donner Lake in the
distance, Central Pacific Railroad, California
30
Hydraulic Gold Mining - near Dutch Flat, Central Pacific Railroad
California