The image above is from Stanford University’s online catalog of the documentary work of photographer Alfred A. Hart (1816-1908) on the original route of the Central Pacific Railroad, at the time of the railroad’s construction in the 1860s.
Hart’s photos are amazing images considering the drawbacks of the bulky photographic equipment in the era, such as a box camera with tripod with enough weighty 8’ x 10″ glass plates to take as many photos as he wanted.
https://railwayhistorical.tumblr.com/
http://route22ny.tumblr.com/post/183596177721/one-of-my-very-favorite-tumblrs-is
https://searchworks.stanford.edu/catalog?q=%22Hart%2C+Alfred+A.%2C+1816-1908%22&search_field=search_author
Great stuff!
ReplyDelete"The story of the first transcontinental railroad is one of contradictions and oppositional forces not unlike the conceptual inter-relatedness of those two aesthetic terms. The surveyors explored an Eden, but initiated its destruction. The road was a crown jewel of the industrial age, but the actual building, the grading and tunneling, was done almost completely without machines. The railroad conquered time and space, but this led quickly to the decimation of the American bison which pushed the people who depended upon them to the brink. This was the first transcontinental railroad in North America, or anywhere for that matter. The pounding of the Golden Spike signaled the completion of a great human achievement, but it must have sounded like a death knell to Native Americans. It put a bow on Manifest Destiny and served as a primer for the questionable business practices that would follow in the Gilded Age."
damn, you read ALL the way through that site!
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