Wednesday, April 29, 2015

Carleton Watkins Photographed New Almaden

The street shootout between Urbano Garcia and Juan Fiero happened in 1885. Carlton Watkins shot New Almaden with his camera leaving a wonderful photographic record of the life and times of this mining town.
source:  
http://www.carletonwatkins.org/m_gallery_display.php?gallery_id=2&v=&c=


The Quicksilver mines at New Almaden were the subject of great curiosity to the public. Tourists visited. Reporters wrote. Articles appeared in major magazines such as Harpers Illustrated that described the life and the landscape of this famous mining town.  Artists and photographers recorded their visits. 


Carleton Watkins was one of those early American photographers.  He made a stereo photo series of New Almaden the village and the mines. In the 1870s Carlton sold his 3-D views of San Francisco, Yosemite and scenes of the West to tourists at his Montgomery Street Gallery in San Francisco. Some say Watkin's Yosemite series was instrumental in convincing Congress to protect Yosemite as a national park. 

Packing a camera, 22 by 18 inch glass plates and supplies into the wilderness of the West was an endeavor that required planning, grit and good luck. Early photographers were adventurers and entrepreneurs who suffered market up and downs and often went broke in the process. Carlton Watkins was no exception. His bio is here: CarletonWatkins.org 

Discover a showcase of his views of the West of the later part of the 1800s at CarletonWatkins.org. The gallery of New Almaden photos depict the life and times in the mines in the 1870s. Thank you Carlton for giving us a glimpse of West. Thank you to folks who created this wonderful website that contains many of Carlton Watkins stereo views including almost 100 photos of New Almaden and San Jose.


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