WILLIAM HENRY JACKSON (1843-1942) Tower Falls. 1872. Albumen print, the image measuring 12¼x9¼ inches (31.1x23.5 cm.), the sheet slightly larger, the gilt-ruled mount 20x16 inches (50.8x40.6 cm.), with Jackson's title in the negative and his printed credit and the Dept. of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey of the Territories credit on mount recto.
Provenance The Collection of Dr. James and Debra Pearl
According to the National Park Service: "To capture Tower Falls using wet plate photography, Jackson selected the location of his camera at the base of the falls in advance, and then set up his dark box at the top of the canyon, as the climb down would have been too treacherous to risk transporting the delicate chemicals and box of glass plates. He then had to quickly scale the canyon to prepare the glass plate, climb down the canyon to take the photograph, and then climb back up to fix the negative in the dark box, all before the wet plate dried. Jackson described the feat as one of his crowning photographic achievements."
