Jackson, William H.:

$4,500 · Offered by William Reese Company · No longer available

[MAMMOTH-PLATE BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF SILVERTON, COLORADO]. A splendid and rare mammoth-plate albumen photograph produced by William Henry Jackson about 1882 after he traveled the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. The previous year, Gen. W.J. Palmer of the D&R.G. hired Jackson to take a series of photographs along the rail line for promotional purposes. The railway provided Jackson with a specially-built railway car that included a flat portion which served as a photographic platform.The present photograph captures the silver-mining town of Silverton, Colorado with Sultan Mountain in the background. A title in the lower margin of the photograph (partially faded), printed in the negative, reads "SILVERTON SULTAN MOUNTAIN," along with Jackson's imprint. William Henry Jackson's "Denver and Rio Grande R.R. Scenic Line of the World" series stamp appears in the top margin of the original grey mount, along with the generic title, "THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS. SCENES ALONG THE LINE OF THE DENVER AND RIO GRANDE RAILROAD," printed in the bottom margin. Jackson's images of Colorado along the D&R.G. Railroad were produced in small numbers as mammoth plate prints, and those that are most often encountered in the market are views of tracks winding through canyons or along rivers. The present image, showing a bird's-eye view of Silverton with its scores of simple wooden buildings (including a handful of two- and three-story structures), is most uncommon. It is similar to one held by the State Historical So

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