Curicante Needle. Black Canon of the Gunnison, 4403; Chipeta Falls, Black Canon, 4407; Castle Gate, 4429. [Three outstanding albumen boudoir photos of scenery along the Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad, including these views along the tracks in Western Colorado and Utah].

[Denver, CO]: W.H. Jackson & Co., Photographers of Rocky Mountain Scenery, [ca. 1885]. Three boudoir albumen photographs sized 4.5 x 7.5 in. mounted on thick photographer’s boards sized 5 x 8 in., titles neatly written within lower margin of negative, photographer’s studio stamp printed on versos, rounded corners (ever so slight toning to fore-edges of boards), NF set with excellent contrast and definition. These three scarce original albumen boudoir photos were amongst William Henry Jackson’s famed views of Colorado’s canyons, rivers, waterfalls, and mountains. The Curicante Needle image was shot along the Denver & Rio Grande Railway Tracks in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison in Colorado, and has been corrected from similar albumen photos taken and produced by Jackson which dropped off the “n” in Curicante. This view is not present in the Sample Album of Jackson’s work in the Denver Public Library, but is similar to the image later released in his stereoviews of Colorado. The Chipeta Falls image shows a view of the Gunnison River from the Denver & Rio Grand Railway Tracks, with the Falls pouring down upon the rocks in the Black Canyon of the Gunnison, and almost identical to the image which appears in the Jackson Sample album in the Denver Public Library, but “Black Canon” has not been scratched out and still retains the 4407 as the negative number. The third photo offers a splendid view of the Castle Gate in Utah along the railroad tracks showing the rocky landscape, and very sharp contrast, although altered from the Mammoth photo which contained the identifying text in the lower fore-edge, while this one merely has Castle Gate, 4429 decoratively written along the lower edge of a boulder at the left corner. Jackson (1843-1942) had established his reputation as a Western photographer in the Hayden Survey in 1871, and was the first person to photograph the Yellowstone region. He opened his studio in Denver, CO in 1879, and began shooting for the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad in 1881, taking extensive photos along the route. Considered one of the preeminent pioneer photographers of the West at the time of his death, Goetzmann stated that he “did more than anyone else to publicize the tourist’s West.” See: Mautz, pp. 171, 304; Goetzmann, Exploration & Empire, pp. 499-501; Denver Public Library, W.H. Jackson Sample Album, Colorado Book I (1882-1888); Columbia College Chicago, Museum of Contemporary Photography, William Henry Jackson (No. 36 of 184).