The Western Landscape
Landscape views by early photographers of the West were praised by contemporary critics for their aesthetic qualities, and today they are often cited as the finest American examples of the genre. But western photographers had concerns beyond the aesthetic: They also had to make an argument for American settlement in the West. To this end, western landscape photography suggests the drama of nature and at the same offers a straightforward depiction of the topology of a place. In later work, however, rugged features gave way to tame, inviting vistas.
Industry & Agriculture in the West
In the 1860s, private business recognized the communicative power of photography and the possibilities it offered for encouraging investment and settlement in the West. Railroad companies and mining and agricultural interests recruited photographers to document and advertise their western endeavors. In their race to build a transcontinental railroad, for example, companies like the Union Pacific and Central Pacific used photographs to support their claims of significant progress when applying to Congress and other investors for funding.
American Indians of the West
Nineteenth-century photographs of western landscapes depict a pristine wilderness untouched by inhabitants but ready to receive them. Such impressions were false or at the very least misleading. American Indians had been living in the West for centuries, and evidence of their activity in the region was apparent to explorers and photographers working there. During the 1871 exploration of the Yellowstone region, for example, the survey team, including photographer William Henry Jackson (1843-1942), traveled along Indian migratory paths. Even so, Jackson's views bear no hint of a civilization already in existence in Yellowstone.
The Settled West
The tragedy at Wounded Knee, South Dakota, on December 29, 1890, ended the war between the U.S. government and the Sioux on the Northern Plains. The frontier was effectively tamed. Americans could point to concrete signs of their civilizing influence in the region, especially in the cities of Denver, Salt Lake City, and Seattle, all founded by Americans after 1845. Photographers also documented the growth of cities of the Spanish and Mexican colonial past, like San Francisco, which were increasingly Americanized during this period.