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The Yo-semite Fall, 2,634 Feet High, Yosemite Valley, Mariposa County, California
The Yo-semite Fall, 2,634 Feet High, Yosemite Valley, Mariposa County, California

The Yo-semite Fall, 2,634 Feet High, Yosemite Valley, Mariposa County, California

Artist Charles L. Weed (American, 1824 - 1903)
Dateca. 1864
MediumAlbumen print
DimensionsImage: 20 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches (51.44 x 40.01 cm)
Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.
Object number2005.27.244
InscribedFull title as printed on mount: "The Yo-semite Fall, 2634 feet high, Yosemite Valley, Mariposa County, Cal."
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DescriptionScenic image of mountains with a waterfall in the center. There is a figure riding a horse at the base of the mountains near a row of evergreens.Gallery Label
In the summer of 1859, Weed became the first photographer to visit Yosemite. This initial trip was made with an 11 x 14-inch camera; in 1864, he returned with an 18 x 22-inch mammoth-plate camera. Weed's vision is straightforward and functional: his pictures convey a greater sense of awe than of personal artistry. These pictures had wide appeal; the mount of this print indicates that it was issued in the early 1870s.   
Published References
Mary Jessup Hood, "Charles L. Weed, Yosemite's First Photographer," Yosemite Nature Notes 38:6 (June 1959): 76-87; "The Yosemite Valley," Harper's New Monthly Magazine 32:152 (May 1866): 697-708; Peter E. Palmquist, "California's Peripatetic Photographer: Charles Leander Weed," California History 58:3 (Fall 1979): 194-219; Peter E. Palmquist, Points of Interest: California Views, 1860-1870: The Lawrence and Houseworth Albums (San Francisco: Society of California Pioneers, 2002); Peter E. Palmquist and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West, A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865 (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000): 585-88.
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