“Map of the Central Pacific Railroad.” CALIFORNIA MAIL BAG 1:1 (June 1871): unnumbered leaf following p. vi. [A fold‑out sheet 13 1/2″ x 35 1/2″ with a map of the Central Pacific R.R. and 24 engravings of views along the line of the route. Not credited, but the views are taken from stereographs made by Alfred Hart. The other side contains train schedules, routes, etc. This mapped was tipped into the first few issues of the magazine.]
ALFRED A. HART BIBLIOGRAPHY
By William S. Johnson.
(Please credit the blog if you use this bibliography.)
(POSTED March 2024)
[I have compiled and now posted this bibliography to test my belief that current technologies have made it possible to develop a very flexible research tool that can permit a scholar to access a wider range of information and provide a more nuanced look into the functioning of any particular era in the history of photography. This bibliography is composed from the Nineteenth-Century Photography. An Annotated Bibliography 1839-1879, by William S. Johnson. Boston: G. K. Hall & Co., 1990, to which I’ve added a key-word search of my current bibliographic project of indexing more than 800 periodical titles published in the USA and England between 1835 and 1869. After 1869 additional references were drawn from other random projects or sources that I had on hand and a key-word literature search of the internet. Not every important source is on the internet and it should not be considered an exhaustive survey of the literature published after that date. WSJ]
[Searching the literature for Alfred A. Hart has proved surprisingly difficult. Unfortunately there were a number of Harts and even A. A. Harts who had some affiliations with photography active during the chronological period being searched. So I cannot be entirely certain that some of the later citations are not about someone else. However it seems highly improbable that the Alfred A. Hart making lantern slides for the NY City education department in the 1870s and later is not the same person who photographed the Central Pacific railroad earlier. But, if so, then the “known” chronology on Mr. Hart may be inaccurate. WSJ.]
Alfred Hart was born in Norwich, CT, on Mar. 28, 1816. His father was a silversmith. Alfred Hart went to New York, NY in 1838 to study art, then he returned to Norwich in 1840, where he married and began a career as an itinerant portrait painter. Hart moved to Hartford, CT in 1848, where he painted portraits and large scroll-like panoramas of religious scenes and landscapes. Hart formed a partnership with the Hartford daguerreotypist Henry H. Bartlett in 1857. In the early 1860s Hart moved to Cleveland, OH, where he ran a store selling picture frames, engravings, and photographic supplies. By 1863 Hart was working as a portrait photographer. By 1865 Hart was in California, making stereo views along the line of track under construction for the Central Pacific Railroad. After January 1866 Hart was named the official photographer for the C. P. R. R., and for the next three years he documented the construction of the railroad across the mountains and onto the high plains of Utah. Hart photographed the joining of the rails at Promontory Point, UT in 1869. The C. P. R. R. selected 364 stereographs for their official series of the construction, and Hart sold additional views to Lawrence & Houseworth for publication and distribution. Hart probably made other views at Yosemite and elsewhere in California for Lawrence & Houseworth as well. Carleton Watkins acquired Hart’s railroad views after Hart left the C. P. R. R, employ after the lines merged and Watkins reissued that series under his own name for several years, until he too lost control of those negatives in the 1870s. In the early 1870s Hart lived in Denver, CO, where he returned to painting portraits and landscapes. He continued this activity in San Francisco from 1872 to 1878, then returned to New York, NY. He apparently moved back and forth between New York and California during the latter years of his life, working at a variety of jobs. He died in California on March 5, 1908.]
BOOKS
1870
Hart, Alfred A. The Traveler’s Own Book. A Souvenir of Overland Travel, via the Great and Attractive route, Chicago, Burlington & Quincy R. R. to Burlington. Union Pacific R. R. to Ogden. Central Pacific R. R. to Sacramento. Burlington and Missouri R. R. to Omaha. Utah Central Railroad to Salt Lake City. Western Pacific Railroad to San Francisco. Chicago: Horton & Leonard, printers, 1870. pp. 34, [10]. 12 colored plates, 2 photographs, 3 maps. Obl., 16 mo.
[Chromo‑lithographs by C. Shober, from photographs by A. A. Hart. Univ. of Rochester Library, also cited on p.110 in: Sabin, Joseph. A Dictionary of Books relating to America, from Its Discovery to the Present Time. Volume VIII. New York: J. Sabin & Sons, 1877.]
Hart, Alfred A. Travelers own map of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy RR, Burlington route from Omaha to Chicago : showing the line of road, distances, elevations, stage connections, railroad connections, and the general topography of the country Chicago : Miller, Wagner & Umbdenstock, 1870. [3 maps on 1 sheet: col.; 19 x 49 cm. Harvard Univ.
Its unclear if the map was published and issued separately, or if it was removed from a copy of the foregoing book. WSJ]
Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society During the Years 1868 and 1869. Sacramento: D. W. Gelwicks, State Printer. 1870. 384
[“ Premiums Awarded in 1869.
Seventh Department.
Fine Arts.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Exhibitor. Residence. Article. Premium.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Norton Bush San Francisco Best painting in oil. $20
Norton Bush San Francisco Best painting in oil (tropical scene). $20
Mrs. G. D. Stewart.. Sacramento Best water colored painting. Diploma
A. A. Hart Sacramento Best uncolored photograph. $10
G. W. Baker Sacramento Best lithography. Diploma.
J. B. Grouppe. San Francisco Best wood and seal engraving. Diploma.
Pacific Business ColIege San Francisco Best penmanship. $5
Mrs. W. E. Brown.. Sacramento. Best crayon drawing. Diploma.
Mrs. G. D. Stewart.. Sacramento Best pencil drawing. Diploma.
P. J. Devine. San Francisco Best sculpture (bust). .. $10
Wm. Shew San Francisco Best plain photograph, life size. .. $15
Wm. Shew San Francisco Best plain photograph, medium. .. $10
Mrs. S. M. Coggins. Sacramento Best photograph in water color. $15
Wm. Shew San Francisco Best plain porcelain picture. $15
Mrs. S. M. Coggins. Sacramento Best colored porcelain picture. $10
Mr. Serregni… San Francisco Best pen drawing. Diploma
Norton Bush. San Francisco Best display of oil paintings. . $20
J. Wise. San Francisco Portrait in oil. .. Special-$10
D. H. Woods Sacramento Oil painting (landscape). .. Special-$10
W. E. Brown Sacramento Oil painting (St. Jerome). .. Special-$10
John Cooper Sacramento Best flute. . $5 (p. 206)
[Republished in: Appendix to Journals of Senate and Assembly, of the Eighteenth Session of the Legislature of the State of California. Volume III. Sacramento: D. W. Gelwicks, State Printer. 1870.]
1870
Schlagintweit, Robert von. “Die Pacific-Eisenbahn in Nordamerika. Statistisch-geographische Skizze.”
“I. Allgemeine Statiſtiſche Angaben.” (pp. 1-21).
“II. Die Union-Pacific – Eisenbahn.” (pp. 78-100) 3 b & w
“III. Die Central-Pacific – Eisenbahn.” (pp. 137-157) 2 b & w
“III. Die Central-Pacific – Eisenbahn.” (pp. 203-223) 4 b & w.
“(Die Höhenangaben sind in englischen Fußen ausgedrückt.)” (pp. 261-267) in: GAEA. NATUR UND LEBEN. ZEITSCHRIFT ZUR VERBREITUNG NATURWISSENSCHAFTLICHER UND GEOGRAPHISCHER KENNTNISSE SOWIE DER FORTSCHRITTE AUF DEM GEBIETE DER GESAMMTEN NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN. v. 6 (1870)
[Hart mentioned on p. 213. “…Eine ebenso angenehme wie werthvolle Ueberraschung waren für mich eine Anzahl der prachtvollen, von Alfred A. Hart gefertigten stereoscopischen Ansichten, die mir im Namen der Central-Pacific- Bahn deren Hauptingenieur, Herr S. S. Montague, während meines zweiten Aufenthaltes in Sacramento (im Juli 1869) als Geschenk übersandte. Fast ämmtliche Illustrationen, die meinen Aufsätzen beigegeben sind, wurden nach diesen photographischen Aufnahmen gefertigt….” (p. 213)
[This series of articles was then reissued as a separate book by the publisher. WSJ]
Schlagintweit, Robert von. Die Pacific – Eisenbahn in Nordamerika. Mit Illustrationen, einer Karte und einer Meilentafel. Uebersehungsrecht wird vorbehalten. Cöln u. Leipzig: Eduard Heinr. Mayer. New York: L. W. Schmidt, 24 Barclay Street, 1870. xiv, 203, [1] p. front., illus., fold. Map., fold. Plan. 20cm.
[Illustrated with woodcuts, many drawn from photographs, many of them the same as those in the following books. WSJ]
1871
Schlagintweit, Robert von. Californien. Land und Leute. Mit Illustrationen. Uebersehungsrecht wird vorbehalten. Cöln und Leipzig: Eduard Heinrich Mayer, New York: E. Steiger. San Francisco: F. W. & D. Barkhaus, 1871. xvi, 380, [2] p.: ill.; 20 cm.
[ “Inhalt.”
“Verzeichniß der Illuſtrationen.
Alle Abbildungen sind nach Photographien oder stereoskopischen Aufnahmen hergestellt, die mit Ausnahme von Nr. 5, Nr. 8 und Nr. 10 theils von Alfred A. Hart zu Sacramento, theils von
Thomas Houseworth & Co. zu San Francisco gefertigt wurden.
Seite.
1. Die Sierra Nevada in ihren höheren Theilen 48
3. Durchschnitt eines gefällten Riesenbaumes 153
4. Riesenbaum von 32 Fuß Durchmeſſer 161
5. General John A. Sutter, mit Facsimile seiner Unterschrift 217
6. Die Eisenbahn in den höheren Theilen der Sierra Nevada 233
7. Ein Viadukt der Central Pacific Eisenbahn 240
8. Chinesische Goldwäscher. 256
9. Goldwaschen mittelst des hydraulischen Proceſſes. 264
10. Chinesische Annonce in einer californischen Zeitung.. 344 (p. xvi)]
[Woodcuts, drawn from photographs. WSJ]
1872
Transactions of the California State Agricultural Society of the Year 1872. Sacramento: T. A. Springer, State Printer. 1873. 784 p.
[“ Transactions of the State Agricultural Society
Date. On what account. Amount
Sept. 30….. William Fleming, premium…… $120.00
G. G. W. Morgan, premium… $5.00
G. G. W. Morgan, entry clerk.. $50.00
A. Hart, premium $20.00
Mrs. H. Kuhl, premium $20.00
Madam Anna Getz Lucas, premium. $25.00
D. H. Woods, premium $80.00
P.J. Merwin, labor $41.25.
P. Mangle, premium $15.00
Walsh estate, thirteen stalls $91.00
J. S. Bamber, premium….” ($95.00 (Etc., etc.) (p. 50)
“Articles Exhibited at the Pavilion.”
(Etc., etc.)
Seventh Department.
Class I.
.Heald’s Business College, San Francisco—Six specimens penmanship, plain and ornamental.
Charles Prosch, San Francisco—One picture, in water colors.
Aaron Avants, Chico-One colored photograph.
Mrs. John Rivett, Sacramento-Three crayon drawings.
J. J. Agard, Sacramento-Two pencil drawings.
C. C. Brown, Sacramento—Six specimens of pen drawings and ornamental penmanship.
Miss M. E. Bowman, Sacramento-Three pen drawings and ornamental penmanship.
Selkirk & Fisher, San Francisco—Twenty-three specimens of plain photographs.
J. W. Tabor, San Francisco—Sixteen specimens of photographs; two photographs, retouched in India ink; one frame pictorial photograph; one equestrian photograph.
Miss H. H. Curtis, San José-One animal painting, in water colors; two pencil drawings.
Annie N. Peelor, San José-Four specimens of pencil drawings.
Emily S. Peelor, San José— Three specimens of pencil drawings.
H. G. Peelor, San José—Six landscape paintings, in water colors; one flower painting; two pencil drawings.
Mrs. E. Parsons, Sacramento-One medley picture.
Mrs. E. J. King, Sutter Creek-Two hand-made chromos.
A. Hart, San Francisco-Five landscapes, in oil: Last of the Mohicans; Scene from Deerslayer; Autumn Scene, Catskill Lake; Scene on the Hudson; View on the Rhine; one portrait painting, in oil.
G. H. Goddard, San Francisco—One painting, water colors.
Norton Bush, San Francisco-Nine landscape paintings, in oil: Panama Bay; Lake Nicaragua; Memory of the Tropics; Panama Beach; Morning in the Tropics; Evening in the Tropics; Catskill Creek; Morning
and Evening; San Juan River, Nicaragua.
Mrs. John F. Cooper, Sacramento-One medley picture.
John Estell, Sacramento-One book of decalcomania pictures; one frame of decalcomania pictures.
Alva Duane, Farmington, San Joaquin County-One specimen of plain and ornamental penmanship, by a boy thirteen years old.
Mrs. J. N. Bingay, Sacramento—Nineteen pencil drawings.
C. R. Sites, Sacramento-One specimen pen drawing.
C. T. Wheeler, Sacramento-One photograph, retouched in water colors.
Bradley & Rulofson, San Francisco-Seven water-colored photographs; five photographs, retouched in water colors; one photograph, retouched in Inda ink; three crayon photographs; three plain photographs; one frame, Grand Lodge I. O. O. F.; one frame, county officers of San Francisco; one frame pictorial photographs, retouched in water colors; one frame pictorial photographs, plain.
Mrs. E. S. Mitchell, Sacramento-Two pencil drawings; one pastelle painting.
Madam Anna Gettz Lucas, San Francisco-Two water color paintings-flowers. (p. 91)
Mrs. Jane E. Cottar, San Francisco-Two pieces decalcomania painting on satin.
D. H. Woods, Sacramento-Seventeen portraits in oil; nine animal paintings in oil; six landscape paintings in oil.
William Keith, San Francisco-Six landscape paintings in oil; two marine paintings in oil; one fruit piece, in oil.
F. J. Lewis, Sacramento-One specimen of pen drawing; one specimen of pencil drawing.
Mrs. A. J. Perry, Sacramento-Eight landscape paintings in oil.
Mrs. W. Yule, Sacramento-One California fruit painting in water colors.
D. Kaltschmidt, San Francisco-Two portraits in oil; one portrait in water colors.
Class II.
Miss Kate E. Crocker, Sacramento-One original oil painting, “Still Life.”
Howard Campion, San Francisco-One bunch of grapes in oil; two water color paintings.
Delong, Combs & Co., San José-Two medallions, three-quarters view, taken from a photograph.
J. C. Devine, Sacramento-Exhibition of sculpture; exhibition of statuary and busts in plaster; collection of marble works.
Michael Kraker, Sacramento-Display of statuary in bronze and marble, one case.
Delong, Combs & Co. (by J. W. Combs), San José-Two marble frames, Indian diggings.
Class III.
J. L. Brooks, Bodega, Sonoma County-One model farm gate.
Geo. G. W. Morgan, Sacramento-Design for a canal and narrow gauge railroad.
Frank P. Lowell, Sacramento-Design for carriage house and stable.
Miscellaneous Department.
Bowen Brothers, San Francisco-Special exhibit of pure ground spices, yeast powder, etc.
Charles Green, San Francisco-Axle grease.
W. C. Palmer, San Francisco-General assortment of writing inks.
E. B. Tanney, Ripon, Kansas, Window sash balance.
William Blake, San Francisco—Blake’s clothes renovator; Blake’s simple dyes.
Waterhouse & Lester, Sacramento-Clark’s patent buggy sun and storm shade.
B. H. Lyon, Honolulu, Sandwich Islands—Dr. B. H. Lyon’s compound remedy for recent and chronic diseases, liniment and pills.
W. E. Gerber, agent for Schreiber & Howell, Sacramento-Six chicory roots.” (p. 92)
Seventh Department.
Fine Arts.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Articles. Exhibitors. Residence. Premiums.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Paintings.
Best water-colored landscape… G. H. Goddart San Francisco. $10
Picture of Charbenaere grapes
in water colors, (very fine)… Miss H. Millard… San José……… .. Silver medal.
Water-colored portraits…. O. Kaesschmidt ……… San Francisco. …… Hon. mention.
Water-colored painting,
(superior workmanship)… Chas. Prosch San Francisco. .. Diploma.
Best exhibition of portrait
painting in oil…….. D. H. Woods……… Sacramento….. $40
Best specimen of portrait
painting in oil… A. Hart………. San Francisco. $20
Best exhibition of landscape
painting in oil……… Wm. Keith ……. San Francisco $40
Best specimen of landscape
painting, in oil…….. Wm. Keith ……… San Francisco. $20.
Best exhibition of animal
paintings in oil……… D. H. Woods…….. Sacramento….. $40
Hand-made chromos.. Mrs. E. J. King……. Sutter Creek…… Silver medal.
Water-color paintings. Mrs. H. H. Curtis….. San José……… Silver medal.
Oil paintings….. Miss A. J. Perry.. Sacramento…………. Silver medal.
Best specimen of fruit painting Wm. Keith…. San Francisco. $10
Best exhibition of paintings Wm. Keith…. San Francisco. $50
Best collection of tropical
landscape paintings in oil… Norton Bush….. San Francisco. . Hon. mention.
Collection of paintings in oil… A. Hart……… San Francisco. …. Hon, mention.
Paintings A. Hart……….. San Francisco. . Gold medal.
Sculpture.
Two medallions, three-quarter
view, taken from a photograph De Long, Combes & Company,
(by J.W. Combes) San José…. Diploma.
Best specimen of California
marble De Long, Combes & Company,
(by J.W. Combes) San José…….. Special recom’d.
Exhibition of sculpture……….. J. C. Devine & Bro… Sacramento….. $20
Best exhibition of statuary
and busts in plaster…… J. C. Devine & Bro… Sacramento….. $20
Display of statuary in marble
and bronze….. Michael Kraker…….. Sacramento….. ……. Diploma.
Best collection of marble
works J. C. Devine & Bro… Sacramento….. $40
Design for canal and narrow
gauge railroad combined….. Geo. G. W. Morgan…. Sacramento…………….. Diploma.
Design for carriage house and
stable Frank P. Lowell Sacramento….. .. Diploma. (p. 135)
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Articles. Exhibitors. Residence. Premiums.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Photographs.
Best exhibition of photographs. Bradley & Rulofson… San Francisco. $10
Best exhibition of colored
photographs Bradley & Rulofson… San Francisco. ………. Diploma.
Best exhibition of retouched
photographs………. I. W. Taber………….. San Francisco. Diploma.
Best exhibition of plain
photographs………. Silas Selleck……… San Francisco. Diploma.
Best display of crayon
photographs (retouched)…. Bradley & Rulofson… San Francisco. Diploma.
Best display of crayon
drawings…. Mrs. John Rivett…… Sacramento….. $5
Penmanship
Pen drawing, (bunch of grapes
from the original. Very excellent). F. J. Lewis……. Sacramento….. ………. Diploma.
Best penmanship.. E. P. Heald………. San Francisco. $5
Best pen drawing.. C. C. Brown……….. Sacramento….. $5 (p. 136)
“Statement of A. Hart.
To the Gold Medal Committee:
Gentlemen: The question of the bestowment of the gold medal for the most meritorious exhibition in the Seventh Department, at the late State Fair, being the only one left for my further consideration, I have thought it advisable to address the Board upon the subject, and to set before it such facts and arguments bearing upon the case as shall induce the Board to thoroughly consider my claims to the medal. It may be that in this way some compensation may yet be made for what I conceive to have been a very superficial and hasty examination by the judges of the comparative merits of the two rival landscapes at the Fair. I had brought, at great expense, my largest and best work, upon which I had expended many months of arduous and unremitting study and labor, and which had been pronounced by art critics and artists a masterpiece, and when I found that a painting quite unfinished in many respects had taken all the money premiums offered by the society for this branch, as well as for the best exhibition of paintings, you may readily conceive my astonishment at the verdict. I regret exceedingly that the two paintings could not have been placed side by side under an equal light. And now, gentlemen, allow me to suggest a few of the reasons, involving, as they naturally do, a little art criticism, why I believe I am justly entitled to the gold medal for the most meritorious exhibition in the Seventh Department.
First-Were not mine the most complete and highly finished paintings exhibited? I claim that they were. Any painting, to be entitled to high rank as a work of art, must not only be tinished in the sense that leaves nothing more to be added to its composition in the way of thoroughly elucidating the story intended to be told by the artist. It should teil the story at a glance. It should represent nature in a grand manner in her most beautiful and attractive forms and colors. If the painting be a landscape, you will remember that the greatest masters of their calling have made the study of and the painting of clouds a most effective and important part of their compositions. The principal lights should be so judiciously contrasted as materially to enhance the value of the darker portions of the work. Unity of effect and story are as import- ant to the painter of an epic landscape, and certainly requires as much power in the originating mind of the artist who designs and paints it, as is involved in the writing of a drama. The highest type of all painting—of all art—is that which, comprehending all the qualities I have enumerated above, joins to them a careful finish of every detail, and which leaves on the mind of the beholder as unmistakable a sign of refined intelligence of the artist who produced it as it is possible to discern in any work of human agency. Upon what principle of criticism the judges could find the qualities I have mentioned as entitling Mr. Keith’s landscapes to rank in any respect above mine, I am at a loss to discover. During thirty years of my life, earnestly and lovingly devoted to my art, and with an unflagging energy in the pursuit of all knowledge that can ennoble and elevate it, I have endeavored to advance its interests by every honorable means.
Thus far, gentlemen, I have argued in support of the position that I not only had the best portrait, but by far the best landscapes, in the Fair. And if so, why then assuredly the most meritorious exhibition (p. 175) in the Seventh Department, and entitled to the society’s medal. One question more, touching the somewhat arbitrary standard fixed in the minds of the judges of the comparative value of portraits and landscapes as works of art, and I close. Mr. Keith, it was decided by the æsthetical judges, was entitled to the premium for best landscape; ergo, he was awarded also the premium of fifty dollars for the best exhibition of paintings! Also forty dollars additional for the best collection! And of course my portrait of the child ranked below the landscape exhibition. To this I would simply answer, that if to endow a head with such an appearance of life that the eye shall seem fairly to rival the brilliancy of nature, the lips seem ready to part in speech or laughter, and the whole so cunningly wrought by the skillful mind and hand of the artist as to seem instinct with the warm incarnation of humanity itself; if to do this be not the highest of all artistic attainments, then most certainly the greatest names emblazoned in the annals of ancient and modern art are unworthy of the places they occupy. It is some- what singular no colored photograph could ever, or has, or ever can, come anywhere near the best work of the accomplished portrait painter from the life.
Finally, gentlemen, if the six oil paintings exhibited by me, which included my large picture of the “Last of the Mohicans” and a portrait, admitted to be masterly in every respect of its treatment, did not form the most meritorious exhibition, as it was generally conceded to be the most attractive one, and if it should not be so regarded by the Board, I should most certainly feel discouraged from ever again venturing into the field of such a competition. With these few hastily written thoughts and suggestions respectfully submitted, I remain, gentlemen, your obedient servant, Alfred Hart, Artist.” (p. 176)
“Report of Gold Medal Committee for 1872.”
To the California State Board of Agriculture:
Gentlemen: We have the honor to report the result of our’ examination and conclusions, as follows:
We were not notified of our appointment until some days of the Fair had passed; but as soon as we could we held a meeting, and went through the building and examined carefully each and every exhibition. In order, then, to become acquainted with the especial merits claimed by each exhibitor, we invited written statements of the grounds upon which the merit was placed and the medal claimed, both for our own information and assistance, and the information of the people generally, who are interested. When the time set for these statements to be handed in arrived, we met at the office of the society in Sacramento and gave them all a careful reading and consideration, and thereupon made the follow. ing awards:
The medal in the First Department-live stock-having been awarded by another committee, we commenced with the
Second Department.-The medal in this department was awarded to Goodwin & West, of San Francisco, for the Goodwin pump.
Third Department—To Anna Gettz Lucas, of San Francisco, for wax fruits and flowers.
Fourth Department—To Carlton Newman, of San Francisco, for home-made glassware.
Fifth Department—To Robert Williamson, of Sacramento, for exhibition of vegetables.
Sixth Department—To E. F. Aiken, of Sacramento, for exhibition of dried fruits.
Seventh Department—To Alfred Hart, of San Francisco, for paintings in oil.
All of which is respectfully submitted.
E. S. Carr,
S. J. Finney,
Warren Wasson,
Horace Adams,
E. Kenyon.” (p. 177)]
1875
Journal of the Board of Education of the City of New York 1875. New York: Cushing & Bardua, Steam Book and Job Printers, 1875. 43 p.
[“Wednesday, February 2nd, 1875”
“Stated Session.”
“…Commissioner Farr presented a report from the Committee on Normal Schools, recommending the payment of sundry bills for Apparatus, &c., supplied the Normal College, and accompanied with the following resolution: Resolved, That the following named bills for Apparatus, &c., supplied the Normal College, be, and the same are hereby approved for payment.
E. & H. T. Anthony. $45 50
E. & H. T. Anthony. $31 50
E. & H. T. Anthony. $9.00 (p. 111)
Alfred A. Hart. $55 75
E. B. Benjamin. $23 20
$164 95
James W. Farr, J. M. Halsted, Lawson N. Fuller, Committee on Normal Schools.” (p. 112)]
The Corporation of the City of New York. Communication from the Comptroller Transmitting Report of the Auditor of Accounts, Being Detail of All Warrants Drawn on the City Chamberlain for the Quarter Ending September 3, 1874. Board of Aldermen, December 2, 1875. Document No. 10. New York: F. B. Fisher, Printer and Stationer, 1875. 272 p.
[“Appropriation Accounts.”
(Etc., etc.)
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Warrant No. Date Name. For What Purpose Amount.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
(Etc., etc.)
12478 May 7. Alfred A. Hart Lantern slides $4.50
12479 May 7. Alfred A. Hart Lantern slides $36.00
(Etc., etc.) (p. 117)]
1876
The Corporation of the City of New York. Communication from the Comptroller Transmitting Report of the Auditor of Accounts, Being Detail of All Warrants Drawn on the City Chamberlain for the Quarter Ending March 31, 1875. Board of Aldermen, December 2, 1875. Document No. 17. New York: Martin B. Brown, Printer and Stationer, 1876. 269 p.
[“Appropriation Accounts.”
(Etc., etc.)
——————————————————————————————————————————————
Warrant No. Date Name. For What Purpose Amount.
——————————————————————————————————————————————
6740 Mar. 4. Alfred A. Hart Astronomical slides, November 1874 $55.75
(Etc., etc.)
6849 Mar. 6 Mary Holly Cleaning Primary School No. 35 $74.00
6953 Mar. 6 E. & H. T. Anthony Lantern Slides, Oct. & Dec. 1874 $86.00
(Etc., etc.) (p. 131)
1881
“Patents Granted June 14, 1881.” OFFICIAL GAZETTE OF THE UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE. 19:24 (June 14, 1881): 1515-1516.
[“242,823. Magic Lantern. Alfred A. Hart, New York,
N. Y., assignor of one-half to Angeline E. Newman, same place.
Filed Feb. 28, 1881. (No model.)
Claim.-1. In a magic lantern, the combination, with the main (p. 1515)
[Sketch of the device.]
box or casing containing the object-tube and lenses, of the side flaps, d’e, and top flap, c, hinged to the rear end of the main casing, the dome-flaps g and h, hinged to the top edges of the side walls, O c1 c2, the gable-flap c3, hinged to the dome-flap g, and end flap, e, hinged to the outer end of the flap or wall c2, all arranged to fold around the casing a or to be unfolded and locked together and form a lamp or flame chamber, c, substantially as set forth. 2. In a magic lantern constructed with a series of hinged flaps which may be unfolded and formed into a flame or lamp chamber, the combination, with the hinged side c1, of a reflector, f, hinged by a suitable arm or flap to the outer end of the side c1, so that it may be turned to throw the light into the objective-tube or be turned into the objective-opening a2 when the device is folded together, substantially as set forth.” (p. 1516)
1887
Testimony Taken by the United States Pacific Railway Commission,
Appointed Under the Act of Congress Approved March 3, 1887,
Entitled “An Act Authorizing an Investigation of the Books, Accounts, and Methods of Railroads Which Have Received Aid from The United States, and for Other Purposes.”
Robert E. Pattison, of Pennsylvania, Chairman, E. Ellery Anderson, of New York, David T. Littler, of Illinois-Commissioners.
Volume VIII.
Reported by Charles P. Young, of New York,
Secretary and Stenographer to the Commission.
Washington: Government Printing Office, 1887. 10 v. in 5. 2 fold. pl. 2 fold. Maps. 23 cm.
[50th Congress, 1st Session. Senate. Ex. Doc. 51, Part 9.]
[“Reports of Accountants. On items of expense appearing in C. P. Huntington’s accounts for the year 1869.” (pp. 4555-4556).
“Accounts receivable.”
(Etc., etc.)
697. A. P. and L. Stanford. $55,066.90
697. Leland Stanford (Salt Lake account). $6,809.43
698. A. A. Hart. $259.50
699. State of California $6,713.00
(Etc., etc.) (p. 4556)
“Current statement of the Central Pacific Railroad Company of California, for the year ending December 31, 1870.” (pp. 4560-4561)
“Amount of net urnings” $3,774,951.79
(Etc., etc.)
“Less: (p. 4560)
(Etc., etc.)
“Less-continued:
Reclamations on freight, Summit Ice Company. $7,747.43
Overcharges, United States Post-Office Department,
July, August, and September . $767.52
Twenty California and Oregon Railroad bonds paid Mrs. Baldwin $20,000.00
P. Reilly, damages $3,070.91
Loss on store account $7,255.65
Less cashier’s account, Clipper Gap Agency. $75.86
B. B. Redding, cash loaned.. $200.00
Haggin & Tevis $34.85
A. A. Hart. $262.43
John Bigler.. $500.00
State of California $6,428.90
Levee commissioners $6,713.00
United States Government, 1867 $48.50
Martin Rowan $50.00
Legal expenses.. $119,355.74
Construction account. $376,120.28
Profit and loss, general account. $2,061.91
$4, 048,727.20
Profit and loss $173,554.38
(p. 4561) (Etc., etc.)]
————————————————————————————————————————————————————
1888
Official Gazette of the United States Patent Office.
Volume XLII. January 3 to March 27, Inclusive, 1888.
Washington: Government Printing Office. 1888. 492 p.
[“Jan. 24, 1888”
“376,802. Method of Making Photographic Pictures. Alfred A. Hart, New York, N. Y., assignor to himself, Arthur C. Rowe, Orange, N. J., and George C. Leavenworth, Louisville, Ky. Filed July 27, 1887. Serial No. 245,461. (Specimens.) Claim-1. The process of photographic copying, consisting of, first, throwing an image of the thing to be copied upon a screen in a dark-chamber, the surface of which screen is composed of actinic and non-actinic parts, and, second, taking a photograph of such image as appearing on the screen.
2. The process of making photographic lined pictures, consisting of first, throwing an image of the picture upon a screen in a dark-chamber, the surface of which screen is subdivided more minutely into actinic and non-actinic lines or dots, and, second, taking a photographic picture of such image.
3. The process of making photographic lined pictures, consisting of, first, throwing an image of the picture upon a screen in a dark-chamber, the surface of which screen is subdivided more or less minutely into actinic and non-actinic lines or dots: second, varying by manipulation the relative proportions of the actinic and non-actinic subdivisions of the screen at different points on the image, so as to modify the lights and shadows therein as desired, and, third, taking a photographic picture of such image as so treated.
4. The process of making photographic lined pictures, consisting of, first, throwing a negative image of the picture upon a screen in a dark-chamber, the surface of which screen is subdivided more or less minutely into actinic and non-actinic lines or dots; second, varying by manipulation the relative proportions of the actinic and non-actinic subdivisions of the screen at different points on the image, so as to modify the lights and shadows therein as desired, and, third, taking a photographic picture of such negative image as so treated.
5. The process of making photographic lined pictures, consisting of, first, throwing an image of the picture upon a screen in a dark-chamber, such screen having a rough surface, the elevations of which are made actinic and the depressions non-actinic, (or vice versa 🙂 second, varying the relative proportions of the actinic and non-actinic subdivisions of the screen at different points on the image, by rubbing over it chalk or other friable material, so as to modify the lights, shadows, or design of the screen, and, third, taking a photographic picture of such image as so treated.
6. The process of making photographic lined pictures, consisting of, first, throwing a negative image of the picture upon a screen in a dark-chamber, the surface of which screen is subdivided more or less minutely into actinic and non-actinic lines or dots: second, varying by manipulation the relative proportions of the actinic and non-actinic subdivisions of the screen at different points on the image, so as to so as to modify the lights and shadows therein as desired, and, third, taking a photographic picture of such negative image as so treated. fourth, throwing upon the screen an image of the resulting lined positive picture, and, fifth, taking a photograph of such image.
7. The process of preparing photographic pictures for printing in several colors, consisting of, first, throwing an image of the entire picture upon a non-actinic screen in a dark-chamber; second, making actinic that portion of the screen which corresponds to the portion of the picture to be printed in a given color, and, third, taking a photographic picture of the partial image thereby made to appear upon the screen.
8. The process of preparing photographic pictures for printing in several colors, consisting of, first, throwing an image of the entire which screen is composed of more or less minute elevations and depicture upon a non-actinic screen in a dark-chamber, the surface of pressions; second, making actinic either the elevations or depressions upon that portion of the screen which corresponds to the portion of the picture to be printed in a given color, and, third, taking a photographic picture of the lined partial image thereby made to appear upon the screen.” (p. 324)]
CONTEMPORARY
Johnson, J. W. The Early Pacific Coast Photographs of Carleton E. Watkins, by J. W. Johnson. Professor of Hydraulic Engineering, University of California, Berkeley. “Archives Series Report No. 8.” Water Resources Center Archives. University of California, Berkeley Water Resources Center – University of California February 1960. 64 p., illus. 28 cm.
“…Among the existing collections of Watkins’ stereos, in particular the Society of California Pioneers’ collection assembled by Turrill, are about three hundred views of the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. These views were made by Alfred A. Hart, a Sacramento photographer, and the negatives were purchased by Watkins (27). He incorporated these into his own series of stereos and printed a portion of them for sale. An extremely valuable small series of stereoscopic negatives relating to the Modoc War were also purchased by Watkins. These had been done by Louis Heller, a photographer of Fort Jones, California, whose pictures were certified by General Jefferson C. Davis to be the official pictures of the war (5).” (Etc., etc.) (p. 12)
“…(g) Society of California Pioneers, San Francisco. The stereos which comprised the Turrill collection of Watkins and Hart photographs, including some of the original negatives which were in Turrill’s possession at the time of the 1906 fire;…” (Etc., etc.) (p. 15)
“…(27) Over 340 of the Hart stereos of the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad are also in the possession of the Southern Pacific Railroad News Bureau, San Francisco….” (Etc., etc.) (p. 63)]
Kraus, George. High Road to Promontory: Building the Central Pacific [now the Southern Pacific] Across the High Sierra. Palo Alto, New York: American West Publishing Co., Castle Books, 1969. 317 pp. illus. [History of the building of the Central Pacific R. R. in the 1860s, illustrated with photographs drawn from A. A. Hart’s stereographs.]
Kibbey, Mead B. Edited by Peter E. Palmquist. The Railroad Photographs of Alfred A. Hart, Artist. Sacramento, CA: The California State Library Foundation, 1996. 238 pp. 89 illus. [Introduction and History of the Construction of the Central Pacific Railroad, Alfred Hart: Photographer, Author and Publisher, Hart’s Photographic and Production Methods. Includes seven appendixes: Reproductions, numerical and geographical lists of all of Hart’s CPRR stereo views, list of public sources of Hart’s views, reprint of Glenn Willumson’s article on Hart, replicas pages from Hart’s travel book, stereo camera details.]
Francaviglia, Richard V. Over the Range: a history of the Promontory summit route of the Pacific. Logan, Utah: Utah State University Press, 2008. 333 p.; illus. maps. 25 cm.
[Detailed geography and history of the C.P.R.R. and U.P.R.R. meeting at Promontory Point, Utah. Some photos discussed briefly. Hart discussed on pp. 102,140-142, etc. Some of his stereos published.]
Willumson, Glenn. Iron muse: photographing the Transcontinental Railroad. Berkeley: University of California Press, [2013] x, 242 p.: illustrations (some color) ; 27 cm. [Includes bibliographical references (pages 217-229) and index.]
PERIODICALS
1867
4 b &w (“Central Pacific Railroad-Chinese Laborers at Work.” “Central Pacific Railroad–The Giant’s Gap.” “Central Pacific Railroad-View on American River.” “Central Pacific Railroad-Donner Lake.”); 1 illus. (“Central Pacific Railroad–Map and Profile Map of the Line from Omaha to San Francisco. – Drawn by C. H. Wells”) on p. 772 in: “The Central Pacific Railroad.” HARPER’S WEEKLY 11:571 (Dec. 7, 1867): 771‑772. 4 b & w, 1 illus. [“In speaking lately of the railroad which is shortly to span the continent, and unite the Mississippi and the Pacific, and which ought to be called the “Continental Railroad,” we purposely ignored the separate existence of the two roads known as the Central Pacific and the Union Pacific, and spoke of the entire route from Omaha to San Francisco as one line, as, when they are finished, they will be practically. Some of our friends have supposed this to be an inadvertence, and several letters have suggested to us that perhaps, after all, the public does not generally understand that two corporations are engaged in this gigantic work; and that though the Union Pacific from Omaha west, and the Central Pacific from Sacramento east, are to unite at Salt Lake City, and become the great Pacific Railroad, they are for the present not only distinct and separate, but, in a certain sense, rival corporations. The rivalry exists in this—that the first company which shall complete its road to Salt Lake City shall be entitled to the national charter and national land and money grants for the whole line from Omaha to Sacramento. We give in this Number of the Weekly a diagram which will perhaps better explain this, and which at the same time shows the work completed on each route, the work to be done, the distances, and, with the aid of the profile Map which we give, in a measure the nature of the difficult labor. By this Map it will be seen that the Central Pacific Company has built something over 160 miles of its road, and reached the summit of the Sierra Nevada, next to the highest level on the road, and has 385 miles to finish to Salt Lake City; that the Union Pacific Company has built 516 miles of its road, and has 439 miles to finish to Salt Lake City. The immense work is prosecuted with the utmost vigor by both parties, and it is confidently believed that it will be finished before 1870. The latest report of the United States General Land-Office Commissioner shows that this country is now (p. 771) 3000 miles in advance of England on our routes to China, Japan, and the East Indies. When this line of railroad is completed, and passengers can be carried across the continent in a week, instead of taking three times as long via Panama, and six times as long around the Horn—when goods can be sent from Hong-Kong to London in forty days, and to New York in thirty, it is easy for the most unimaginative person to see the effect which will be produced on American
Commerce. Accompanying this very suggestive Map are several views on the Central Pacific Railroad, which still further illustrate the difficulties encountered in its construction. The first of these represents the Chinese laborers at work on the road up the Sierra Nevada. The Central Company has over 10,000 of this race in its employ. The picture gives some idea of the Herculean nature of the work of tunneling and excavating through the solid granite of the mountains. The “Giant’s Gap,” a gigantic opening in the mountains, shows the rugged nature of the country. The third engraving is a view on American River, which flows through a narrow valley between peaks which tower 5000 feet above its waters. “Donner Lake” has an elevation of 5964 feet above the level of the ocean and is surrounded by lofty peaks. The view obtainable from some of these peaks can not be surpassed in grandeur, beauty, and extent in any part of Europe, save by that from Mont Blanc.” (p. 772)] [Although not credited, the four views of construction of the Central Pacific R. R. are drawn from stereos by Hart.]
1868
2 b & w (“Long Ravine Branch.” and “Donner Lake.”) on p. 37 in: “The Central Pacific Railway, North America.” ILLUSTRATED LONDON NEWS 52:1464 (Jan. 11, 1868): 37, 42. 2 b & w. [“The chief links in the vast system of railway communication, which will soon connect the Atlantic and Pacific shores of the great American Republic together, are the “Union Pacific Railway,” extending 1600 miles, from the city of Omaha, in the State of Nebraska, to the western boundary of Nevada, and the “Central Pacific Railway of California,” forming a junction with the line from Nebraska, and uniting it with San Francisco. The Union Pacific Railway is connected also with lines from St. Louis, in Missouri, and from Leavenworth, in Kansas, as well as with the railways of Iowa, Illinois, and the other more populous States of the Union. Its course westward passes through a wild and almost uninhabited country to the Rocky Mountains, then by way of Utah and the Great Salt Lake to California, crossing two lofty mountain ranges, A company, with a capital of one hundred million dollars, or twenty millions sterling, was formed some years ago, and assisted by Congress with most liberal grants of land and money. The work was commenced in the spring of 1864, and is now completed almost to the foot of the Rocky Mountains, both from Omaha and St. Louis; while the Californian portion, from the Pacific coast, has made no less rapid progress. We have engraved two illustrations of the scenery traversed by this railway, which were supplied by Mr. Geo. E. Grey, the consulting engineer.
The first view is taken at Long Ravine, at a point where the Central Pacific line crosses the ravine by a wooden bridge, at a height of about 120 ft. above the ground. The main structure is designed on the principle known in the United States as the Howe truss, which is remarkable for its economical proportions and great stability. The second view is from the summit of Donner Pass, in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, looking eastward. Donner Lake lies below, and the Washoe silver-mining regions are seen in the distance. This lake is a beautiful sheet of water supplied perpetually by the melting snows of the Sierra. It is about one mile wide and five or six long, and lies at an elevation of about 6000 ft. above the level of the sea.
The Donner Pass is a depression in the Sierra Nevada (though 7043 ft. above the sea) which the Central Pacific Railroad Company have selected as the most suitable place to cross the mountain with their railway from the Pacific Ocean to the mineral regions of Washoe, Humboldt, and Reese River, thence to Great Salt Lake, connecting with the Union Pacific Railroad of which we have spoken.
The total distance by railway from New York, via the Pacific Railway, to San Francisco on the Pacific will be, when completed, about 3100 miles. At the present rate of progress in its construction it is evident that the country will not have to wait longer than the year 1871 for the final completion of this connecting link between the two oceans, Taken in connection with the Pacific steamers already plying between China and San Francisco, it is very likely to become the great highway to Asia for the European nations as well as for the Americans. The time for travelling between Hong-Kong and New York will be reduced to within thirty days; or forty days between Liverpool and Hong-Kong.” (p. 42)]
1869
Stillman, Dr. J. D. B. “The Last Tie.” OVERLAND MONTHLY AND OUT WEST MAGAZINE 3:1 (July 1869): 77-84. [“When we stood for the first time on the iron-bound shores of the Pacific a generation ago and looked upon their desolate mountains, after a voyage of more than half a year, we thought in our forlorn hearts that the last tie that bound us to our native land was broken. We did not dream that the tie that was to reunite us, and make this our native land forever, was then flourishing as a green bay tree in our woods; but even so it was, and here, in the month of May, it lay before us, a polished shaft, and in whose alternate veins of light and shade we saw symbolized the varied experience of our California life.
Would I accept an invitation to go to the “front” and see the last spike driven? Old veterans and companions in frontier life would be there-men with whom I had hunted grizzlies in the river jungles. We had hungered and feasted together on the Plains, slept with our feet to the same fire, and fevered side by side when the miasma had shrunk the blood in our veins. Could I refuse to share in this triumph on the great day, long prayed for, that was to witness the finishing blow to the greatest enterprise of the age? California would be there with her bridal gift of gold; Nevada and Arizona were coming with their silver dowers, and a telegram from Sacramento informed me that a place would be reserved for me in the special car that was to convey the high contracting parties of the first part to the scene of the memorable event. With one lingering look at the fireside where my children played, a cheerful word to my exhausted patients, and a hope that they might improve the opportunity of my absence to recuperate their wasted strength-I was off. The regular passenger train from Sacramento starts at about six o’clock (p. 77) after in a special one, consisting of superintendent’s car and a tender. The car was arranged with a kitchen, dining, bedroom, and parlor, with sleeping accommodation for ten persons; the tender was provided with water-tanks, for the greater part of our way was over regions where good water could not be obtained, refrigerator and stores for a protracted sojourn in the desert. A careless glance around was enough to lull any apprehensions that might have been felt from past experience, that we might be compelled to eat our stock on the road, or search for manna in the land of the “Diggers.”
Stretching myself out on a sumptuous lounge, I looked out on the brimming, turbid river and breathed the morning air laden with the perfume of a city full of roses. The pulse of life beat high, the town was on tip-toe of expectation, and gushing with the enthusiasm of triumph. The crowds cheered as we passed, and President Stanford on the platform bowed his thanks. Besides the President were the three Government Commissioners, Sherman, Haines, and Tritle, Chief Justice Sanderson, Governor Safford of Arizona, Collector Gage of Nevada, and a few others who, like myself, were not particularly distinguished but born to good luck.
Across the bridge and out upon the plain we flew, alternate flashes of wheat fields and flowery pastures, and ghosts of trees went by; the rumble and clatter of car wheels filled my ears and soon lulled me into a drowsy reverie, and I “dreamed a dream that was not all a dream.”
I stood as a child in my father’s door-yard and saw the rippling flood as it flowed for the first time over the sandy floor of that stream-small as it seemed when measured by the line, but mighty in its results-that immortalized the name of Clinton, and opened the great lakes and prairies of the west to the commerce of the Atlantic. A troop of the boys, barelegged, were frolicking in the frothy current; one stoops down and catches a fish struggling half smothered, and bears him away in exultation; the booming of cannon rolls their pæans of victory from the Hudson to Erie, and back again through a wilderness, start ling the black bear from its covert and awakening the land of the Iroquois with the march of a mighty people.
Again I stood amidst a group of curious, skeptical men on “Albany Hill,” when a ponderous steamer on wheels was about to test the practicability of making steam a motive power on railways. They had been successful in England, and why not here? A line of road had been constructed for fifteen miles as straight as a beam of light from the sun and at a water level. I heard again the fizzing of the steam and the gush of water, as the machine vainly essayed to start. More fuel was supplied, the fizzing grew louder and sharper-slowly the wheels began to revolve but slipped on the track-sand was thrown on, when, with a cheer from the hopeful, the enormous black mass began to move off. The crowd grew excited and followed on, men on horseback led the way, determined to be in at the death and see how far the joke would go. Faster the iron horse moved on, faster the horsemen rode, and as the dreadful sounds redoubled, their steeds bolted the course, with starting eyeballs, terror-stricken. The locomotive was the victor; one dog alone contested the race, bounding and barking on till lost in the distance, and on the long vista, where the paralleled lines met, the black speck disappeared, leaving a film of smoke to float away among the pines. One man I could call his name-laughed outright; another shook his head: “Somebody would get hurt yet.” Mr. Van Epps, my schoolmaster, said that he “never had any doubt that so much was possible, but he had many reasons for believing that steam could (p. 78) not be successfully introduced to the propulsion of carriages. It was a very pretty philosophical apparatus.”
And still I dreamed; the air grew momentarily cooler, the pines grew larger and darker, deeper and darker yawned the cañons, the train seemed poised in mid-air, now flying through tree-tops, and now circling like an eagle the beetling cliffs they call Cape Horn. Far below, rivers flowed like silken threads, and as silent; above us, the snowy peaks kept creeping down, and sombre shadows of giant pines, whose vast trunks had withstood the storms for a thousand years, oppressed us with their gloom. We plunge into the bowels of the mountain and out at once into the sunlight and past the cheerful dwellings of men. We are cribbed in by timbers, snow-sheds they call them; but how strong! Every timber is a tree trunk, braced and bolted to withstand the snow-slide that starts in midwinter from the great heights above, and gathering volume as it descends, sweeps desolation in its path; the air is cold around us; snow is on every hand; it looks down upon us from the cliffs, up to us from the ravines, drips from overhead and is frozen into stalactites from the rocky wall along which our road is blasted, midway of the granite mountain. We are in pitchy darkness in the heart of the mountain-the summit of the grade; out again into the light; on, on through wooden galleries mile after mile; a sylvan lake flashes out from its emerald setting among the mountains a well-dressed gentleman touches me on the arm, and taking a cigar from his lips, asks me if I will not take luncheon. “Where are we?” I respond. “There is Donner Lake and we will soon be at Truckee.” “Two by honor and the odd card, that gives you the rubber-Jake says ‘Lunch,’ and we will go and get our revenge in the dining-room.”
I was on earth again.
Truckee was the first place that I could realize. It is worth a trip over the mountains to see that city alone. The whole place is “bran-new”; every board in every house, and there are many of them, looks as if just from the saw-mills, so fresh and bright; such crowds of great, healthy-looking, bearded men. The enormous amount of lumber in and around this place creates a wonder in the mind of one coming from the west-What will be done with it? but one approaching from the east will exult more than wonder. Down the valley of the Truckee River winds the great highway, crossing the river several times. Just before entering a tunnel, when the road slips in between the mountain and the river, we came near driving our last spike. Some Chinamen on the mountain side were cutting trees, and seeing the regular train pass, and knowing nothing of a special one, they probably thought it a fit time to run a log down the mountain. But whatever may have been their intention, the log landed on the railroad just before us-its length fifty feet and its greatest diameter three and a half feet—the smaller end rested on the track midway between the rails, and the other rested on the bank at an angle of about forty-five degrees. The short turns of the road prevented the threatening danger from being discovered until we were almost upon it; but the promptness of the engineer, and the lightness of the train, saved us from a catastrophe. The pilot picked up the log, or did its best to do it, and went through bankruptcy; but the force of the blow was not lost, for the heavy frame of the engine tripped the log and landed it where there was just room for it, yet did not prevent it from clearing away the steps of the starboard side of the train from stem to stern. The only person injured—and he but slightly-was one of our party who was on the engine, who, seeing what (p. 79) seemed an inevitable crash, jumped from the train. The force of the blow can be conceived from the fact that the log was broken through the middle, where it was at least three feet in diameter.
It was near sundown when we reached the last crossing of the Truckee, where our crippled locomotive was sent into the hospital, and our cars were made fast to the regular train. Here the desert proper begins; here for five hundred miles we lose sight of sweet running water, and the attention of the traveller is arrested by the water trains -numerous tanks mounted on trucks, used to supply the grand army of laborers and animals while the work was going on, with all the water they used. The worst part of the overland route was always represented by the early emigrants as this forty miles from the Truckee River to the Sink of the Humboldt, or Humboldt Lake as it is now more generally called. There is absolutely no water that is not hot and poisonous, and the low shrubs that abound everywhere are bitter and unwholesome to animals. The bunch grass on which the animals support life thus far, here gives out entirely, and it was this last forty miles that broke the hearts of so many faithful animals in the memorable emigration of 1849, and their bones still lie at every rod in the sands where they fell, to witness for years to come the terrible sufferings they endured. The nearer they came to the life-giving waters of the Truckee the more abundant these sad memorials are strewn. Several of our party were among the overland emigrants of that year, and they pointed out where, one by one, their animals perished, where they abandoned their wagons, and where their guns the last article they could afford to part with—were planted, muzzle downward, into the hillocks in the desperate struggle for water and life. The coniferous trees we left far back on the slopes of the Sierras, and a few cottonwoods or poplars only flourished here and there along the banks of the lower part of the river. But there is no spot so desolate that does not teach some thrilling lesson in the world’s history. If you would study the anatomy of the human form you must strip it naked; the region before us required no such denuding process; in the economy of Nature it was bare enough, and its very bones were everywhere exposed to the eye. The stunted growth of pale, green, bitter shrubs did not conceal the earthy salts that covered the ground with their frostwork, and the swift wheels of the train raised a cloud of ash-colored dust that settled over everything. Yet no man would have had the speed slackened on that account. It was a country that one could not travel over too fast. The lessons taught in Physical Geography in that one day’s travel were deeply interesting. To pass from the extremes of fertility through Alpine snows between sunrise and sunset of the same day cannot be done everywhere, or anywhere else as far as I know. Why this contrast? In what age of the world was this “great basin,” through which the Pacific Railroad runs for hundreds of miles, drained of the mighty flood that filled it and which has left its water lines hundreds of feet above us as distinctly legible as those that are washed to-day? From the great Mud Lake on the north, away south where the Pyramid drinks up the Truckee, and the Humboldt and Carson sink in the alkaline sedge and Walker’s River finds its grave, and eastward to the palisades of the Humboldt is the bed of what was once an inland sea larger than any body of fresh water now known upon the globe. If the water had disappeared by evaporation the change would have been gradual; but the appearances indicate distinct periods of subsidence. In the valley of the Great Salt Lake there are five well-marked ancient (p. 80) beaches, or benches as they are there called; the highest is best defined, and is eight hundred feet above the present level of the lake; there is no outlet in all its borders, and if the water should return to its old level it would cover every habitable spot on its shores. The novelty of a spring-bed in a railroad car was too great to allow of sound sleep; it was too much like being tossed in a blanket all night; and with the first light of morning I was up. The air was cold, and snowy mountains were in sight one is never out of sight of them. A volume of steam in the distance indicated hot springs.
At Elko we parted with the most of our passengers, who were bound for the White Pine country a hundred miles south of the railroad. Another night brought us to the front, where we saw the novel sight of a town on wheels. Houses built on cars to be moved up as the work progressed. Here were the Chinamen who had built more railroad in a given time than was ever done before by any people. The Central Pacific Company had been battling for years with the formidable difficulties of the Sierra Nevadas; and when at length they descended from the mountains they passed like a hurricane across the open country. All the material except the lumber was transported around the continent; and yet with such vigor was the work pushed forward, that three hundred miles of the road was constructed in nine months. Ten miles of track were laid in one day; and it is worthy of note, that all the rails were taken from the trucks and deposited in their places by eight men, four on a side. These rails weigh on an average five hundred and sixty pounds; and allowing fifty feet to each rail, the amount of iron borne by each man during the day of eleven hours was seventy-four tons! This was without relay. The names of the men who performed this feat are justly a part of this record. They were: Michael Shay, Patrick Joyce, Thomas Dailey, Michael Kennedy, Frederick McNamara, Edward Killeen, Michael Sullivan, and George Wyatt.
We arrived at Promontory Summit on Friday, under the information that the connection of the two roads would be made on the following day. The morning was rainy and dreary; two or three tents were pitched in the vicinity for the rendezvous of those ruffians who hang about on the march of industry, and flourish on the vices of men. The telegraph operators at the end of the respective lines were then within a few rods of each other, and communication was opened with the officers of the Union line to the eastward of us. We were informed, after some delay, that it would be impossible for them to arrive before Monday. The delay seems to have been an unavoidable one; but it was to cause a great disappointment to the people of California, whose arrangements for a celebration the next day were completed. The intelligence was sent back to Sacramento and San Francisco; and messages were returned that the celebration must take place according to the published programme; that it could not be delayed without defeating its object altogether. We all felt the embarrassment of our position keenly; but we tried to make the best of circumstances we could not control. To spend three days in this desolate spot, surrounded with sage-brush, with only such neighbors as would make it dangerous to venture away from the car, lest we have our throats cut on the suspicion that we might have a spare quarter in our pockets, was not charming. The camps of the construction parties of each road had fallen back from the summit to the low ground near the lake, after the close of one of the most celebrated contests of engineering skill and energy on both sides ever known, and were resting on their arms. (p. 81)
One-half of our party procured a conveyance to the camps of the Union Pacific, where General Casement, their Superintendent of Construction, generously dispatched a train to convey them to Ogden. On the following day the same gallant officer came up to the end of his track, with a special train which he put at the disposal of Governor Stanford to take the rest of us over their road. The offer was accepted, and we ran down to Weber Creek station, and an opportunity was enjoyed of viewing some of the finest mountain scenery in the world. The Wasatch Mountains rise from the plain on the west shore of the lake to the height of six thousand feet above its surface, or ten thousand feet above the level of the sea. They are the very ideal of inaccessible snow-covered mountains, set off by the green fields and blushing tints of the peach orchards just coming into flower. Mr. Hart, the Central Pacific artist, who accompanied us, took some fine views of this mountain from the railway overlooking the town of Ogden. The tiderip is well marked where the currents of traffic from East and West meet-where the barley from the West greets the corn from Illinois, where paper is currency, and coal takes the place of Juniper trees as fuel. We feel, while looking about, that we have met half way. A genuine thunder storm seemed to have been got up for the occasion and drove us all indoors, while we were at Ogden, and cooled the air, Here we found plants common at the East, but unknown in California—as the old familiar Taraxicum or Dandelion; and Rhus toxicodendron or Poison Ivy takes the place of the Rhus diversiloba or Poison Oak. On the following day we ran our own train back, about thirty miles, to Monument Point at the north end of the lake-the only point where the railroad touches it; and we spent several hours upon its shore. A beautiful sea is Salt Lake when seen from an elevation its color varying from brilliant blue to green; but a study of its briny shore reveals it as a dead sea in which no living thing is found. The waves cast up masses of the remains of insects which have perished on its surface, and which are known as the “grasshopper line” the high-water mark. A few fish in the lake would allow no grasshopper line along the shore; but here the insects are pickled when they perish, and are finally blown ashore. Its islands, when visited by Fremont and Stansbury, were inhabited by myriads of birds, where undisturbed they bred in security; but we saw no living thing within or above its waters. Our steward with his gun procured a mess of snipe from a marsh where a fresh water brook lost itself in the sedge at a distance from the lake-among them was a rufus-headed Avoset!
On the morning of the tenth, as we looked out of the car, we saw a force of Union Pacific men at work closing up the gap that had been left at their end of the road, and the construction trains brought up large numbers of men to witness the laying of the last rail. About ten o’clock the whistle announced the long-expected officers from the other side. We went over at once to meet them. In a superb piece of cabinetwork, they call a “Pullman car,” we met Vice President Durant, of whom we have heard so much, with a black velvet coat and gay neck-tie, that seemed to have been the “last tie” to which he had been giving his mind, gorgeously gotten up. General Dodge was there, and he looked like business. The veterans Dillon and Duff were there to give away the bride. General Dodge on the part of the Union Pacific, and Edgar Mills on the part of the Central Pacific, were appointed to arrange the preliminaries.
The munificence of private citizens of San Francisco had contributed two gold spikes, each designed to be the (p. 82) last one driven. Gentlemen from Nevada had contributed a silver one, at whose forging a hundred men had each struck a blow. The Governor of Arizona, also on behalf of his Territory, had one of silver. The Laurel tie that we brought with us was adjust ed to its place; and in order that each gold spike should be the last, one was presented by Governor Stanford, President of the Central Pacific, to Vice-President Durant, of the Union Pacific, who should drive it as the last on the latter road, while the other was to be the last on the Central road, and be driven last of all by Governor Stanford, who had thrown the first shovelful of earth at the opening of the road.
It had been arranged with Mr. Gamble, superintendent of the telegraph lines, that throughout the cities of the United States, wherever fire-alarm telegraphs were established, connection should be made with the last spike and the hammer that drove it, so that the blow should announce itself and fire cannon on the shores of both oceans at the same instant. Preparations having been completed, the operator sent notice to all stations throughout the country to be ready, and the whole nation held its breath. A reverend gentleman present was invited to invoke the blessing of Almighty God upon the work. The operator announced: “Hats off, prayer is being said ;” and as we uncovered our heads, the crowds that were gathered at the various telegraph offices in the land uncovered theirs. It was a sublime moment, and we realized it. The prayer ended, the silver spikes were driven. Durant drove his of gold. Stanford stood with the silver sledge gleaming in the air, whose blow was to be heard farther, without metaphor, than any blow struck by mortal man; the realization of the ancient myth of Jupiter with the thunderbolt in his hand. The blow fell, and simultaneously the roar of cannon on both shores of the continent announced the tidings: It is done! The alarm bells of the principal cities struck, one-two three-synchronous with the strokes of the hammer; and people rushed from their houses, thinking a general alarm of fire was being rung. The cause soon became known, and banners everywhere were flung to the breeze; other bells joined in the cry of joy and of triumph. Te Deum Laudamus was sung in the churches, and the chimes rung out the national anthems. The nation made a day of it.
But I set out to tell what we did there among the sage-brush, away there in the heart of the wilderness. We Californians were too few to make much noise. We did the best we knew; but we were swallowed up in the multitude that came up from the East.
The officers of a detachment of the Twenty-first regiment, with their wives, on their way to California, arrived in time to witness the ceremony; and soon after the detachment itself came up under arms, accompanied by the regimental band playing national airs. The locomotives from each side rolled over the place of junction as if to weld the union, touched pilots and screamed their best. The only women from California were Mrs. Ryan, wife of Governor Stanford’s agent at Ogden, and Mrs. Strowbridge, the wife of the superintendent of construction for the Central Pacific, who had been with her husband at the front during the whole time of the building of the road; and a post of honor was assigned her as the “Heroine of the Central.” The prearranged telegrams to the President of the United States, the Associated Press, and others, were sent off; and after cheering the companies and everybody interested, we adjourned to the car of Mr. Durant, when answers to our messages began to pour in from Chicago, New York, and Washington, announcing that the lines worked as intended, and that the country was in a blaze everywhere at the East. (p. 83)
Governor Stanford threw open his car, and the officers of the Eastern company returned his visit. And then the trains bound east and west went their respective ways; the troops who travel only by day went into camp; and after an ineffectual attempt to capture the officers of the Union Pacific Company and bring them prisoners to California, we steamed away from that spot which will be distinguishable until the sawed ties from the Sierras and the hewn ones from the Laramie are rotted away.
Years to come, the traveller as he passes the place will look out for the laurel tie and the gold and silver spikes that garnished the last rail that connected the two oceans with a continuous band of iron. Could they hope to see them there? Why, even before the officials left the spot they were removed and their places supplied with those of the ordinary material, and when the throng rushed up, the coveted prize was not there. What their fate would have been we can judge by that of their successors, which had to be replaced by new ones even before we left the spot. They were broken to pieces for relics; and the unfortunate rail itself was failing beneath the blows of hammers and stones, to be borne away in fragments as heirlooms.” (p. 84)]
1871
“Map of the Central Pacific Railroad.” CALIFORNIA MAIL BAG 1:1 (June 1871): unnumbered leaf following p. vi. [A fold‑out sheet 13 1/2″ x 35 1/2″ with a map of the Central Pacific R.R. and 24 engravings of views along the line of the route. Not credited, but the views are taken from stereographs made by Alfred Hart. The other side contains train schedules, routes, etc. This mapped was tipped into the first few issues of the magazine.]
1888
“Record of Photographic Patents.” PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES AND AMERICAN PHOTOGRAPHER 18:333 (Feb. 3, 1888): 60.
[“376,798. Combined Photographic Camera and Plate-holder. Joseph A. Davison, Polo, Ill.
376,983. Photographic Plate-holder. Willard H. Fuller, Passaic, N. J.
376,803. Method of Making Photographic Pictures. Alfred A. Hart, New York, N. Y.
376,840. Photographic Printing-frame. Leo F. Adt, Waterbury, Conn.”]
1889
“Record of Photographic Patents Issued.-1888.” AMERICAN ANNUAL OF PHOTOGRAPHY AND PHOTOGRAPHIC TIMES ALMANAC FOR 1889 (1889): 317-320.
[ “Issued By The United States Patent Office, With Names of Patentees.”
Revised By F. C. Beach.
October 18, 1887, To October 30, 1888.
—————————————
871,855.-Photographic Plate-Holder. Peter E. Rudell, New York, N. Y….(Etc., etc.) (p. 317)
376,798.-Combined Photographic Camera and Plate-holder. Joseph A. Davison, Polo, III.
376,802.-Method of Making Photographic Pictures. Alfred A. Hart, New York, N. Y.
376,840.-Photographic Printing-frame. Leo F. Adt, Waterbury, Conn.
376,983.-Photographic Plate-holder. Willard H. Fuller, Passaic, N. J.
377,498.-Method of Photographic Printing in Fatty Inks….” (Etc., etc.) (p. 318)]
1896
“Editorial.” ART EDUCATION (Dec.-Jan. 1895-1896): 43. [“At a banquet of the M.N.A.S. Alumni, in Boston, Mr. T. H. Bartlett, the sculptor, once said: “The American public must have a fad; it simply cannot live happily without one.” Is this true of teachers? Once it was “environment,” then it was “apperception;” now it is “concentration” and “correlation.” To assist in this last wise movement, teachers of art will find the “Note-Book Illustrations” of the Prang Educational Company, Boston, helpful; also those published in “Photo-blue,” by Mr. Alfred A. Hart, No. 221 West 109th St., New York. (For cabinet size and larger photographs of all kinds of art works, the Soule Company, Boston.–Ed.)
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1918
Turrill, Charles B., “An Early California Photographer: C. E. Watkins.” NEWS NOTES OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARIES 13:1 (Jan. 1918): 29‑37. [“Note. The following account of the life and work of C. E. Watkins was written to accompany a catalog of the Watkins’ stereoscopic views. It is printed here as it is believed that the work of Mr. Watkins was a valuable one for California, and also that it is well to draw the attention of California libraries to the worth of these stereoscopic views, some of which every library may have. The State Library would be glad to complete its set and would like to hear from libraries having any of the Watkins or Hart stereoscopic views, which they would be willing to donate to, or deposit or exchange with the State Library.
The accompanying catalog of Watkins’ stereoptic views is an accurate transcript made by me several years ago from Mr. Watkins’ negative register. It is a complete copy of what is designated as “Watkins’ New Series. Any other Watkins’ stereos, excepting the Hart stereos, to be referred to later, belonged to the earlier work of Watkins. Those bearing smaller numbers are extremely rare.
The series of Watkins’ stereoptic views in the State Library collection numbered, for instance, 9, 41, 73, 330, etc., are a portion of what Watkins designated as the “Hart negatives.” This series, numbering somewhat more than three hundred, was made by A. A. Hart, a Sacramento photographer, during the period of the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. Watkins purchased these negatives many years ago, and incorporated them in his series, printing for sale a portion of them. I have a complete catalog of these Hart negatives which I also copied from Watkins’ record, and which is annexed to this copy as a part thereof. It is questionable whether there are prints in existence of all these negatives. My collection lacks perhaps a dozen or so, and it is the largest collection of the Hart views in existence….” (p. 29) (Etc., etc.)
“…What might be called the Second Series of Watkins’ stereos which Taber secured, were always mounted on printed mounts, bearing serial numbers. Usually these mounts bore a copyright notice and on the reverse was printed a reproduction of the medal awarded at the Paris Exposition, being the first medal, according to Watkins, ever awarded for view photographs. Watkins’ earlier stereos were all taken by what was then known as a stereo camera.
The Hart stereos were also taken in the same way. In (p. 31) the “new series” of stereos a different system was adopted….” (p. 34) “…As previously mentioned, this series of stereos was made on a series of negatives 5½x14. Consequently, there were printed boudoir views of a very large portion. This especially applies to views of the missions. Also Watkins issued printed lists of his stereoscopic negatives of this southern trip, which I am quite positive is the only printed list of his work that was ever issued.
It has already been noted that Watkins obtained from Alfred A. Hart his series of 364 stereoscopic negatives showing the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad. These were progress pictures, and it seems to have been Hart’s plan to go each successive season to the then terminus of the road, photographing the work in that vicinity as well as in sections which had not been visited on previous trips, and also filling in views of structures which had not been begun at an earlier period. This explains the view of the round house at Rocklin, which chronologically is not in its proper place in the list….” (p. 35) “…. During the construction and the early days of the Central Pacific Railroad, Watkins did a large amount of photographic work for the company, though for some reason this did not begin until after the making of the Hart series before referred to. Watkins made photographic reproductions of a great many plans and drawings for the engineering department and for other departments of the road….” (p. 37) (Etc., etc.)]
CONTEMPORARY
Pattison, William D. “Westward by Rail with Professor Sedgwick: A Lantern Journey of 1873.” HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA QUARTERLY 42:1 (Mar. 1960): 335-349. 6 b & w, 4 illus. [(Stephen James Sedgwick toured professionally for several years in the 1870s giving illustrated lectures of the constructions, places, and scenery along the tracks of the Union Pacific Railroad in a series of one and a half hour lectures. He used lantern slides copied from stereo views. The majority of these views were attributed to A. J. Russel and his team of Union Pacific photographers, yet at least one of Sedgwick’s lectures continued over the Central Pacific R. R. to the end in Sacramento, California. WSJ)
“…Sedgwick’s final lecture, in contrast to its three predecessors, depended for pictures almost entirely upon photographers operating outside the Union Pacific photographic corps.” To complete the contrast, the sources of information were apparently confined to travel accounts and guidebooks collected by Sedgwick. (21)…” (p. 347)
“…(21) The supplementary contributors were Central Pacific photographers, principally Alfred A. Hart, C. E. Watkins and Edward J. Muybridge.
(22)About thirty western travel sources are recorded in “Catalogue of the Library of S. J. Sedgwick, 1883,” MS at Ledge Rest, Sheffield, Massachusetts. No evidence of Sedgwick’s venturing westward beyond Union Pacific territory has been found.
23. Press notices and other sources for discussion of Sedgwick’s fourth lecture are contained in Announcement of Lectures (1879)….” (p. 348)
(C. R. Savage and William Henry Jackson also photographed along the railroad, and the confusions, some apparently generated by Sedwick himself, over the authorship of these photos was still not completely resolved in 1960 or even today. The article provides a valuable insight into the cultural impact of the U.P.R.R. and the photographs of its construction. WSJ)]
“The Muscle, the Gold, and the Iron: Documenting the Construction of the Central Pacific, The Stereographs of Alfred A. Hart.” AMERICAN WEST 6:3 (May 1969): 13‑19. 13 b & w. 1 illus.
Palmquist, Peter E. “Alfred A. Hart and the Illustrated Traveller’s Map of the Central Pacific Railroad.” STEREO WORLD 6:6 (Jan. ‑ Feb. 1980): 14‑18. 4 b & w. 4 illus. [Alfred A. Hart authored a railroad guidebook, and the “Traveller’s Map of the Central Pacific Railroad,” (ca. 1870), illustrated with twenty‑four engravings taken from his own stereographic views, of the building of the Central Pacific R. R.]
Willumson, Glenn G. “Alfred Hart: Photographer to the Central Pacific Railroad.” HISTORY OF PHOTOGRAPHY 12:1 (Jan. ‑ Mar. 1988): 61‑75. 13 b & w. 6 illus. [Extensive, detailed biography.]
McGonigal, Robert S. “The Railroad Photographs of Alfred A. Hart, Artist.” TRAINS 56:4 (April. 1996): 77-__.
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