Cape Horn, Columbia River, Oregon
In July of 1867, Carleton Watkins arrived in Portland, Oregon, determined to expand the range of his work beyond his well known images of Yosemite Valley. He decided to take on another rugged view: that of the Columbia River Gorge. Travel was difficult—though railroads and highways would eventually service the area, Watkins’ visit preceded them by several years—forcing the photographer to go by steamships, barges, and portage railroads. It wasn’t just Watkins traveling. He had his mammoth-plate camera, his stereoscope camera, hundreds of glass negative plates, and the equipment and flammable chemicals needed to develop the negatives in tow. Despite these difficulties, Watkins produced at least 59 mammoth-plate photographs, the first known images to comprehensively document the mid-Columbia River.
Watkins captured some of the first photographs of now-iconic landmarks like Cape Horn. This particular photograph is widely considered one of Watkins’s finest images from his work in the Columbia River Gorge. Featured in the canoe is John Stephenson (Watkins’ guide and assistant), as well as apples from his family farm stacked on the left.
