Timothy O'Sullivan's Shoshone Falls
Iconic Timothy O'Sullivan photograph of Shoshone Falls in Idaho made during the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, led by Clarence King in 1867-1869. O'Sullivan, one of the greatest photographers of the American West, served as the official photographer on the King Survey.
This image comes from what photographic historian Keith F. Davis describes as the first (of three) periods of O'Sullivan's King Survey work, dating from 1867-68. These early views reflect a rawer vision in the photographer's evolution: "Stylistically, a notable number of O'Sullivan's early survey pictures can legitimately be described as blunt or raw in quality... [he] was working intuitively and learning as he went."
The survey expedition started in Virginia City, Nevada, where O'Sullivan photographed mines and then worked his way east. This work established him as one of the pioneers in photography of untamed nature in pre-industrialized spaces. O'Sullivan became a master at creating stunningly beautiful images that captured the grandeur of the American West.
Shoshone Falls, a waterfall situated on the Snake River in south-central Idaho, northeast of Twin Falls, has been described as "the most emotionally and physically dramatic site [O'Sullivan] encountered." (Jurovics). Sometimes referred to as the "Niagara Falls of the West," Shoshone Falls is 212 feet high and flows over a rim approximately 1,000 feet wide.
Interestingly, during all of O'Sullivan's years photographing in the West, Shoshone Falls was the only site he photographed twice.
Although O'Sullivan was ostensibly photographing a geological exploration, historians of photography point out that O'Sullivan went far beyond mere documentation, learning how to use photography to "convey not only fact but metaphor." To modern observers the images he produced clearly transcend the report text they were intended to illustrate:
....neither do [O'Sullivan's] photographs of Shoshone Falls fit easily within either of King's accounts. O'Sullivan made several views from above Shoshone Falls (plates 26-28), beginning just below the rim of the Snake River canyon and moving successively closer and further in to the canyon until his frame is filled from edge to edge, building a progressive level of tension as he moves toward the brink of the falls... - Jurovics, p.35
Clarence King, the Geologist in charge of the expedition described Shoshone Falls in dramatic language in his famous book, Mountaineering in the High Sierra (1872):
Suddenly you stand upon a brink, as if the earth had yawned. Black walls flank the abyss. Deep in the bed a great river fights its way through labyrinths of blackened ruins, and plunges in foaming whiteness over a cliff of lava.
Compare the above passage with King's official report on Systemic Geology:
Geologically and scenically the neighborhood of Shoshone Falls is the most interesting point of the cañon... The volume of the river in its fullest stage is far less than that of Niagara, but the breaking up of the brink of the Falls by deep reentrant angles, render the cataract one of the most picturesque in the world.
The present photograph is from O'Sullivan's time with the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, known as the King Survey, from 1867-1869 and 1872. This expedition, ordered by the War Department and approved by Congress, aimed to explore and document the land along and north of the fortieth parallel north, spanning from eastern Wyoming through southern Idaho, northern Utah, northern Nevada, and northern California. O'Sullivan's photographs, particularly those of Shoshone Falls in Idaho, are representative works of the expedition. These images capture the dramatic landscapes and play a crucial role in documenting the American West, showcasing both its natural beauty and the challenges faced by the expedition.
Timothy H. O'Sullivan was an important 19th-century American photographer known for his work documenting the Civil War and American West. Starting as a civilian photographer attached to the topographical engineers, O'Sullivan copied maps during the Civil War. After his famous Civil War series, he began working in the West. He served as the official photographer with the Geological Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel, known as the King Survey, from 1867-1869. From 1871 to 1874 he continued with George M. Wheeler's survey west of the 100th meridian. O'Sullivan contributed significantly to the visual history of the American frontier and the documentation of geological and topographical knowledge during that period. More recently his photographs have been recognized as works of art that transcended their initial reception primarily as visual documents.