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Rare 19th-Century Series of Large Format Photographs of California Redwood Logging

Remarkable series of 18 mounted albumen photographs documenting the extensive logging of giant redwood trees in northern California during the 19th-century. These photographs were made by noted Swedish-born California photographer Augustus William Ericson.

A. W. Ericson resided in Arcata, California, and is identified in the mounts of most of the photographs, as well as in the negatives of some of the images.

The images present graphic evidence of large-scale logging of redwoods and the many stages of the lumbering process and transportation of logs by railroad, as well as scenes of various towns in Humboldt County, including Arcata and Scotia. Some have a number in the negative.

• Arcata. Humboldt Co., California. 85.
• View at Scotia. Humboldt Co. California
• Scene in the California Redwoods. Lumber workers in the forest
• Scene in the California Redwoods. 149. Redwood log. "Excelsior Redwood Co. Eureka, Cal. 10 Ft. Dia." in the negative.
• Scene in the California Redwoods. 23. Ox-team pulling logs.
• Scene in the California Redwoods, Humboldt Co. 10-horse team pulling logs.
• 24 Logs, actual scale 136,804 Feet, Excelsior Redwood Co., Eureka, California. In the Redwoods: Logging at Freshwater, Humboldt Co., Cal. 
• Scene in the California Redwoods. Massive redwood log being sawed into sections.
• [uncaptioned] Trainload of logs.
• Scene in the California Redwoods, Humboldt Co. Seven men posing with a massive redwood log.
• Scene in the California Redwoods. Beautiful vertically-oriented image of redwoods before cutting. Boy in horse-drawn carriage in foreground.
• Vance's Mill, Mad River, Humboldt Co., California.
• Stmr. Emily at Trinidad, Humboldt Co., California.
• Scene in the California Redwoods. Massive, felled redwood log with seven men (some posing astride the log with axes). Beautiful print.
• Sallstrow's Gold Mines, Orleans, Humboldt Co., California. 117.
• Scene in the California Redwoods. Pack mules being loaded. Farmhouse in the background.
• Scene at Klamath River, California. 63.
• Stump 22 ft. diamenter, Korbel, Humboldt Co., California. Large group of men, women and children posing near a massive tree stump.

Augustus William Ericson (1848-1927), a native of Orebro, Sweden, became a printer's apprentice while still a boy. By the time he reached 18 years of age, Ericson, without his parent's approval, left Sweden and came to the United States. He first took a job in Chicago and then found work in a logging operation in Michigan. He started a photography business with his brother in Arcata, California, and was active in photography during the years 1895-1925. He achieved more than local celebrity for his work, with some 200 of his images being exhibited at the Chicago Columbian Exposition of 1893.

Some of Ericson's photographs were reproduced in a rare 1907 promotional pamphlet by William S. Ayres : Western Trend of Civilization: The Upbuilding of the Pacific Shore... Where the Homeseekers Drifting Westward will Establish Their Cities and Harbors.

Edgar Cherry vs. A. W. Ericson

It is interesting to compare the work of Edgar Cherry with that of A.W. Ericson. The images in a photographically-illustrated book published by Cherry, Redwood and Lumbering in California Forests (1884), which was illustrated with 24 original photographs, are sometimes erroneously attributed to Ericson. Cherry's book contains his own photographs. It is worth pointing out how Cherry emphasized the advantages of using actual photographs in his book to beter record the reality of the massive California redwoods: "Photographs cannot lie, argument as to truthfulness is unnecessary."

While Cherry's book is touted as very rare and fetches high prices in the market (it appears with some regularity in the rare book market), original photographs of similar subject matter by A. W. Ericson are extremely rare. For the Cherry books see: Truthful Lens 135. Margolis, To Delight the Eye 24. Cowan, page 525. Kurutz, California Books Illustrated with Original Photographs 7. Miles & Reese, Creating America 74.

Rarity

Original photographs by A.W. Ericson are very rare in the market.