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Description

Monumental Carleton Watkins View of Virginia City Mining Region

An exceptional woodcut view of Virginia City, drawn from photographs by legendary California landscape photographer Carleton Watkins.

The view was issued as a "Supplement" to Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper for October 19, 1878.

This is among the largest reasonably obtainable views of Virginia City and one of the most detailed, providing a comprehensive look at the area at the height of its boom years, when the city's population peaked at about 25,000 (versus about 850 today).

Carleton E. Watkins

Carleton E. Watkins (1829–1916) was an American photographer of the 19th century. Born in New York, he moved to California and quickly became interested in photography. He focused mainly on landscape photography, and Yosemite Valley was a favorite subject of his. His photographs of the valley significantly influenced the United States Congress' decision to preserve it as a National Park.

Watkins traveled to Virginia City at least twice in the 1870s.

Condition Description
Splits and tears repaired on verso with archival tape.
Carleton E. Watkins Biography

Carleton Watkins (American, 1829-1916) was one of the most highly acclaimed of early western photographers, yet Watkins's work has never been fully cataloged. No complete listings of his "Old Series" stereoviews, published before 1875, are known.  

Watkins extensively photographed early San Francisco, Yosemite, Mendocino and the Sierra Nevada mining regions. His photogaphs of Yosemite helped influence Congress and President Lincoln in the preservation of Yosemite Valley. Watkins also made some of the earliest photographs of Southern California and the Pacific Nortwest. Watkins' Pacific Railroad series documents construction of the trans-continental railroad from Sacramento to Utah.