Original Photograph Album; Life in the Northwest.

Port Townsend, WA and others: N.p., [ca. 1900]. Original quarto album of full morocco measuring 9 1/2 x 6 1/2 inches. There are 24 think leaves mounted on stubs with each leaf bearing four windows for photographs measuring 3 7/8 x 2 7/8 inches. Most of the leaves in the rear bear no photographs but in the front there are 64 inserted silver gelatin photographs. Of these 36 bear images of people, places and activities in the Puget Sound/Port Townsend area, The remainder are quotidian shots of England. a chief concern in this album is mining and likely they brought in some British miners (which would explain the shots of England). No surnames are given so it is all a bit of a mystery but the pictures speak for themselves. Finding a mining album of the Northwest is a rather rare occasion.The photographs of interest are; Log Cabin; Ranch House (with two women and an infant in front; the nanny appears to be a Native American); Ore Coming out of a Tunne; Harry Smith Cabin (with two gents relaxing on the front porch); Cook House (a mess tent with many miners taking their meal); Bunk homes (for the workers); Blacksmith shop and Ore Dump (with two men pushing a cart of trailings down the hill); Swamp grass three foot high; Dumping ore from car; Road Gang at Dinner; Railroad Station near mountains; Road Makers to the Mine (a posed group shot of 20 men); Sunset near Port Townsend; Mates at the Boiler Makers; A river near our mine (faded). The rest are uncaptioned but we can see the same camp and people in the winter snow; 2 shots of a sailing vessel trying to come up the Columbia [?]; and seven photographs of Native Americans (unposed). One of them seems to be wearing a mask or bag over his head. A fascinating album of a rough and tumble time in the Pacific Northwest.