Photographic Views of the Mojave Route, El Dorado Canyon and Fort Mojave, 1863
Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- D'Heureuse, R. (Rudolph)
- Extent:
- 44 prints, 14 x 11 cm. or smaller (3 prints mounted) 44 digital objects
- Language:
- Collection materials are in English
Background
- Scope and content:
-
The Photographic Views of the Mojave Route, El Dorado Canyon and Fort Mojave collection contains 41 photographic prints taken by Rudolph D'Heureuse in 1863. Pictured in the collection is the Mojave Desert region from the San Bernardino Valley and Cajon Pass eastward to the Colorado River and Fort Mojave of Arizona. The reason D'Heureuse photographed this section of the "Mojave Road" and the adjacent region is unclear. It is most likely that he was surveying the area in association with either the Macedonia Mining District or the California State Geological Survey. D'Heureuse's work is considered to be the earliest extant body of survey photographs of this region.
The emphasis of the photographs is the geological and botanical features of the region. Many valleys, hills, mountains, plains, and canyons, as well as cacti, yucca and other plants of the area are pictured.
Locations featured in the collection include the Cajon Pass, the Mojave River, the Colorado River, Fort Mojave, San Bernardino Valley, El Dorado Canyon, and the Providence Mountains, as well as more obscure areas such as New San Pedro, Point Rock, Camp Cady, Warm Soda Springs, Marl Spring, Rock Springs, Lewis Spring, and the Tetchatticup Tunnel.
Also pictured in the collection are surveyors, Mojave ((or Paiute / Piute?) Indians, soldiers and other unidentified persons, as well as dwellings, camp sites and miscellaneous structures.
In 1869, the photographs in the collection were obtained from D'Heureuse by William Henry Brewer, one of the members of the California State Geological Survey. Brewer lists the prints, however, in his 1864 fieldbook [William H. Brewer Fieldbooks, BANC MSS C-B 328], presumably as retrospective notes entered subsequent to receipt of the photographs in June, 1869. The collection title and container listing appearing in this finding aid were originally transcribed from this fieldbook entry by Francis P. Farquhar. The photograph numbers correspond to those listed by Brewer, with numbers 1 and 33 lacking, as in Brewer's original list. Mounted duplicates exist for 3 of the prints.
A set of 33 photographs that includes some of D'Heureuse's Mojave images is present in the Horace Mann, Jr. collection, Clements Library, University of Michigan at Ann Arbor (1944. M-470).
[Information on D'Heureuse and his photographs from Palmquist, Peter E. and Thomas R. Kailbourn, Pioneer Photographers of the Far West: A Biographical Dictionary, 1840-1865, Stanford University Press, 2000, with supplementary information from research notes of Germaine Moon, Barstow, CA, 1979, filed in the curatorial Artist Files of The Bancroft Library. This finding aid has been revised in 2018 based upon the research of Jeff Lapides and Dennis G. Casebier, published in The Mojave Road in 1863 : the pioneering photographs of Rudolph d'Heureuse, Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association, 2018.]
- Rules or conventions:
- Finding Aid prepared using Describing Archives: a Content Standard
Access and use
- Location of this collection:
-
University of California, Berkeley, The Bancroft LibraryBerkeley, CA 94720-6000, US
- Contact:
- 510-642-6481