A Series of Albumen Photographs Recording an Early Ascent and Survey of Mount Rainier in August 1895

[Tacoma, Washington: E.A. Lynn Photographic Studio], 1895.

Price: $6,500.00

Hardcover. A group of 23 albumen photos measuring 6½" x 4¾", each mounted on slightly larger card stock, all with captions in ink at lower foredge, notations in pencil on verso, each in numbered order, several identifying the subjects on verso in ink, photos with two small brass riveted holes in the upper foredge and bound together with brass chain, all edges gilt. Occasional modest scuffing and minor rubbing, else a near fine set.

A collection of albumen photographs taken by Lynn recording the ascent of Mount Rainier in August, 1895. In August of 1895, Walter Marsh Bosworth, Ellison A. Lynn, Fred Cowden, Howard Fries, William Love, and Fred Evans climbed Mount Rainier, and were trapped in blizzard conditions. They managed to survive the storm, trapped at the Camp of the Clouds at 12,000 feet. Bosworth’s Survey was reported later to the Secretary of the Interior, and Hartman was instrumental in pushing for the formation of Mt. Rainier National Park.

Bosworth and Evans had spent the month of August exploring and mapping the south side of Mount Rainier. They had organized an ascent to the summit with Lynn, Fries, Cowden, and Love, with Lynn intent on bring back photographs from the summit of Mt. Rainier.

The party arranged to travel with Peter Hartman, Harry Copeland, and their families to Paradise Valley, Longmire Springs, and then Camp Alta Vista before the ascent party continued on to the summit of the mountain. The captioned images include the mouth of Paradise Glacier; the Hartmans and Copelands in camp and hunting at Camp Alta Vista (7000 feet); Love crossing a crevasse with an alpine ice ax; Love and Fries rounding Gibraltar Rock at 12,000 feet; a view of Liberty Cap on the North side of Mount Rainier; as well as an excellent photo showing Bosworth, Fries, Love, Cowden, and Lynn leaving for the ascent (with an additional ink notation indicating that all but Fries succeeded in making the summit).

The three photos taken from the top of the crater show Mount St. Helens and Mount Adams; another of the Columbia Crest from the North side; and Mount Adams from the West side of the crater. Of particular interest are the excellent photos of the head of the Nisqually Glacier, the descent down to its mouth, the mouth of the glacier itself, and one of Fries hanging above a crevasse on Nisqually Glacier.

The expedition received some notoriety because of their homing pigeon reports received August 5, 1895 that they were nearly frozen at 12,000 feet from a blowing gale, that Love and Fries were unable to continue the climb, and Bosworth, Cowden, and Lynn would attempt the ascent of the summit. The homing pigeons were delayed by a day due to fires and smoke in the forest below. Bosworth was a noted civil engineer and surveyor who had surveyed and filed plat maps in much of Pierce, Thurston, and Whatcom counties from 1889 to 1893. After his survey and explorations of Mt. Rainier in 1895, he became the Chief Engineer of the Tacoma Interurban Railway. He eventually returned to private practice, and worked as a surveyor until 1924 when he became the Tacoma City Engineer.

Hartman was a well-known and well-connected Seattle attorney who was a very influential voice in pushing for the creation of Mount Rainier National Park. He described in his 1935 address to the Washington Good Roads Association how during the 1895 trek with Copeland, their families, Bosworth, and the others to Mount Rainier, they had witnessed vandals purposely setting forest fires which were destroying the majestic trees. He determined then that he would devote his energies to ensuring that he would work towards establishing a National Park to protect the natural beauty of the area. Using the Bosworth and Evans survey, as well as other data, he worked with Washington Congressman James Hamilton Lewis to push a bill through the U.S. Congress. His law firm worked on establishing the boundaries, and specifically drew them to exclude certain sections which were being mined by the Longmire families, and others. Hartman was responsible for assuring the support of the influential Republican Congressman Joseph Cannon, Chairman of the Appropriations Committee - with whom he had a personal relationship. If Cannon allowed the bill to be passed and eventually signed by McKinley, he would not ask for additional funds from Congress to maintain the park until Cannon left office. The bill passed both houses and was signed by McKinley in March, 1899. Hartman also served as the President of the Board of Regents for the University of Washington from 1904-1909, and was instrumental in organizing the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition in 1909.

Copeland was a noted architect who was supervising the construction of the State Capitol Building in Olympia. After the project stalled he returned to New York and worked on several buildings there, but did finally return to Washington State in 1912 to supervise the construction of the capitol for Wilder and White. He also designed buildings for Governor Lister, and later the Walla Walla County Courthouse.

Lynn Photographic Studios was the successor to I.G. Davidson Studios, for which Lynn had become the manager in 1892, and then established later as his own. He continued to operate for the next three decades in Tacoma as a portrait studio photographer, and even opened a branch in Seattle. In 1910, he became the vice president of the Photographers Association of the Pacific Northwest, Washington.

See: *San Francisco Chronicle*, August 5, 1895; "John P. Hartman, Creation of Mount Rainier National Park" (1935); "Harry L. Copeland, Pioneer Architect" in *The Architect & Engineer*, December, 1930.


Item #399350

item image

Item #399350 A Series of Albumen Photographs Recording an Early Ascent and Survey of Mount Rainier in August 1895. Walter Marsh BOSWORTH, Jr., John Peter Hartman, Ellison A. Lynn, Harry L. Copeland.
A Series of Albumen Photographs Recording an Early Ascent and Survey of Mount Rainier in August 1895
A Series of Albumen Photographs Recording an Early Ascent and Survey of Mount Rainier in August 1895