Cutting on the 49th Parallel, on the Right Bank of the Mooyie River Looking West thumbnail 1
Cutting on the 49th Parallel, on the Right Bank of the Mooyie River Looking West thumbnail 2
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Cutting on the 49th Parallel, on the Right Bank of the Mooyie River Looking West

Photograph
c.1860 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

In 1856 the War Department appointed the South Kensington Museum photographer Charles Thurston Thompson to teach photography to the Royal Engineers. On one expedition these soldier-photographers documented the border between the USA and Canada. From the crest of the Rockies westwards along the 49th Parallel to the coast, they painstakingly recorded everything that crossed their path, producing 'one of the earliest significant bodies of photographs made in the Pacific Northwest'.

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Object details

Category
Object type
TitleCutting on the 49th Parallel, on the Right Bank of the Mooyie River Looking West (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Albumen print from wet collodion-on-glass negative
Brief description
Photograph by Royal Engineers, 'Cutting on the 49th Parallel, on the Right Bank of the Mooyie River Looking West', c.1860, albumen print
Physical description
Photograph of a group of men posed at the end of a line cut through a forested area. There is a forest covered mountain in the background.
Dimensions
  • Card mount height: 330mm
  • Card mount width: 265mm
  • Photographic print height: 245mm
  • Photographic print width: 224mm
Marks and inscriptions
No. 58. Cutting on the 49th Parallel, on the right bank of the Mooyie river, looking west.
Credit line
Received from the Foreign Office 1863
Production
Photographed by a Royal Engineers photographer on a U.S.-Canada Border Survey.
Subjects depicted
Summary
In 1856 the War Department appointed the South Kensington Museum photographer Charles Thurston Thompson to teach photography to the Royal Engineers. On one expedition these soldier-photographers documented the border between the USA and Canada. From the crest of the Rockies westwards along the 49th Parallel to the coast, they painstakingly recorded everything that crossed their path, producing 'one of the earliest significant bodies of photographs made in the Pacific Northwest'.
Collection
Accession number
40090

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Record createdOctober 17, 2008
Record URL
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