Joseph Silas Diller
Views from an Important Photographic Survey of Rock Formations in Mount Lassen and Elsewhere, c. 1890s
Albumen and printing-out-paper prints (19)
Each 8 x 10 inches; most mounted 10 3/4 x 13 1/2 inches
With typed descriptive paper strip or handwritten titled text bearing Diller's initials. A few initialed in negative as well.
With typed descriptive paper strip or handwritten titled text bearing Diller's initials. A few initialed in negative as well.
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During his 40 year career with the US Geological Survey, and later as a professor, Joseph Silas Dillar produced numerous geological maps, reconnaissance surveys and economic geologic studies. His main...
During his 40 year career with the US Geological Survey, and later as a professor, Joseph Silas Dillar produced numerous geological maps, reconnaissance surveys and economic geologic studies. His main focus was the Southern Cascadia, the complex region of southern Oregon and northern California that encompasses portions of the eastern Great Basin, Sierra Nevada, Cascade Volcanic, Great Valley, Klamath Mountains and Coast Ranges.
However, a less-heralded aspect of Diller's long and important career is his commanding photographic output, represented here in the present group of photographs. These spare, assured compositions, documenting geological formations around Mount Lassen and in Utah, were taken for scientific purposes but they showcase Diller's undeniably keen artistic sensibilities.
On the mount of each image there is a typed descriptive paper strip or handwritten text bearing Diller's initials. These captions are as follows:
179. The summit of the Sierras looking south from Kettle Rock, Plumas County, California.; 235. Recent lava flow down hat Creek. Hat Creek Hill in the distance, Shasta County, California.; 264. Surface of the Lava Field near lake Bidwell.; The Crater of Cinder Cone, looking down from the slope of Prospect Hill, ten miles northeast of Lassen Peak; The edge of the Crater on the Cinder Cone; Crater of the Cinder Cone; Crater of the Cinder Cone (another angle); 260. Crater of the Cinder Cone. (another angle); 265. Surface of the Lava Field and Cinder Cone ten miles northeast of Lassen Peak.; 266. (G.S.A. 224) Snag Lake and the Lava Dam by which it was produced The snags in the foreground are of trees killed by the formation of the lake.; 268. (G.S.A. 225) Lava front on Snag Lake.; 288. Surface of the Lava Field and Ice Spring Craters.; 289. Eastern edge of the Lava Field and Ice Spring Craters.; 290. Eastern edge of the Lava Field. Nearer View.; 291. Eastern edge of the Lava Field. Nearer View. (another angle);283. In the Canyon of Ogden River five miles above the city of Ogden, Utah; 284. Ice Spring Craters, Utah. Inner slope of the Mitre, showing the flowing of the lava downward in the crater when it subsided at the close of the eruption.
However, a less-heralded aspect of Diller's long and important career is his commanding photographic output, represented here in the present group of photographs. These spare, assured compositions, documenting geological formations around Mount Lassen and in Utah, were taken for scientific purposes but they showcase Diller's undeniably keen artistic sensibilities.
On the mount of each image there is a typed descriptive paper strip or handwritten text bearing Diller's initials. These captions are as follows:
179. The summit of the Sierras looking south from Kettle Rock, Plumas County, California.; 235. Recent lava flow down hat Creek. Hat Creek Hill in the distance, Shasta County, California.; 264. Surface of the Lava Field near lake Bidwell.; The Crater of Cinder Cone, looking down from the slope of Prospect Hill, ten miles northeast of Lassen Peak; The edge of the Crater on the Cinder Cone; Crater of the Cinder Cone; Crater of the Cinder Cone (another angle); 260. Crater of the Cinder Cone. (another angle); 265. Surface of the Lava Field and Cinder Cone ten miles northeast of Lassen Peak.; 266. (G.S.A. 224) Snag Lake and the Lava Dam by which it was produced The snags in the foreground are of trees killed by the formation of the lake.; 268. (G.S.A. 225) Lava front on Snag Lake.; 288. Surface of the Lava Field and Ice Spring Craters.; 289. Eastern edge of the Lava Field and Ice Spring Craters.; 290. Eastern edge of the Lava Field. Nearer View.; 291. Eastern edge of the Lava Field. Nearer View. (another angle);283. In the Canyon of Ogden River five miles above the city of Ogden, Utah; 284. Ice Spring Craters, Utah. Inner slope of the Mitre, showing the flowing of the lava downward in the crater when it subsided at the close of the eruption.