Martin Mason Hazeltine
178 Miners at the Sierra Buttes Mine, 1860s
Albumen print
7 x 9 inches; mount 8 1/2 x 11 1/2 inches
With manuscript caption mount recto.
With manuscript caption mount recto.
Iconic large-format image showing a large group of miners (178 to be exact) posed at the Sierra Buttes Mine, a massive gold operation on the south face of the Sierra...
Iconic large-format image showing a large group of miners (178 to be exact) posed at the Sierra Buttes Mine, a massive gold operation on the south face of the Sierra Buttes. It featured nine tunnels ranging from 700 to 5,000 feet in length and as deep as 1,700 feet below the surface. One of the largest gold nuggets ever discovered in California was found at the Monumental Mine above Sierra City, weighing 106 pounds, a piece of gold the size of a football.
While a variant of this photograph appears as a stereoview published by M.M. Hazeltine, we have been unable to trace another large-format example of this iconic image.
Martin Mason Hazeltine (1827-1903) began his photographic career briefly working as an early daguerreotypist in San Francisco. He is known well for his fine views of the Yosemite Valley, and his 1876 partnership with John James Reilly (who had previously been his biggest rival). By the mid 1880s, when Hazeltine was photographing for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, he was a veteran photographer of the West, maintaining galleries in Boise, Idaho, and Baker City, Oregon. Nicknamed “the traveling photographer” due to his propensity for journeying between his neighboring states, Hazeltine used a horse-drawn developing car to create and develop his exquisitely exposed photographs while out in the field. His immense understanding of the medium was supreme to the younger generation of working photographers.
From the collection of Ron Lerch.
While a variant of this photograph appears as a stereoview published by M.M. Hazeltine, we have been unable to trace another large-format example of this iconic image.
Martin Mason Hazeltine (1827-1903) began his photographic career briefly working as an early daguerreotypist in San Francisco. He is known well for his fine views of the Yosemite Valley, and his 1876 partnership with John James Reilly (who had previously been his biggest rival). By the mid 1880s, when Hazeltine was photographing for the Oregon Railway & Navigation Company, he was a veteran photographer of the West, maintaining galleries in Boise, Idaho, and Baker City, Oregon. Nicknamed “the traveling photographer” due to his propensity for journeying between his neighboring states, Hazeltine used a horse-drawn developing car to create and develop his exquisitely exposed photographs while out in the field. His immense understanding of the medium was supreme to the younger generation of working photographers.
From the collection of Ron Lerch.