Show BAC K T R AC kl rr N G en OL wd TRA I 1 v J I 1 01 Q u ss 6 1 1 ael 4 A X N 16 1 q Z a 0 CI 11 ith at 0 ax 41 ri by ELMO SCOTT WATSON fal time this summer a gray haired new I 1 arker will be setting out upon a ro romantic mantle journey for william 11 II jackson eighty nine year old pioneer photographer and at pres ent research secretary of the oregon trail memorial association is going to backtrack back track on the trail of youth here Is the way he told about it recently in announcing his plans about the end of june the snows of the rocky mountains will subside for another season and the roads vill ill again be passable then I 1 will start out on my annual trek over the old trail you know I 1 first went over oner the trail back in the days of the indians and the covered wagons with my little mule hypo for company III use an auto this trip it won wont t be much like an ox cart tor for seeing the country but its it s be some better than the train and I 1 guess a man who could can handle a steeling wheel on the old trail even if he Is close to fourscore four score and ten this time I 1 shall go alone but I 1 probably will pick up various friends along the way folk we ve have interested in our project of placing monuments and markers at the historic spots spot on the trall trail last year we placed from the missouri river to the pacific coast and 60 more on the pony express trail of 61 indebted as the posterity of america will be to this association and its active gray haired research secretary for their work in marking his spots on the famous highway of a west ward faring nation the oregon trail pos terley Is even more indebted to the work which william H jackson did many years ago ap with hia his camera in preserving scenes which soon passed away forever and for the work which he is still doing in preserving more of those scenes through another medium that of brush and canvas jackson was born in leesville Kees ville a 1 we town in the adirondacks of new fork york state in 1843 the traveling which was to characterize his whole life started early for when he was just one year old his family moved to georgia they soon returned to new york but so strong was the wanderlust which became inbred in young jackson that he refused to go to school after he had bad finished the eighth grade at the age of fifteen he had only one desire and that was to draw and paint he came naturally by that ambition for his mother was a landscape artist and his father an experimenter tn in the making of daguerreotypes the forerunners of modern photography various kinds of picture making occupied my time for a wh ie says mr jackson I 1 made family portraits I 1 painted landscapes on win dow sc screens reems a fashion in those early days and I 1 painted a row of big jars as part of the scenery for a play about the forty thieves of the old arabian nights the chief scenic artist for the local theaters gave me an approving slap on the back for my good dran drawing ing in this first attempt at scene painting none of these beginnings brought in much money but they were good to this hit and miss art training was adde A 4 few months work in the studio of a portrait painter which improved my technique som somewhat but the opening of the civil war put an end to this work and when lincoln issued his call for more jackson joined the rutland light guards later entering company K twelfth N er mont infantry which with other troops becart the second vermont brigade As soon as jack son s commander d sc his talent for draw ing he was detailed to sketch maps of picket lines along bull fun run so at the age of nineteen he held an important and dangerous post in the union army after the war was over jackson returned to his home in the adirondacks where for some time he was busy making photographs of the local heroes home from the war nar at that time he earned what was considered a cent sum 25 a week but soon the wonder lust asserted itself again and he decided to go west he headed tor for detroit but got only as far as chicago and then worked his way on to detroit by painting signs teaching the art of coloring photographs and picking up p other odd jobs eventually he got as far west as st joseph mo ITO here he secured a job of driving drining ox teams from nebraska to montana bull whacking as it was called for the wages of 20 a month for a year 1866 to 1807 he was engaged in this work freighting from nebraska eb city on the missouri via fort kearney Ju lesburg fort rort laramie and south pass and to the valley of the greit salt lake the following quotation from a letter which young jackson wrote to his parents cited great salt lake city october 30 1868 1866 Is a graphic pen picture of the life of a in those days the program of a days work will give you some idea of the kind of a life we have been leading in the morning just as day Is breaking and when rhen sleep lies heaviest upon us the night watch makes the rounds pound ng on the wagons and shouting eoll roll out I 1 poll out I 1 the bulls are coming shouldering one of the heavy yokes I 1 begin looking for my old off wheeler it Is hardly light enough yet to distl distin ngu gif sh objects clearly and I 1 have some difficulty at first in telling one ox from another but I 1 finally get my last pointer yoked and having previously put the wheelers onto the tongue I 1 drive around the other five yoke connected with chains and hitch them on ahead I 1 am ready to pull out usually just as the sun Is appearing 0 above the horl zon about ten 0 clock the train Is corralled un yok yol ng quickly done and the cattle turned out to graze in charge of herders and we proceed at once to get breakfast the train Is divided into four messes the men taking turns at the various duties this Is frequently accompanied by a good deal of contentious wrangling because there are always shirkers that always fail fall to do their share of the work the details bring the wood and water the cooks for the time being bake bale bread in the b g dutch oven make two or three gallons of coffee slice up half a side of bacon find it hardly necessary to shout grub pile I 1 tor for the abe whole mess Is right there impatiently waiting each one helps himself with tin cup and plate and retiring to the shady side of a wagon experiences for a brief half hour complete satisfaction the afternoon drive sometimes brings us into camp so that it Is quite late by the time we get supper one of the greatest difficulties in cooking Is the matter of providing fuel wood Is scarce and along most of our route entirely lacking the only substitute available is buffalo chips it makes an excellent fire for cooking purposes when entirely dry but when wet Is the meanest stuff imaginable to get along with try ng the patience of the cooks to the ut mot my heavy suppers with the great quantities of strong coffee that I 1 drink just before going to bed frequently result in dreams that verge on nightmares at first when the novelty of my adventure with its attendant work and worry was uppermost in my mind I 1 had lurid dreams almost every night and invariably they related to my team of bulls sometimes I 1 imagined them out of control and about to plunge over a great precipice wild with terror I 1 would turn tum ble out of my wagon in my desperate attempt to head them off from destruction only to be yanked back by my bed fellow or brought to my senses by the night watchman B lly ily and I 1 slept on a buffalo robe with long shaggy hair on one on I 1 began tugging at this rode so violently that I 1 nearly threw billy out of the wagon of course he NN was as in a high dudgeon and wanted to know what I 1 thought I 1 was doing dreaming still I 1 replied I 1 can t get my con founded leaders heads around 1 after a year of this work young jackson de aided he wanted to start up in the business which he knew best so he went to omaha and in 1808 1868 he and his brother who had come on from the east last set up a shop with a shingle over the door which read jakson brothers photographers this was the period when omaha was booming with activities connected 1 crossing the south fork of the platte river near Ju lesburg colo from a sketch made by W H jackson in 1866 2 W H jackson in the days of his youth 3 W H jackson left eighty nine years old the pioneer photographer I 1 greets another nota ble daniel carter beard right veteran boy scout leader when they met at the national pioneer dinner given by the oregon trail memo ala rial I 1 I 1 association in tribute to the western pioneers on december 29 1930 the hundredth anniversary of the birth of ezra meeker founder of the association 4 west from devil s gate on the sweet water from a photograph made by W H jackson in 1870 C with the building of the union pacific railroad loung mr air jackson saw in the starting of the railroad a wonderful chance for pictures so he left the business busine qs in the hands of his brother and started out to record what was happening in those days says mr jackson photos raptly v as different than it Is today the pioneer photographer of that time had to be something of a chemist artist and mechanic all put together when he wanted to take pictures on the road he had to carry chemicals trays glasses and what not for each plate had to be prepared on the spot for every exposure so when I 1 started out from omaha in 1868 1 I was equipped with a complete portable outfit for developing pictures en route dr F V hayden head of the united states geological survey of the territories organized to obtain definite information about those vast re gioni opened to the settlers by the new railroad saw the pictures which mr jackson took on that trip he liked them so much he decided he must have jackson along on his own surveying trip which he was slated to take alon along the old oregon trail across wyoming and back by the overland stage route thus it came about that william H jackson was the first man to make photographs of the marvels of the old oregon trail country although he was appointed official photos eapher of the hayden survey he received no salary but his equipment was provided and he was permitted to keep all negatives he made tor for his own use most of his photographic sup piles plies he carried in the ambulance which accod palled the party but he also was provided with a little donkey which he named hypo hypo carried his working kit this survey of doctor hayden s started in au all gust and from independence rock fol lowed the old oregon mormon trail along the sweetwater river returning it followed the old overland sta stage e route across southern wyoming and at fort saunders disbanded for the season S so pleased were washington officials with the pictures pictures taken on this first survey that they ap pointed jackson to accompany future surveys as photographer and for ten years he remained with doctor hayden in this capacity in 1871 he be took pictures of yellowstone he was the first to make photographs of the marvels of this country and his pictures as well ell as the dincov cries eries of and specimens collected by doctor hay den and his party played an important part in the creation of the Yellows yellowstone rone national park in 1872 the last expedition of the hayden geological survey to the rocky mountain region was made in the present united states geological survey then being instituted mr jackson accompanied this final expedition having completed his work as a pioneer photographer mr jackson eventually settled in detro t and took up photography as a business for 25 years he was connected with the detroit publishing company retiring from that corn com pany a few years ago S nee t that hat time he has been busy writing about his experiences in the old daas making paintings from his notes and sketches and promoting promoting the work of the oregon trail memorial Ife morial association and this summer he will climax his career by one more trip over that historic route where he wag was once a bull whacker and the first and outstanding member of his prof profession assion thi tint t of photographer of the wild west g by western newspaper union |