Show at 97 91 william he H jackson pioneer photographer looks back over his 80 years recording and making history 7 Y U itee 1 tt za P rs H y y to t o l Ss 1 WH ya k fe A 1 1 A Y ha A TA P N iba 11 1 1 79 D IJ V T w a 1 fc wAt march of the BIor raon handcart battalion over the oregon trail from painting by W H jack jacison soll by ELMO SCOTT WATSON I 1 horses were loaded on a train I 1 and j shipped to t r omaha i TJ here Ee released leased by western newspaper union with jackson obtained a job some awo WO recent events have brought into the limelight again tone one of the most remarkable Ameri americans americal cai ts living today one was the announcement from scottsbluff Scotts bluff neb that william ff jackson 97 year old photographer painter historian had given to the oregon trail memorial association a collection of paintings and water colors representing mr jacksons work of the last 40 years and based upon his photographs and sketches of the old west from 1866 to 1872 the other was the publication by G P ms sons new york publishers of mr jacksons autobiography under the highly appropriate title of time exposure autobiographies of men who had a part in pushing the frontier westward are no rarities but it is doubtful if any of them have had a longer more distinguished and more interesting career than the author of time exposure it began away back in 1843 when he w was as born near the little town of Ke eseville N Y the son of a blacksmith and carriage builder who soon after the ing process was discovered in 1839 began experimenting I 1 with a camera of his own this fact was prophetic of his sons future career for as he recalls it parts of the first came camera ever owned by a jackson came into my hands as a toy when I 1 was vas a very small boy I 1 any real idea what the lens box was intended for but I 1 got the feel of a camera almost before I 1 could walk it may sound foolish yet I 1 cant help believing that this childhood experience helped to direct my life an undoubted influence was my mothers gift with pencil and watercolor I 1 can hardly remember the time when I 1 draw pictures it was something without beginning and is still without an end for that fact americans should be grateful had it not been for the camera and the pencil paint brush and palette of william H jackson we would not have nearly so clear an idea of the old west as we do started at fifteen teen at the age of 15 young acl jcl jackson turned his artistic skill to good account lie he began making window cards for merchants placards announcing church socia bles and posters for political rallies then he got a job as a ic for the leading photographer in troy N Y where the jackson family was living and learned a great deal about the new art of photography A similar job in rutland vt increased his knowledge of the subject but the outbreak of the civil war brought a change in his occupation jackson enlisted in the rutland light guard was mustered into federal service in 1862 and became a soldier in the army of the potomac even in the army he had time to continue his drawing most of it on small cards that practice has brought me a small fame which is I 1 regret to say quite undeserved lie he writ writes Is somehow 0 m e how or br other the le legena ge 4 has g grown ro wn up that I 1 am the inventor of the picture post card I 1 dont know who really devised the first picture postal a german or an austrian I 1 think but I 1 am not the man r however he has plenty of other claims to distinction without that jacksons experiences during the ar included the battle of gettysburg arg although as he frankly franki y rs states his was a minor part his regiment was assigned to guard f the baggage trains behind the I 1 tines lines so he missed miss ed the actual fighting 11 but afterwards his outfit escorted 2300 confederate prison e ers rs to fort mchenry rynear near baltimore baltie incidentally 75 years lat 4 er ir jackson was on oneff of four of its veterans two union and two confederate soldiers who flew avex ovex ov ei the battlefield in ali an airplane broadcast from it their reminiscences of that historic conflict and strewed roses over the graves of their fallen comrades in the national cemetery there he goes west mustered out of the union service at the end of his enlistment jackson returned to vermont took up again his work as an artist in F styles vermont gallery of art became engaged to a charming young girl and when that engagement ended in a lovers quarrel he decided to follow the advice so often attrib buted to horace greeley go westi west horace greeleys greelegs Gree leys advice was far too obvious to be s startling tart ling he observes succinctly go west of course go west where else he arrived abst at st joseph mo the jumping off place for the frontier in 1866 r Z Z 5 jt WILLIAM II 11 JACKSON and for the next three quarters quarter s of a century his life was to be in intimately t i bound up with the history of the west jackson secured a job as a bull whacker with a wagon train that was departing from nebraska city up the missouri river ricer for the montana mining camps that was the last year of covered wagon migration across the plains the railroad was already pushing west and would soon supplant the prairie schooner and jacksons first trip over the oregon trail was made in company compan y of mormons cormons and other I 1 immigrants ami who banded together for protection against hostile indians in after years years jackson was to go over the trail or parts of it in other forms of transportation train automobile and air plane in wyoming he left the mon tana bound tram train went to salt lake city and after three months there joined a mule train for california which brought him atlant at last to los angeles a town of less than w which aich had in 1867 all the charm it lacks today los angeles was honestly quaint quil rit rather than merely blatant soon afterwards he started east again this time with a pirty party of nine persons starting out on the perilous task of driving i a band of wild mustangs back across the mountains and plains to the missouri river settlements this three months irek ended 1 at Ju lesburg colo where the local photographers whom he later bought out in the spring of 1868 his brother ed came on from troy to join him and the firm of tJ jackson ackson brothers photographers 0 tog raphers started business busine ss in the little frontier city later ed withdrew from the firm and william became the sole proprietor of the business photographer of the frontier during the next 12 years jackson firmly established his reputation at as the foremost photographer of the american frontier loading his bulky apparatus for making pictures by the old wet plate process on pack mules or horses he traveled far and wide over the plains and mountains ains of the west ie securing curing thousands of negatives ranging in size from stereoscopic views to huge ones m measuring as 20 by 24 inches some of his greatest work was done while accompanying the expeditions ions known officially as the A united states geological survey of the territories which began in 1869 under the leadership of dr F V hayden and continued for the next nine years during this time he took pictures of indians which are priceless historical records of the red iman man in his native state untouched by the whits white mans so called civilia civi civilization liz aaion and views of the magn magnificent western scenery never before pictured and in some cases never before visited by white men in fact the list of jacksons firsts is an impressive one he took the first photographs in what is now yellowstone park and the showing of these pictures had much to do with the establishment of the national park there he took the first pictures of the cliff dwellings in the southwest and of the famed mount of the holy cross in colorado incidentally it was one of jacksons phot photographs ogra hs of this mountain which inspired one of longfelt lows best beloved poems the full record of his abaz amazing ing career is too long to be condensed within the scope of this article some of his activities and adventures can only be hinted at his work as a photographer for various railroads his 18 months picture taking trip around the world for harpers weekly including a mile trip by pony sledge across siberia in the middle of winter his career as head of the detroit publishing company which made post c cards ards and ot other it er pic pictures i tures in color its collection of nearly negatives are now in the ford museum at dearborn mich in he was named research secretary of the oregon trail memorial association the next jew few years found him now nearing 90 going over theold theold trail again snapping pictures this time with a vest pocket camera and doing some more painting three times Wil william liani H jackson has tried to retire once at 60 again at 81 and finally at 92 but it was no use in 1935 the department of the interior commissioned him to paint a series of murals for its new build ing in washington and he did it two years later he was again busy taking pictures it came about thus in 1937 the surl surviving ving members of the G A R met on riverside s ide drive for what was to be their last memorial day parade when comrade bill jackson show up some of the a ged aged boys iri in blue shook their heads sadly too bad bill cant be here but a few minutes later they saw him running up and down along the street with press photographers taking pictures oi 01 the parade 1 william H jackson spoke truly when he said sid of his picture mak ing carbet career it if was something without If beginning tinnIng and Is still without av ar end |