Research Files: Discovering Gold in Baker County Library's Photograph Collection

Abstract

RESEARCH FILES Discovering Gold in Baker County Library's Photograph Collection by GaryDielman HISTORIC PHOTOGRAPHS CAN draw us into thepast likeAlice through the looking glass, but, like Alice in Lewis Carroll's Alice inWonderland, we have to be curious and the pho tograph has to invite that curiosity. One such photograph archived at the Baker County Library in Baker City shows an emigrant family, its covered wagon, and its collection of animals as they passed through Baker City in 1884. When the trailerspassed through Boise, Idaho, inOctober 1884,theBoise Democrat reported: "The wheelers were oxen, succeeded by the donkey mated also with an ox,which in turn was preceded by a horse led by aman. The oxen were no larger than the Burmese cow of traveling menager ies. The jack was about the size of a Newfoundland dog. The horse was also diminutive and seemed to be a collection of equine bones articulated for the occasion." The article reported that the group was from Texas and headed for the Willamette Valley. Let me draw you further into the photograph. The setting is the south west corner of what is known today as Old Post Office Square at the inter section ofMain and Auburn streets in downtown Baker City. In the far distance is the sagebrush-covered hill that forms the city's southwest sky line.A line of small, frame buildings forms the immediate backdrop. Sign boards jutting out over theboardwalk advertise "Singer Sewing Machines" and "Sam SingWashing & Ironing." Twenty-four localmen and boys pose behind the main subjects of thephoto graph: two adults, four children, their wagon, and their diverse collection of animals. The photographer had everyone's frozen attention, with the exception of thehorse,whose ears have a double image. The emigrant family is as diverse as itswagon team. A thin, warmly dressed, possibly toothless elderly woman holds the horse's reins. Her expression is at the same time grim 88 OHQ vol. 109, no. I ? 2008 Oregon Historical Society All photographs courtesyofBakerCounty Library Martin Mason Hazeltine captured thisimageofa family as it passed through Baker City in 1884with itscoveredwagon and diverse assortmentofdraftanimals. Martin (1827-1903) and hisyounger brother George "Irving" Hazeltine (1836-1918) learnedphotography in New YorkCity in 1852. A year later,they were operating a photography business inSan Francisco.Aftermaking his reputationas a scenic photographer all over the West and Alaska,Martin establisheda photography studio inBaker City. In 1862,his brotherjoined thegold rush towhat became Grant County,Oregon, where hemined as one of the first residentsofCanyon City; hewas laterelectedcountyjudge ofGrant County. and sad. In contrast, frontand center in the photograph is a young boy, perhaps eight or nine years old, strik ing a nonchalant one-legged pose with a hand resting on the donkey's rump. A slightly older boy, with his face obscured by a hatmade fora big ger head, stands shylyby thewagon's rearwheel. Seated on thewagon is a bearded old man who holds a whip that appears to be made of willow branch and rawhide. Beside him sits a concerned-looking girl of about six, and behind them, standing in thebed of the wagon, is a younger, tousle headed boy who looks intentlyat the camera from under his eyebrows. Presumably the four children are sib lings,but are the adults the children's parents or their grandparents? If they are grandparents, where are the parents? Ifindmyself drawn not only into the photograph but also into the lives of these strangers, and Iwant to learnmore about this intriguing slice of time on theOregon Trail. The Boise Democrat reported, "A liberal purse was made up for them by our citizens, and they moved onwestward no doubt carrying with them a tolerable fair opinion of Boise City." What you cannot see in thephoto graph isthephotographer's studio, just off the right edge of the photograph, where one of the West's most famous early photographers, Martin Mason Dielman, Baker County Library's Photograph Collection 89 Martin Hazeltine sphotography studio,established in 1884, was locatedon the southwestcornerof Main and Auburn streetsinBaker City. The front (east) end of thebuildingwas usedfor sales; the middle portionwith a largewindow and skylight on thenorthsidewas Hazeltine sportrait studio; and therearof thebuilding served as living...