It was his painting which hangs
in the capital at Washington that first acquainted the American public
with the wonders of the Canyon. This painting was the result of a
journey he made with Major Powell, from Salt Lake City to the north
side of the Canyon, thirty-eight years before. In addition he had made
most of the cuts that illustrated Major Powell's government report;
making his sketches on wood from photographs this expedition had taken
with the old-fashioned wet plates that had to be coated and developed
on the spot--wonderful photographs, which for beauty, softness, and
detail are not excelled, and are scarcely equalled by more modern
plates and photographic results. The only great advantage of the dry
plates was the fact that they could catch the action of the water with
an instantaneous exposure, where the wet plates had to have a long
exposure and lost that action.
Thomas Moran could pick up almost any picture that we made, and tell
us at once just what section it came from and its identifying
characteristics. His daughter, Miss Ruth, was just as much interested
in our trip and its results. She was anxious to know when we would go
on again and planned on making the trail trip down to the plateau to
see us take the plunge over the first rough rapid. She was just a
little anxious to see an upset, and asked if we could not promise that
one would occur.
A month passed before my brother returned from Los Angeles.
Pages:
192
193
194
195
196
197
198
199
200
201
202
203
204
205
206
207
208
209
210
211
212
213
214
215
216