Carleton E. Watkins

mammoth-plate albumen print, mounted, inscribed 'No. 421' by the photographer in ink, titled by him in pencil, and with his copyright stamp on the mount, annotated in an unidentified hand in ink on the reverse, matted, 1867

Another print of this image:

James Alinder, David Featherstone, and Russ Anderson, Carleton E. Watkins: Photographs of the Columbia River and Oregon (Friends of Photography and The Weston Gallery, 1979), pl. 18

Grading this albumen print on a scale of 1 to 10 – a 10 being an albumen print that has rich dark tones and highlights that retain all of their original detail – this print rates a 10. While the print's darkest tones fall just short of absolute black, it is believed that this print has not faded; it is simply a somewhat light print, and almost certainly left Watkins's studio with the same range of tones it exhibits today. The dark tones are a sepia brown, and the highlights cream-colored. The print is in essentially excellent condition. When the print is examined closely in raking light, some very faint scuffing can be seen in the sky area. The small dark spot in the upper left portion of the sky may be a small deposit of ink or graphite. These condition issues are insignificant and have no real impact upon the print's appearance. The print is mounted to smooth, thin, cream-colored board that shows minor edge wear and has some very light occasional soiling – none of this encroaches upon the image. The dimensions of the mount are 21 by 27 1/8 inches. The photographer's copyright stamp on the mount is placed just beneath the lower left corner of the print and reads as follows: "Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1867, by C. E. WATKINS, in the Clerk's office of the District Court of the United States, for the Northern District of California."
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This photograph, taken by Watkins at one of several points on the Columbia River known as Cape Horn, shows in the distance the unique basalt rock formations called The Needles.  These formations are on the Washington State side of the Columbia River, about 30 miles east of Portland.  The massive Rooster Rock formation, also photographed by Watkins, is located directly across from The Needles on the Oregon bank.  The present photograph may have been taken on the property of John W. Stevenson, whose family were the first settlers in the Cape Horn area.  Another Cape Horn on the Columbia River—at Celilo, east of The Dalles—was also photographed by Watkins (Carleton E. Watkins: Photographs of the Columbia River and Oregon, pl. 44).  

Watkins likely received funding for his Oregon trip from several sources.  As noted, Josiah Dwight Whitney provided financial support and expected images of certain geologic features in return.  Formations such as The Needles, Rooster Rock, and Castle Rock may have been photographed by Watkins at Whitney's request.  In his essay for The Friends of Photography volume of Watkins's Columbia River views, David Featherstone traces Watkins's Oregon itinerary, and suggests that photographs from the trip may well have been commissioned by the Oregon Steam Navigation Company, whose steamboats regularly traveled the routes recorded in Watkins's photographs. 

Weston Naef and the Carleton Watkins Mammoth Plate Catalogue Raisonné Project have located 6 other prints of this image, all in institutional collections.  This image relates very closely to Watkins's Pacific Coast stereo view no. 1232.