Devil's Canyon, Geysers, Looking Down
This tortured landscape shows Devil's Canyon, which is cited in William Bentley's Hand-Book of the Pacific Coast (1884) as a "favored resort for pleasure seekers" from nearby San Francisco. Located in Sonoma County, its chief feature was a crevasse six feet in diameter known as the "Steam Pipe," a Dantean inferno from which steam bellowed forth with a blast that often exceeded the scream of a locomotive whistle. The tiny figure on the left, a surrogate for the viewer, is rare in Watkins' work and is thought to be the photographer himself.
Artwork Details
- Title: Devil's Canyon, Geysers, Looking Down
- Artist: Carleton E. Watkins (American, 1829–1916)
- Date: 1868–70
- Medium: Albumen silver print from glass negative
- Dimensions: 39.8 x 52.4 cm. (15 11/16 x 20 5/8 in.)
- Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1989
- Object Number: 1989.1082
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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Carleton E. Watkins
1865–66, printed ca. 1875
Carleton E. Watkins
1868–69, printed ca. 1876
Carleton E. Watkins
1867, printed ca. 1876
Carleton E. Watkins
1875, printed ca. 1876
Carleton E. Watkins
1875, printed ca. 1876
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