INTRODUCTION
By Marian Albright Schenk
FOREWORD
By Dean Knudsen
SECTION 1
Primary Themes of Jackson's Art
SECTION 2
Paintings of the Oregon Trail
SECTION 3
Historic Scenes From the West
 |
| This image of Jackson is dated 1881, a time when Jackson was operating a photographic studio in Denver. A notation on the back of the photograph informs us that it is the result of a new "dry plate negative" process that presumably simplified the laborious procedure of preparing each individual negative just prior to exposure. (SCBL 1033) |
Section 2: Paintings of the Oregon Trail
HIGH PLAINS TRANSPORT
In this painting, Jackson once again uses his talents to tell a story. In addition to depicting Sweetwater Station near Split Rock, the various types of transportation and communication available on the western frontier are shown in one painting. It is doubtful that a diverse cavalcade such as this ever crossed paths as shown here, but Jackson opted to use his artistic license to make a point.
Here, no fewer than nine different modes of transportation are depicted. In the background is a small party of Plains Indians on horseback. With the horse, the native tribes were able to follow the buffalo herds and hunt at will. Also, by using travois with their horses, the Plains Indians were able to haul larger loads faster and more efficiently.
A little closer to the viewer is an ox-drawn freight wagon of the type Jackson used in 1866. In contrast to this heavy wagon, which is being pulled by five yokes of oxen, out ahead of it is a small, two-wheeled cart drawn by a single mule. Two-wheeled carts were commonly used early on the Plains, before the network of road ranches and stage stations were established along the overland routes. While carts could not haul as large a load, they were easier to repair and maintain.
 |
| A note in the margin of this painting reads: "Wind River Mountains from the Little Sandy." The Wind River Mountains are located to the northwest of the Old Oregon Trail, and their snow-capped peaks must have presented a torturous vista for emigrants on the dry, arid trail. (SCBL 35) |
Passing in the opposite direction is another freight wagon. In this case it is being pulled by eight teams of mules. A major difference between the use of oxen and mules lie in how they were handled. The much larger and more powerful oxen were simply yoked together, and the yoke was attached directly to the wagon tongue.
One step closer to the viewer, the two most famous modes of rapid transit on the Plains are seen passing each other. The horse-drawn stagecoach was introduced to the frontier in the late 1850s and carried passengers and mail. Despite the bouncing and dusty seventeen-day ride from Kansas to California that the stagecoaches offered, they were a common sight in the West, until finally replaced by railroads.
The Pony Express rider shown doffing his hat to the stagecoach's passengers has become a mythic figure in American history. Perhaps it is the fact that he rode alone across a wilderness, dedicated to delivering mail to America's farflung outposts that has so captured our imagination. However, it should not be forgotten that for every heroic rider there were hundreds of men who operated the isolated relay stations that made his ride possible. In the 18 months the Pony Express was in operation, sixteen employees were killed, seven stations burned, and 150 horses were lost.1
In the foreground are some of the less romantic, but most efficient methods of hauling goods in the form of the pack mule and the pack horse. The pack mule offered the means of hauling a medium-sized load with relative ease, and was most often used by prospectors and single men making their way west during the California Gold Rush. The pack horse could carry a similar-sized load over short distances, and was a method Jackson himself used to transport his camera and glass plate negatives through the Rocky Mountains.
1. Settles & Settles, Saddles and Spurs, 160.
 |
| Along the Sweetwater, Near Split Rock. Signed and undated. 24.2 x 36.9 cm. (SCBL 32) |
 |
scbl/knudsen/sec2o.htm Last Updated: 14-Apr-2006 |
 |