Carleton Watkins                                “Ho! For California!”

Previous Page Next Page

opportunities for errors.  For example the place-name “Makalme” that should be “Mokelumne” in R.V. nos. 54 and 55 and “Sanson Street” that should be “Sansome Street” in no. 5.  These errors could be the result of Vance’s having difficulty in deciphering the maker’s handwriting. 

There is more evidence to suggest that Vance was not the maker of the “Holy Grail” daguerreotypes that he documented in his Catalog of Daguerreotype Panoramic Views in California.  For example, just nine of the listed daguerreotypes were made in the Spanish speaking Americas where Vance spent almost five years.  The small number of such views raises this question: If Vance was a serious field photographer by mid-1850 when he left Valparaíso, why did he not carry away from Chile dozens of daguerreotypes showing scenes in the grand and historic places he visited, pictures he could have made during the year he spent traveling in northern Chile, Bolivia and Peru? If Vance was not only a studio portraitist but also a field photographer, why are there no views made in Santiago, Copiapó and Concepción in central Chile where sporadically he spent almost four years?  Why were just three daguerreotypes made in Valparaíso where his business was located?  And why were just five daguerreotypes made on the journey north to California that required no less than five weeks of travel time?  The best answer is a question:  What if Vance had no interest in taking his cameras outside the controlled environment of the portrait studio and into the field until he saw Carleton’s first experiments, and, as an entrepreneur, began to recognize their commercial potential? 

In Chapter Eleven we will look at the flowering of daguerreotype views made in the gold fields of California after the arrival of Vance and Carleton in late 1850.  We will explore the possibility that  Carleton Watkins, employed by Collis Huntington and Daniel Hammond delivering supplies to the gold fields and collecting payment from the customers, was also the maker of hundreds of daguerreotypes created in the environs of Sacramento, Marysville, Nevada City, Stockton, Coloma, Placerville, Sonora and finally, San Francisco.

******

End Chapter Ten:

“Ho! For California!”