In 1853 Richard Hovendon Kern was hired as topographer and artist for a government-sponsored reconnaissance led by Captain John Williams Gunnison. Kern sketched landscape panoramas as the group made its way from St. Louis toward San Francisco. When the expedition reached Sevier Lake, Utah, however, it was attacked by a band of Indians. Seven men, including Kern and Gunnison, were killed, and Kern's drawings were stolen. The sketches were soon recovered and eventually carried to Washington, D.C.
Robert Shlaer, an accomplished daguerreotypist, came across Kern's sketches many years later at the Newberry Library in Chicago. He was inspired to locate the views depicted in the drawings and to photograph them, as nearly as was possible, from the same spot where Kern had stood when he sketched them. This collection juxtaposes Kern's drawings with Shlaer's photographs, presenting 389 illustrations in geographic sequence from east to west
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| Title | Alternative Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Map 4 25% | Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: route near the 41st paralle, Map no. 4, from the valley of the Mud Lakes to the Pacific Ocean, from explorations and surveys... by Capt. E. G. Beckwith, 3d Artillery |
| 2 |  | Map 1 25% | Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: route near the 41st parallel, Map no. 1, from the valley of the Green River to the Great Salt Lake, from explorations and surveys... by Capt. E. G. Beckwith, 3d Artillery (copy 1) |
| 3 |  | Map 4 | Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: route near the 41st paralle, Map no. 4, from the valley of the Mud Lakes to the Pacific Ocean, from explorations and surveys... by Capt. E. G. Beckwith, 3d Artillery |
| 4 |  | Full Route Map 480px h | Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: route near the 38th and 39th parallels: composite of maps 1 to 4 (copy 2) |
| 5 |  | Full Route Map 25% | Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: route near the 38th and 39th parallels: composite of maps 1 to 4 (copy 1) |
| 6 |  | Map 1 | Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: route near the 41st parallel, Map no. 1, from the valley of the Green River to the Great Salt Lake, from explorations and surveys... by Capt. E. G. Beckwith, 3d Artillery (copy 2) |
| 7 |  | Full Route Map 50% | Explorations and surveys for a rail road route from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean: route near the 38th and 39th parallels: composite of maps 1 to 4 (copy 3) |
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