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
| Title | Alternative Title | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 151 |
 | Plate 151 | Photograph of the approach to Cochetopa Pass up the canyon of East Pass Creek on 1 September 1853. |
| 152 |
 | Plate 152 | Coo-che-to-pa Pass, leaving Sawatch Creek, composite drawing and photograph |
| 153 |
 | Plate 153 | Lithograph based on the sketch of Cochetopa Pass up East Pass Creek |
| 154 |
 | Plate 154 | Head of the first canon of the Grand River, composite sketch and lithograph |
| 155 |
 | Plate 155 | Sketch of Cochetopa Pass |
| 156 |
 | Plate 156 | Cochetopa Pass, lithograph by Gwinn Harris Heap |
| 157 |
 | Plate 157 | Sangre de Cristo Pass, steel engraving. |
| 158 |
 | Plate 158 | Daguerreotype of cliff in Cochetopa Pass. |
| 159 |
 | Plate 159 | In Cochetopa Pass, photograph |
| 160 |
 | Plate 160 | In Cochetopa Pass, composite drawing and photograph |
| 161 |
 | Plate 161 | View to the east from Cochetopa Pass, Sept. 2, sketch. |
| 162 |
 | Plate 162 | View to the east from Cochetopa Pass, Sept. 2, photograph. |
| 163 |
 | Plate 163 | View east from Cochetopa Pass, composite sketch and photograph |
| 164 |
 | Plate 164 | West end of Coo-che-to-pa Pass on Pass Creek, Sept. 3rd (sketch) |
| 165 |
 | Plate 165 | West end of Coo-che-to-pa Pass on Pass Creek, photograph |
| 166 |
 | Plate 166 | West end of Cochetopa Pass, composite sketch and photograph |
| 167 |
 | Plate 167 | Pass Creek, sketch |
| 168 |
 | Plate 168 | Pass Creek, photograph |
| 169 |
 | Plate 169 | Pass Creek, composite sketch and photograph |
| 170 |
 | Plate 170 | West of summit in Cochetopa Pass, sketch |
| 171 |
 | Plate 171 | West of summit in Cochetopa Pass, photograph |
| 172 |
 | Plate 172 | West of summit in Cochetopa Pass, composite sketch and photograph |
| 173 |
 | Plate 173 | Two sketches of cliff areas |
| 174 |
 | Plate 174 | Divide between the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, sketch |
| 175 |
 | Plate 175 | Divide between the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, photographs |