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 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Plate 238 | Side valley of Grand River, composite sketch and photograph |
| 2 |  | Plate 165 | West end of Coo-che-to-pa Pass on Pass Creek, photograph |
| 3 |  | Plate 168 | Pass Creek, photograph |
| 4 |  | Plate 171 | West of summit in Cochetopa Pass, photograph |
| 5 |  | Plate 175 | Divide between the waters of the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, photographs |
| 6 |  | Plate 179 | The Valley of Cochetopa (today Tomichi) Creek, photograph |
| 7 |  | Plate 183 | Divide between the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean, photograph |
| 8 |  | Plate 191 | Above Tomichi Creek Valley looking toward the Saguache Mountains and the Continental Divide |
| 9 |  | Plate 194 | Sah-watch Mountains, photograph |
| 10 |  | Plate 196 | Rock outcrop, photograph |
| 11 |  | Plate 200 | Valley of Cochetopa Creek, two photographs |
| 12 |  | Plate 204 | Photograph by Robert Shlaer of lower Razor Creek |
| 13 |  | Plate 209 | Rock outcrops, photograph |
| 14 |  | Plate 212 | View up Grand River (first mesa), photograph |
| 15 |  | Plate 215 | On Grand River, photograph |
| 16 |  | Plate 219 | Grand River from Sept. 7th camp, photograph |
| 17 |  | Plate 222 | On Grand River,from Camp, Sept. 7th, photograph |
| 18 |  | Plate 225 | Valley of Gunnison River and Blue Mesa Reservoir, photograph |
| 19 |  | Plate 228 | On Twin Creek, Grand River country, photograph |
| 20 |  | Plate 231 | Grand River, color photograph |
| 21 |  | Plate 234 | Blue Mesa Reservoir color photograph |
| 22 |  | Plate 244 | Grand River Canon, panoramic photograph |
| 23 |  | Plate 251 | Lake Fork of the Grand River seen from Sapinero Mesa, panoramic photograph |
| 24 |  | Plate 254 | Lake Fork, photograph |
| 25 |  | Plate 257 | Upper reaches of the Black Canyon of the Gunnison |