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Scene near Deeth. Mount Halleck in distance. (Verso)

Alfred A. Hart, Carleton Watkins

The J. Paul Getty Museum

The J. Paul Getty Museum
Los Angeles, United States

Today's high-speed trains travel at almost two hundred miles an hour, so it is hard for twenty-first century passengers to imagine the fear induced by the speed of trains in the 1800s. The locomotive in this photograph would have traveled at the bone-jarring speed of about eighteen miles an hour. When trains were first introduced, many people were reluctant to ride on them. Some even believed that they were the work of the devil. The steam, smoke, and sparks emitted from the belly of these monsters caused a great deal of anxiety for timid souls. Eventually people grew accustomed to the invention and happily traveled for days on trains pulled by steam engines like this Central Pacific Railroad locomotive.

Gift of Weston J. and Mary M. Naef

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  • Title: Scene near Deeth. Mount Halleck in distance. (Verso)
  • Creator: Alfred A. Hart, Carleton Watkins
  • Date Created: negative 1866–1869; print after 1870
  • Type: Stereograph
  • External Link: Find out more about this object on the Museum website.
  • Medium: Albumen silver print
  • Terms of Use: Open Content
  • Number: 84.XC.979.4245
  • Culture: American
  • Credit Line: The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, Gift of Weston J. and Mary M. Naef
  • Creator Display Name: Alfred A. Hart (American, 1816 - 1908) Carleton Watkins (American, 1829 - 1916)
  • Classification: Photographs (Visual Works)
The J. Paul Getty Museum

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