Westward Bound!

The surveys brought together the talents of botanists, biologists, mineralogists with the work of artists such as Thomas Moran and photographer William Henry Jackson.

Hayden’s report from his 1871 expedition to Yellowstone, together with the stunning images captured by Jackson and Moran, that garnered support in Congress for the establishment of Yellowstone National Park.

From 1867-1870, Jackson ran a photography studio in Omaha, Nebraska. He often ventured into the plains with his portable dark room to photograph Pawnee and Omaha life.

Named after hyposulphite of soda, a photographic fixative, Hypo the mule carried Jackson’s photographic equipment on the 1870 expedition. He noted Hypo was “as indispensable to me as his namesake…”

Independence Rock bears the carved names of countless Oregon Trail travelers. It would have been a familiar sight for Jackson in 1870, as he was a bullwhacker on the Trail just a few years prior.

Jackson worked alongside other renowned artists during the 1870 expedition. Captured here at Laramie Peak is landscape painter Sanford Robinson Gifford, a leading member of the Hudson River School.

As he traveled through Wyoming on his first expedition with Dr. Hayden, Jackson documented a range of environments, from the rolling plains to the precipitous outcroppings of rock seen here.

Alongside his images of the unspoiled West, Jackson also recorded the area’s industrial activity. Virginia City was Jackson’s original destination when he first set out West from his Vermont home.

Jackson captured the first photographs of Yellowstone’s Mammoth Hot Springs. In this earliest known photograph of the area. Here, artist Moran examines its unique terraces.

While Moran had only camped once prior to the Hayden Expedition, he soon adapted to the hard conditions. He and accomplished outdoorsman Jackson, captured Yellowstone’s breathtaking scenery together.

On the expedition, Thomas Moran worked closely with Jackson. The two followed the survey’s general itinerary but lingered at sites of particular interest to them — such as the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone and Tower Creek.

The Devil’s Slide was carved into Cinnabar Mountain by centuries of erosion.

While already a talented landscape photographer, Jackson continued to refine his sense of composition by studying his friend, Moran’s paintings and watercolors.

The 1873 expedition split into 3 groups to cover the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. For years, legends had spread of a mountain in the West emblazoned with a large cross. The team that included Jackson and Dr. Hayden (far left) set out to record proof of the Mount of the Holy Cross.

This photograph, the first ever taken of the Mount of the Holy Cross, would become the most famous image of Jackson’s long and storied career. Jackson’s photographs were instrumental in convincing Americans of the need to preserve these areas.