William Henry Jackson: Early Life and Journey on the Oregon Trail
Celebrate the life and work of William Henry Jackson (1843 – 1942), preeminent photographer of the American West.
William Henry Jackson’s monumental career begin at an unassuming photographic studio. In 1866, Jackson joined a wagon train on the Oregon Trail as a bullwhacker, traveling west to Great Salt Lake. This trip would lead to him becoming a preeminent photographer of the American West.
Early Life
William Henry Jackson was born in Keeseville, New York in 1843, and displayed talent in photography and sketching from an early age. By 1860, he moved to Rutland, Vermont to work as a touch-up artist and assistant at Frank Mowry’s photographic studio.
Civil War Work
With the onset of the Civil War, Jackson enlisted in the Union Army in 1862, where he was soon ordered to tasked by his commander with drawing camp life and creating maps.
A Comfortable Life in Vermont
In July 1863, Jackson returned to work Rutland, where he became engaged to socialite Caddie Eastman. By late 1864, he found lucrative work at the Styles’ Vermont Gallery of Art in Burlington. In 1866, his engagement was annulled. He set out westward on the Oregon Trail.
Styles Vermont Gallery of Art (ca. 1864) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Styles Vermont Gallery of Art
At the Styles Gallery, Jackson earned the respectable sum of $1300 a year.
Figure Studies (ca. 1864) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Figure Studies
Jackson may have struck these images of Caddie Eastman after she ended their engagement in 1866.
Day Dreams 1866 (1866) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Day Dreams 1866
Following the annulment of their engagement, Jackson pictured himself in old age still pining for his former fiancée.
Westward Bound
After leaving Vermont in 1866, Jackson traveled to Nebraska, where he hired on as a bullwhacker with Ed Owen’s wagon train. The journey along the Oregon Trail was grueling. Jackson only found the time to sketch his adventures towards the end of the year while working at the Birch Farm.
By early 1897, Jackson had reached California, but failed to find permanent employment. Seeking an end to his penniless wandering, Jackson headed back east to Nebraska, where he once more found work in photography. In 1868, he and his brother Edward established Jackson Brothers Photography in Omaha.
Ed Owens, Wagon Boss (1866) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Ed Owens, Wagon Boss
Impressed by his soft-spoken demeanor, Jackson made several sketches of wagon master Ed Owens.
WHJ as he reached Salt Lake in the fall of 1866 (1866) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Jackson as he reached Salt Lake in the fall of 1866
By the time he reached Utah, Jackson’s clothes were reduced to tatters.
Spooking Cattle (1867) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Spooking Cattle
On the way to San Francisco, Jackson and his friend had to turn back a threatening herd of cattle.
Climbing Out of the Valley of the Virgin (1867) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Climbing Out of the Valley of the Virgin
The Virgin River passes through what is now Zion National Park.
Establishing Himself in Omaha
At his Omaha studio, Jackson created formal studio portraits, but also ventured out to photograph Pawnee and Omaha life. He ingeniously adapted the bulky wagons used during the Civil War to devise a mobile processing station to develop negatives and photographs in the field.
Expeditions Await
In mid-1869, he and his colleague Arundel Hull began photographing across the Union Pacific Railroad. It was this work that drew the attention of Ferdinand Vandeveer Hayden, leader of the United States Geological Survey of the Territories (USGS).
Hayden and Beaman (1871) by William Henry JacksonOriginal Source: National Park Service William Henry Jackson: Pioneer Photographer, Scotts Bluff National Monument Exhibit
Hayden invited Jackson to join the USGS as a photographer for its 1870 expedition. Jackson participated in nine years of expedition photography for the USGS. This body of work earned him widespread renown, and contributed to the establishment of the National Park Service.
Museum Management Program
The Museum Management Program develops virtual museum exhibits and educational materials to make National Park Service collections widely available.
Program staff developed this exhibit in collaboration with Bob Blair and Scotts Bluff National Monument staff.
Joan Bacharach, Senior Curator and Project Manager
Amber Dumler, Museum Specialist and Web Designer
Dara Shore, Museum Technician and Exhibit Curator
Scotts Bluff National Monument
Dan Morford, Superintendent
Justin Cawiezel, Chief Ranger
Robert Manasek, Curator (retired)
Dean Knudsen, Historian (retired)
Ken Mabry, Superintendent (retired)
Bob Blair, Photographer and Researcher (Volunteer in Park, VIP)
