Andrew J. Russell

A high cliff standing in an isolated position, commanding from its top an extensive view up and down the river. This rock is nearly three hundred feet in height and is a well-known landmark to the emigrants who have in former times passed this way.

  

A recently completed rail trestle at Promontory, Utah

 

Skull Rock, Wyoming. The name of this rock is derived from the peculiar 

formation of the boulders lying at its base. It is situated three miles 

south of the railroad, in the mining district of Dale Creek Canyon.

  

The standpoint for this view is nearly two thousand feet above the 

railroad, which can be seen winding through the bottom lands three miles 

away. Farther off can be seen the dim outline of Green River City, Utah.

 

U.S. Senator James Patterson (New Hampshire) 

and party on the Devil’s Gate Bridge

 

Source: The Atlantic

Andrew J. Russell

In the late 1860s, photographer Andrew J. Russell traveled west to document the construction of the Union Pacific Railway in Wyoming and Utah, including the famous “golden spike” moment on May 10, 1869, when the Union Pacific and Central Pacific railroads were joined in Promontory, Utah, creating the nation’s first transcontinental railroad. Russell captured images of the railway construction as well as the wide-open landscape of the American West and its inhabitants.

A gathering of Shoshone Indians

 

East and West shaking hands at laying last rail. The ceremony took place on May 10, 1869, 

marking the placement of the “golden spike” at Promontory Summit, Utah.

 

Members of the Rocky Mountain Glee Club, 1864-1869

 

Mormon Family, Great Salt Lake Valley. The man is surrounded by 

his family of wives and children, enjoying the noonday rest.

 

Officers of the Union Pacific Railroad at the laying of 

the last rail at Promontory Summit, Utah, in 1869

 

Source: The Atlantic

Old West

 Northern Pacific Railroad station at Gardiner, Montana, train in station, 1905

  

 The William B. Douglas party, including Navaho and Paiute Indians, celebrate their discovery of Rainbow Bridge, Utah, as they eat watermelon in Paiute Canyon, 1909

  

 Theodore Roosevelt preparing to go into Yellowstone National Park, 1903

  

 Trappers and hunters in the Four Peaks country on Brown's Basin, Arizona Territory. 

Two Crab Tree boys, their father and the dogs and burrows which they hunt with. 1908

  

 Turning over first sod on homestead. Sun River, Montana, November 5, 1908

  

Two common methods of hauling water in Old Mexico 

and southwestern United States. Encinal, Texas, 1905

The Old West

 C. P. Rich: Holding down a lot in Guthrie, Oklahoma Territory, ca. 1889

  

 J. M. McMurry: Makah Indians from Nee-oh Bay resting on the beach at Port Townsend, Washington, while en route for the hop fields up Pudget-Sound, ca. 1890

  

 John K. Hillers at work with his negatives. In camp, Aquarius Plateau, Utah Territory. 

Hillers was a photographer with the John Wesley Powell Geological Survey, ca. 1872

   

 Looking For A Town Lot. Guthrie, Indian Territory [Oklahoma], ca. 1889

  

 Ore teams on a dusty road, Pinal County, Arizona Territory, ca. 1897

  

 Stanton G. Smith: A rider fills his keg from a desert well 30 miles north of 

Palomas, Arizona Territory. His horse refreshes himself nearby, April 5, 1907

  

 Sunday school, Indians and whites. Indian Territory [Oklahoma], ca. 1900

  

 Teacher and children in front of sod schoolhouse. 

'Woods County, Oklahoma Territory, ca. 1895

[teacher has a surprisingly stylish blouse]

  

The Covered Wagon of the Great Western Migration. 1886 in Loup Valley, Nebraska. A family poses with the wagon in which they live and travel daily during their pursuit of a homestead

A. L. Westgard

I haven't been able to find out anything about Mr. Westgard, except that he (presumably a he) took pictures of autos in desolate western settings.

 An AAA Good Roads Official on his transcontinental auto trip passes the only 

road sign in evidence along the dusty, desolate road near Glendive, Montana. July 1912

  

Covered wagon with jackrabbit mules encounters an automobile 

on the trail near Big Springs, Nebraska, 1912

[this looks like something out of a Twilight Zone episode...]

  

 Members of the Denver Motor Club and Chamber of Commerce test-driving 

the Denver to Salt Lake Exposition route near De Beque, Colorado, 1912

  

Townspeople of Ehrenburg, Arizona Territory, greet a stranger in 

an automobile on his pioneer cross country tour. Saloon in background, ca. 1911

The Old West

 Bankers' and Railroad Men's Party on Blue Grass Lawn at Calexico. The 

California Development Co. was in hopes that after this campout 

the men would invest in Imperial Valley schemes, ca. 1904

  

 Bob Leavitt's Saloon in Jordan, Montana, circa 1904

  

 Civil War Veterans, Fourth of July or Decoration Day, Ortonville, Minnesota. 

On review in center of town, ca. 1880

  

 D. Griffiths - "Pieces all saved." Man with parts of his wagon and equipment 

on muddy floor of Canyon de Chelly, Navajo Reservation, Arizona Territory. 

September 13-19, 1903

  

 E A. Ames - An Arizona Poker Party, at John Doyle's ranch; 

Doyle, Judge Brown, and the Prof. [Burrison] at play, ca. 1887-89

  

 F. Jay Haynes - Hot Springs Hotel, S. D. American flags flap in the breeze as holiday passengers arrive. The stage coaches are met by other vacationers on the hotel veranda, ca. 1899

  

 G. Ben Wittick - Flagstaff, Arizona Territory. Street view of post office, 

other buildings, and people, with mountains in background, ca. 1899

  

 Guthrie Cotton Market. Peak of trading on Harrison Avenue 

is captured by Photographer Swearingen, after 1893

  

 Hancock homestead. Settler from Benson, Minn. Little girl feeding chickens against background of house, buckboard wagon, and ridge of plateau, Sun River, Montana, June 23, 1910

  

 Hells Half-Acre, Perry, Oklahoma Territory, 1893

  

 Indian Day parade, Omaha, Nebraska, August 4, 1898

[cause giving them a parade after stealing their land is the least we can do]

  

Indian reception of President Chester A. Arthur at Fort Washakie, Wyoming Territory, 1883