Mormon Emigrant Train, Echo Canyon
ca. 1870
Medium
Albumen silver print from glass negative
Dimensions
Image: 6.1 × 10.3 cm (2 3/8 × 4 1/16 in.)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gilman Collection, Purchase, Marlene Nathan Meyerson Family Foundation Gift, 2005
Accession Number
2005.100.101
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the mid-19th century, waves of Mormon pioneers trekked westward to settle in Utah under Brigham Young's leadership, photographers like Charles William Carter captured their arduous journeys. *Mormon Emigrant, Echo Canyon* (ca. 1870) depicts a wagon train navigating the dramatic, narrow chasm of Echo Canyon, key passage on the Mormon Trail. Men, horses, and laden wagons snake through the rugged landscape, evoking the determination and faith that drove thousands from Nauvoo, Illinois, to the Salt Lake Valley between 1847 and 1869. Though created slightly later, Carter's image preserves the sp...