No. 186. Chicago, Burlington & Northern Rail Road Bridge Across Mouth of La Croix River
1891
Medium
Cyanotype
Dimensions
Sheet: 14 1/2 × 17 3/16 in. (36.8 × 43.7 cm)
Classification
Photographs
Department
Photographs
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Charles Wehrenberg and Sally Larsen, 2014
Accession Number
2014.715.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
In 1891, Henry P. Bosse captured *No. 186. Chicago, Burlington & Rail Road Bridge Across Mouth La Croix River*, a cyanotype documenting one of America's engineering feats during the Gilded Age. This photograph depicts the ambitious railroad bridge spanning the remote mouth of the La Croix River—likely in the rugged borderlands of Minnesota and Wisconsin—built by the Chicago, Burlington & Northern Rail Road. At a time of explosive westward expansion, such structures symbolized the nation's industrial might, connecting remote frontiers to booming markets and facilitating the transport of timber,...