Southwest 1880 with Ben Wittick

the long version

"These photographs were selected from more than a thousand prints made from Wittick's original glass plates. Occasional defects may be the result of age or of many difficulties under which the photographer worked. His bulky camera had no shutter--he used the cover of the lens-barrel to control exposure. On excursions to the back country a pack mule carried camera, tripod and heavy glass plates. His dark room was a small tent where he mixed his own chemical solutions in a homemade qilcloth tray. This pictorial account of Wittick's travels shows the people of the Southwest between 1878 and 1900 when Arizona and New Mexico were still Territories. It was the end of a rugged, romantic era centered around the Indian, Spanish and Mexican population with only a sprinkling of adventurous Americans. It was the beginning of the overwhelming wave of westward expansion made possible by the final suppression of Indian hostilities and the completion of the railroads"--Page 3.