Echo Cliffs, Grand River Canyon

1900

Echo Cliffs, Grand River Canyon, 1900. William Henry Jackson (American, 1843–1942). Photochrome; image: 26.7 x 52.7 cm (10 1/2 x 20 3/4 in.); matted: 61 x 76.2 cm (24 x 30 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of Charles Isaacs and Carol Nigro 2003.292 This image, taken in 1887, shows the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad’s route alongside the Grand River (now the Colorado River) through present-day Glenwood Canyon, Colorado. The D&RG was racing another firm to reach Aspen first. Their haste is evidenced in the narrow-gauge tracks laid atop standard-gauge wooden ties. The route was converted to standard-gauge track in 1889–91. This print, made around 1900, is a photochrome, which is an ink-based process that produces color images from black-and-white photographic negatives. The museum also owns a photographic print of the image (2010.418), printed around 1893–1900. Amtrak’s California Zephyr rolls through this canyon today; Interstate 70 now runs along the opposite side of the river