#PD1
Ca. 1895
Twenty-two albumen cabinet photographs mounted on original heavy card stock, each ca. 19 x11cm (7.5 x 4.5) (fourteen stamped W.E. Hook on verso, four J.G. Hiestand, two U.S. Signal Station and two unmarked. Some very mild fading of some images, but overall a very good collection of sharp images.
"The Manitou and Pike's Peak Railway is a cog railway, "climbing the well-known mountain Pikes Peak. The base station is in Manitou Springs, Colorado near Colorado Springs.
The railway is the highest in North America by a considerable margin. It was built and is operated solely for the tourist trade. The railway was started by Zalmon G. Simmons, inventor and founder of the Simmons Beauty Rest Mattress Company. The company was founded in 1889 and limited service to the Halfway House Hotel was started in 1890. The summit was reached the following year."(Wikipedia).
The views in this collection document the early years of operation of the railway and include: Minnie-ha-ha Falls, Pike's Peak Trail; Green Mountain Falls; The Three Lower Falls, Cheyenne Canon; Royal Gorge; Mother Grundy, Garden of the Gods; Pike's Peak Railroad, Gravel Slide; Devil's Punch Bowl, Glen Eyrie; Seven Falls, Cheyenne Canon; Silver Cascades, North Cheyenne Canon; Pike's Peak from Mt. Eleanor; Gateway, Garden of the Gods; Manitou Springs, Colorado; Summit of Pike's Peak, Rose Emma Falls; The Loop C.C.R.R., Georgetown Colorado; The Peak from Pilot Knob; Above Timber Line; Looking Down from Timber-Line etc.
In April 1885, Hook established a photography studio in Manitou Springs, Colorado.., Over the years, Hook specialized in marketing landscape views of Colorado to tourists.., [Hook] also operated a boarding house for tourists until 1890, when the construction and operations associated with the Manitou and Pike’s Peak Railway – a steep grade railway from Manitou Springs to the summit of Pikes Peak – prompted the family to relocate to Colorado Springs"(source).
Hiestand "was well known for his photography of the Pikes Peak area, [and] was the official photographer for the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway"(minrec.org).
