Oblong Folio album ca. 26,5x36,5 cm (10 ¼ x 14 ½ in). 20 card stock leaves. With 76 mounted albumen photos, from ca. 11x19 cm (4 ¼ x 7 ½ in) to ca. 11,5x16,5 cm (4 ½ x 6 ½ in). Four photos are captioned in negative, three are numbered in negative. Period thick card stock leaves fastened with a string and bound in a period style black half morocco album with cloth boards. Leaves are slightly waved and the first leaf with a minor crease, but overall a very good album with bright sound interesting photos.

Attractive collection of early, rare and unusual, well-preserved photos of Washington State and western Montana, showing towns, dams, logging camps and teams, coastal and river steamers, pioneer settlers and their cabins, Native Americans, scenes of wilderness, &c. Among the identified images are three views of western Montana, showing a cabin and a tent camp at the Sleeping Child Hot Springs, the Bitterroot River, as well as the sawmill and dam of the “Bitter Root Development Company” in Hamilton. Founded by one of Montana’s three “Copper Kings” and the founder of Hamilton, Marcus Daly (1841-1900), the company provided timber to Daly’s Anaconda Copper Mine in Butte (MT). The city of Hamilton was established in the late 1880s on the route of the Northern Pacific Railway and, by the end of the century, became the commercial centre of the Bitterroot Valley and the seat of Ravalli County.

Another identified photo shows a Puget Sound sternwheeler, “State of Washington,” docked at a wharf. The steamer first served on the Seattle-Bellingham route (1889-1902) and was then transferred to the Seattle-Tacoma route (1902-1907), Hood Canal and the Columbia River (1913-1921).

There are also several views of towns and cities, including a street scene with the welcome arch and sign “Washington Press Association Welcome” in the centre. The “Washington Press Association” was formed in 1887 by newspapers in Dayton, Ellensburg, Seattle, Tacoma, Yakima and Walla Walla. Other interesting photos include a series of portraits of pioneers/loggers, posing near their cabins or tents, with hunted animals, while fishing or cooking meals. Five photos portray Native American families posing next to their tents or mounted on horses. One photo depicts a man (possibly a Native American), smoking an opium pipe. Several images depict North American wilderness – mountains, river valleys, streams, lakes, forests, &c. Overall an historically interesting collection of early unusual photos of towns, people and wilderness of the Pacific Northwest.

 A list of captions: Sleeping Child Springs looking west; 28. The “Bitter Root”; Str. State of Washington; B.R.D.Co’s mill and dam, Hamilton.