Oblong Folio album ca. 26x32 cm (10 ¼ x 12 ½ in). 50 card stock leaves. With 100 mounted gelatin silver photos, all ca. 12x17 cm (4 ¾ x 6 ¾ in). Nineteen photos with period typewritten captions on paper labels, attached to the mounts. Period black patterned cloth album, a few photos with mild silvering, but overall a very good album with interesting strong photos.

Attractive collection of lively original gelatin silver photos, illustrating travel likely by steamer up the West Coast starting in southern California, and then continuing to San Francisco, Portland and Victoria (BC) at the beginning of the 20th century. The album opens with a group portrait of five young guitar players, identified as “Stuck, Elliott, Zollinger, White, Hanes.” Seven photos of Los Angeles and environs show Mission San Gabriel Arcangel with the street car tracks of the Pacific Electric Railway, Hotel Green (built in 1893) and an “ostrich farm” in Pasadena (Cawston Ostrich Farm, operated in 1896-1935), Deadmans Island near San Pedro (dredged away in 1928), a “lumber schooner Balboa” in San Pedro harbour, the waterfront in Long Beach, and oranges grown in Los Angeles. About forty photos including many excellent city views of San Francisco, apparently taken before the earthquake and fire of 1906, include a series of views of Market Street looking east and west, and other parts of the city downtown (two photos with a visible steel frame of a highrise under construction), photos of the Ferry Building (completed in 1898), Golden Gate Park (Band stand, Conservatory, Stow Lake, “Apple Sider Press” bronze statue, a statue of the 20th president of the United States James Garfield, Goeth-Schiller monument, Tea Garden and Japanese bridge, Dutch Windmill, tennis courts, driveways), Lands End Park (Sutro Heights, second building of the Cliff House, the ocean shore), &c. The photo of the second building of the Cliff House points to the fact that the album was compiled before the 1906 earthquake and fire. The building was completed in 1896 and survived the earthquake “will little damage, but burned to the ground on the evening of September 7, 1907” (Wikipedia). The photo doesn’t reveal any visible damage to the building.

There are also several views of Portland, showing Union Railway Station (built in 1896), city downtown streets with the Willamette River and what looks like Morrison Street Bridge (in the far right), Washington Park with the Chiming Fountain, &c. Two photos show a swing bridge in the open and close positions (likely, also in Portland). The other photos show railway tracks, a trestle bridge, a port with coastal steamers, &c. Two photos at the rear show the British Columbia Parliament Buildings in Victoria and the city’s Government Street (with the Post Office building in the right). Overall a nice collection of well-preserved sound photos of Los Angeles, San Francisco, Portland and Victoria in the early 20th century.

A list of captions: [A group portrait of five musicians:] Stuck, Elliott, Zollinger, White, Hanes; “San Gabriel Mission”, Los Angeles Cal.; “Ostrich farm”, Pasadena, Cal.; “Dead Mans Island,” San Pedro, Cal.; “Lumber Schooner Balboa,” San Pedro harbor, Cal.; “Green Hotel,” Pasadena Cal.; “Oranges,” Los Angeles, Cal.; “Long Beach,” Cal.; “Ferry building”, Frisco; “Market Street,” Frisco (looking east); “Market Street,” Frisco (looking west); “Small Lake,” Golden Gate Park; “Driveway,” G.G. Park; “Band Stand,” Golden Gate Park; “Flower beds,” Golden Gate park; “Conservatory,” Golden Gate Park; “Driveway,” G.G. Park (two different views); “Band Stand,” Golden Gate Park.