Photography had barely been invented when Carleton Watkins (1829–1916) first trudged into Yosemite Valley in 1861 with a custom-built camera and a mule train to carry his gear. His 18-by-22-inch negatives, developed in the field, produced images that captured the scale and grandeur of Yosemite and persuaded President Lincoln and Congress to preserve the valley for public use. In honor of the 150th anniversary of the Yosemite Valley Grant Act, more than 80 of Watkins’s original prints, including “Pompompasos, the Three Brothers,” seen here, are on view at Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center through August 17.
Photograph: Lent by Department of Special Collections, Stanford University Libraries
