The book is not only an account of Russell’s railroad photographs for Union Pacific; it also constitutes a highly readable biography of the man. Davis traces Russell’s early life in upstate New York, where he began his work as an artist in the 1850s. In addition to romanticized, large-format paintings of the American landscape, he had a successful run creating panoramas, a popular entertainment for the middle class. The panoramas were painted on long sheaths of canvas, unrolled from giant spools in a theatrical setting, and accompanied by a narrator. After moving to New York City, he took up photography. The Civil War intervened, dramatically changing Russell’s life. He joined a unit of New York volunteers but soon came to the attention of Gen. Herman Haupt, who commanded the Union Army’s Military Railroad Construction Corps. Davis explains how Russell went on to create some of the most memorable images of the conflict, from the implementation of the Union’s military resources to the awful aftermath of battle. His work ranged from photos
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Nonetheless, Russell’s Civil War accomplishments set the stage for his great work on the Union Pacific, which hired him in 1868. Actually, Russell was a bit of a latecomer to the transcontinental railroad. As Davis shows, the building of the railroad already had attracted several important photographers, among them Alfred A. Hart on the Central Pacific, building eastward from California; John Carbutt on the UP, building westward across Nebraska and Wyoming; and Alexander Garner on the competing Kansas Pacific route. Davis shows the importance the railroads placed on photography as a means of not only recording their progress, but also whipping up public support.
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In this sesquicentennial year of the transcontinental railroad—its ceremonial completion came on May 10, 1869—much attention is focused on the profound political and economic impact of what in its time was a national obsession. Today’s Union Pacific Railroad is dedicating vast resources to telling that story, as are dozens of publications and video productions in the railroad field. This engaging book explains a different story: the role that pioneering railroad photographers played in capturing the attention of a mid-nineteenth-century public. Among those essential storytellers was Andrew J. Russell.
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Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press, 2018. viii + 195 pp. Paper, $24.95
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By Daniel Davis
of the battle of Fredericksburg to the ruins of Richmond to Lincoln’s funeral train. Davis also notes that credit to Russell did not come until a century later; as a commissioned army officer, he was just doing his job. Meanwhile, his rival, the private contractor Matthew Brady, became a celebrity.
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Across the Continent: The Union Pacific Photographs of Andrew J. Russell
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The heart of the book is Davis’s detailed account of Russell’s Union Pacific work, which took place over two celebrated trips made in 1868 and 1869. These expeditions rendered a treasure trove of indispensable photographs: tunnel and bridge building in central Wyoming and Utah’s Weber and Echo Canyons; the inevitable “hell on wheels” settlements that followed the railroad crews; portraits of railroad workers as well as national figures, including presidential candidate U. S. Grant near Laramie; and, of course, Russell’s comprehensive coverage of the golden spike ceremony at Promontory Summit, Utah. As Davis shows, Russell did much more than photograph the building of a railroad. His western trips took him beyond the tracks, where he photographed other aspects of manifest destiny. He framed the farmsteads and main streets of a growing Mormon civilization. He made respectful portraits of Native American men and women. He recorded the construction of a
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