[Wyoming and Colorado Wilderness Excursion Photo Album.]

[Wyoming and Colorado, ca 1914]. Oblong 8vo (7” x 12”), full pebbled brown leather, flexible covers. 50 silver-print photos (9 tinted), approx 4.5” x 6.5”, mounted on black paper leaves; 6 additional silver print photos laid in, 2 are 6.5” x 8.5”, 3 are 5” x 7”, 1 is 5” x 7.5”; original 2 pp. typed list of photo captions, numbered 1 to 52, laid in (the two largest loose images are included on the list).

A fine photo album documenting excursions in Wyoming and Colorado undertaken by noted Wyoming photographer and mountaineer William John Stroud, alias Rocky Mountain Bill, and companions.

The photos included here, many of them quite beautiful and evocative, were taken in the Grand Tetons, Yellowstone National Park, and along the Green River as far south as Ladore Canyon in northwestern Colorado. Tipped into the album is a typed list of captions compiled by an anonymous owner who seems to have participated in at least some of the outings documented. The list identifies W. J. Stroud in two of the photographs.

Among the subjects captured in these photos are Mammoth Glacier, Minor Glacier, the Matterhorn of Wyoming (the Grand Teton), rivers passing through canyons; hunting scenes; men on horseback or standing with their horses; elk and deer, both living and dead; impressive geological formations, etc. The caption leaf identifies nearly all of the locations and subjects, including: Snake River and Jackson’s Lake in Jackson Valley; Liberty Cap (seen from Mammoth Hot Springs, Yellowstone); Green River; Ladore Canyon, Square Top Mountain, Fremont’s Lake; Gans Peak; Stroud’s Canyon, etc. A few of the captions offer more extended commentary: “Minor Glacier. ‘I can assert with assurance that mortal eyes hath never beheld the sacred beauty spot before.’ It is not even mentioned by State and National government reports. Stroud named it Glacier Lake. Wall of Polished Granite, Ice as clear as crystal 300-400 feet thick.”

William John Stroud (1854–1946) of Rock Springs, Wyoming was born in Mountain Ash, Scotland and came to the United States with his parents as a child. He arrived in Rock Springs in the 1880s, becoming an ardent explorer of the region. The following sketch of Stroud appears in The Improvement Era (Vol. 19, 1915): “Mr. Stroud has traveled over and explored more of Wyoming territory than any other man living. He is said to have climbed its every peak of any importance, and recently hoisted the Stars and Stripes on the summit of Fremont peak … Mr. Stroud is in possession of hundreds of copyright pictures, including ‘movies’ of Wyoming scenery, and wild game.” Regarding Stroud’s ascent of Fremont Peak, this album includes an image of a man who apparently accompanied him standing in a field of snow and holding the U. S. flag. The caption reads “Colburn carrying flag to Fremont peak July 11, 1914. Counted 8 frozen lakes. Raised flag on July 12.” In addition to the two images in which Stroud appears, others show camps that he set up on the Great River and Green River. One of the photos in the album, taken “Near Mr. John Hays ranch” on Green River a hundred miles from Ladore Canyon, appears in The Improvement Era, credited to Stroud. It seems likely that many or most of the other images included here are Stroud’s work as well.

A rare album reflecting the activities of this interesting Wyoming photographer.

REFERENCES: The Improvement Era, Vol. 19 (Salt Lake City: The General Board at Salt Lake City, 1915), p. 530; William John “Rocky Mountain Bill” Stroud at findagrave.com

CONDITION: Good, extremities rubbed, crack in lower edge of first leaf (not affecting photo), photos clean with good tonality, curious inherent smudging in two of the laid in photos.