Item #8162 A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title]. Waldo Ellis Knapp, compiler, photog.
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].
A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].

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Knapp, Waldo Ellis, photog., compiler.

A collection of Kodak pictures taken by Waldo Ellis Knapp during an exploration of the Garcia Lande in the Sierra Madre Mts, State of Chihuahua, Rep. of Mexico during the months of April & May 1899—for and under the direction of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre and Pacific R.R. Co., A. Foster Higgins Pres. Explorations extended over the great plateau of North Mexico [manuscript-title].

San Diego, California, Guzman, Juarez, Cases Grandes, Guinopa Canon, and other Mexican locales, April–May 1899. Oblong 24mo (5.5” x 7.25”), full black cloth with “Photographs” stamped in gold at front-cover. 44 printing-out paper, 2 cyanotypes, and 4 silver prints, 3.5” x 4.5”–3.9” x 4.75”, affixed to paper, with 2 printing-out paper laid in, all photographs captioned in ink. 15 platinum prints, 3.5” x 4.75”, on larger paperboard mounts, most images captioned in pencil. CONDITION: Good, strong tonality, mouse-chewed fore edge and bottom-right corner of the second half of the leaves with losses to just a few words in the captions and minor losses to the margins of a few images, creasing and minor loss to corner to 1 printing-out paper, 1 platinum print lightly foxed, manuscript-title detached.

An especially appealing lot of sixty-five well-captioned photos documenting an expedition made on the behalf of the Rio Grande, Sierra Madre & Pacific Railway, apparently in an effort to stimulate investment in the newly-bankrupt railway. These images were compiled by a man active in the lumber industry in British Columbia who appears to have had a vested interest in potential logging operations connected with the railroad. 

The Rio Grande, Sierra Madre & Pacific Railway (RGSMPR) operated in northern Mexico from Ciudad Juarez to Chihuahua via Nuevo Casas Grandes in the western portion of the state of Chihuahua. Around 1896, the railway’s President A. Foster Higgins incorporated the RGSMPR in New York, and had the route changed to align with the Sonora, Sinaloa & Chihuahua Railroad, with the exception of the northern terminus which was moved from Deming to Ciudad Juárez. Within eighteen months, and with the assistance of many Mexican Mormons, Higgins reached Corralitos and was pressing on to Casas Grandes when, in 1898, all funds exhausted, the run came to an end. 

In 1897, two years before the expedition documented in the present album, Waldo Ellis Knapp (1864–1907) founded the Red Cliff Lumber Co. at Alberni, British Columbia after buying 30,000 acres of fine timber in the area. Knapp served as the British Columbia representative of the Red Cliff Lumber Co. into the 1900s. Knapp’s life came to a tragic end in 1907 when he died from gangrene after accidentally shooting himself with a pistol in Victoria, Canada. At the time of his death Knapp was married to Lena Gray Knapp, the daughter of a Vermont Senator. 

The album begins with a detailed and informative manuscript-title that explains why and for whom these photos were taken. The first photo shows the RGSMPR station at Casas Grandes, Mexico where ore teams are unloading, and the following group of photos document an unidentified San Diego ranch, where the party may have begun their expedition which began some time after 19 April 1899 and lasted at least forty days (until at least 30 May). Captions often indicate at what point of their expedition the shot was taken. A handful of shots show scenes on or around the San Diego ranch, including one of a vaquero holding a child. Many photos show Knapp’s party and their possessions, and captions identify some of the expedition participants: Chas. S. Robinson, who is identified as a guide, packer, trailer of Colorado and is described by Knapp in another caption as “trailer & hunter, Indian fighter frontiersman, companion, gentleman assayer & expert metallurgist”; Bob Lee, described in one caption as a “Texas outlaw, good fellow, fro[m] whom I secured all my animals [for the expedition]”; and the party’s cook, Will Adams. One shot shows Robinson and Adams sitting near a log cabin built and occupied by one Bob Lewis, who was “one of Black Jack’s gang of renegade outlaws.” 

Knapp’s group encounters many people on their journey through Mexico including local inhabitants, travelers, animals, and temporary dwellings: “a bad Mexican” (a man smoking a cigarette and with his hand on his pistol on his belt); a group of Mexicans at Guzman; a loaded burro taking a rest, at the residence of one J. T. Logan; a camp in the desert; a wagon train “off for the mines”; a young Mexican girl standing on the sandy desert; a pack train on the Guinopa trail (the inscription for this image notes “the morning this view was taken my friend Header lost his horse off the trail & nearly lost his own life, the bottom of the canon 800” below the trail”); three Morman settlers who escorted the party (Mr. Seader, Mr. Martineau and Mr. Peavy[?]), and a Morman cowboy guide Hiram Duff, who “explored” with the party for about a week. The party also encounter Yaquis Indians in Star Mine in Guinopa Canon in the company of a Scotsman named Mr. Duthy. Shown are Yaquis Indian women, and Mr. Duthy and a Yaquis man under a makeshift tent. One photo is an evocative street scene in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.  

On his way through Mexico, Knapp encounters many prehistoric dwellings, ruins, and beautiful cliff formations: an old Spanish smelt house on the Nacari Trail that he says is 500 years old; prehistoric hieroglyphics on stone slab in Garcia Valley; abandoned dwellings in an old cave (“its builders undoubtedly of prehistoric origin. More recent signs & usage indicate Apache occupation for defense & as a stronghold”); an old cave in Guinopa Canon consisting of 110 rooms (Knapp notes this is “the most interesting point of all my explorations”); large rock formations/constructions, and the striking cliffs in Rock Creek Canon (a few shots of which show a man standing on the cliffs), and Rock Creek Canon’s “Camp Beautiful,” where they camp out.                                

Other Mormon content includes a Mormon school-house and its surrounding stockade at Cave Valley in Mexico, which was “built for defense against Apaches in 1891”; an image of Browns Road that is captioned: “Mormon enterprise entering the foothills of the Sierra Madre”; and one shot of a view of Chichupa Valley with cabins of Morman settlers in the background. Mormon colonies in Mexico near the Sierra Madre mountains in northern Mexico (in the states of Chihuahua and Sonora) were established by Mormons beginning in 1885. The settlers came to Mexico due to U.S. federal attempts to curb and prosecute polygamy in America. The towns making up Mormon colonies were all within about 200 miles south of the U.S. border.

In spite of the fundraising attempts represented by this expedition, the company was purchased by William C. Greene of the Cananea Copper establishment, Greene acquiring the concession along with all properties from A. Foster Higgins in 1903. Greene sought to employ the railroad for logging pine from the slopes of the Sierras and thereby save the cost of importing timber supports for his Sonoran mines from Puget Sound. After 1909, the RGSMPR was known as the Mexico North-Western Railway. The RGSMPR was built with mostly Canadian capital in order to reach logging and mining operations, suggesting Knapp himself may have been an investor. These mining interests made it the target of raids by Mexican revolutionary Pancho Villa, who in 1913 successfully held a Wells Fargo employee on the train carrying silver for ransom. This incident coupled with a 1916 incident in which over a dozen U.S. employees were massacred were the motivation for President Woodrow Wilson to send Gen. John Pershing on the Punitive Expeditions into Mexico in an unsuccessful attempt to capture Villa. 

A fascinating photo archive relating to an attempt to save a faltering railroad in Northern Mexico.

REFERENCES: Hardy, B. Carmon. "The Sonora, Sinaloa and Chihuahua Railroad" at vr-elibrary online, pp. 279-280; Lawrence, Joseph Collins. Markets and Capital: A History of the Lumber Industry of British Columbia (1778–1952) (British Columbia: University of British Columbia, 1957), p. 77; Victoria Daily Colonist (Victoria, Canada, 5 Dec. 1907).

Item #8162

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