Nostalgia & History > Fishing in the Royal Gorge

Are these two pictures of the Royal Gorge two different pictures or are they the same picture but one is horizontally inverted. If so which picture is inverted?

Picture 1, “Call Number: WHJ-1419. Title: Royal Gorge. Title-Alternative: W. H. Jackson sample album. Colorado Book VII ; no. 12. Creator(s): Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942. Summary: Narrow gauge tracks of the Denver & Rio Grande Railway traverse a sheer rock wall near the Arkansas River in Royal Gorge (Fremont County), Colorado. A man sits and fishes from a rock outcrop. Date: between 1880 and 1890? Attribution to Jackson based on inclusion in bound W. H. Jackson sample album. Condition: Print discolored, torn, edges frayed. Mounted on verso of album page: WHJ-1418. Printed title reproduced in print. Physical Description: 1 photoprint: albumen; 33 x 25 cm. (13 x 10 in.) mounted on album page. Is Part Of W. H. Jackson sample album. Colorado Book VII.”

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Picture 2, “Call Number: CHS.J2057. Title: Royal Gorge, below the bridge (D. &.R.G.Ry.). Creator(s): Jackson, William Henry, 1843-1942. Summary: A man sits on a rock and fishes in the Arkansas River in the Royal Gorge, Fremont County, Colorado. Shows the narrow gauge tracks of the Denver and Rio Grande Railway Company. Date: between 1870 and 1890? Accession number: 86.200.2057; Attribution to Jackson based on the photonegative's inclusion in the History Colorado William Henry Jackson Collection. History Colorado. Condition: Masked, silvered, oxidized, chipped. Formerly Jackson 3032. Number 03032 inked on negative.; Title handwritten on envelope. Physical Description: 1 negative: glass; 28 x 18 cm. (11 x 7 in.). Is Part Of History Colorado, William Henry Jackson Collection.”

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Picture 3, picture 1 enlarged 50%,

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Picture 4, picture 2 enlarged 50%.

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Probably the track inspector.

Isn't that some great track. I'd say the date is closer to 1880 that 1892. Great picture, though. Thanks.

I think in every photo I've seen of the Royal Gorge the track has been on the left bank making photos two and four reversed.

If you face east in the Royal Gorge, the track is on the left. If you face west, the track is on the right. Never-the-less in both pictures the fisherman is on the same rock outcropping, so one of the pictures is reversed.


Marty Bernard

The two pictures, aside from one being reversed, are not identical. If you look at the fisherman, he has his legs in different positions in the photos.

But that said, it might be the same man (hard to tell) and it is certainly the same location. I suspect though that the images were either taken with different cameras, or possibly with different lenses, and possibly from different locations.

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You are very observant lwilton. I was so transfixed in one of the pictures being the inversion of the other that I failed to notice the difference in the position of the man’s or men’s legs in the two pictures. That is pretty slick the way you transposed the one picture on the other.