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Guide to the Northwest Boundary Survey Photographs from the Papers of George Clinton Gardner, 1858-1862 (bulk 1860-1861)
BANC PIC 1963.040--AX
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Collection Title: Northwest Boundary Survey photographs from the papers of George Clinton Gardner
Date (inclusive): 1858-1862
Date (bulk): 1860-1861
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1963.040--AX
Creator:
Great Britain. Army. Royal Engineers.
Gardner, G. Clinton (George Clinton)
Great Britain. North American Boundary Commission
British North American Boundary Commission
Extent:
45 photographs : albumen prints on mounts ; mounts 26 x 35 cm.
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in
Access Information
RESTRICTED ORIGINALS. USE ONLINE DIGITAL IMAGES ONLY. Use of originals only by permission of the appropriate curator. Inquiries
concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services, The Bancroft Library.
[Identification of item], Northwest Boundary Survey photographs from the papers of George Clinton Gardner, BANC PIC 1963.040--AX,
The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
Indians of North America -- Northwest, Pacific -- Photographs
Canada -- Boundaries -- United States -- Surveys
Canada, Western – Pictorial works
Northwest boundary of the United States -- Surveys
Northwest, Pacific – Pictorial works
United States -- Boundaries -- Canada -- Surveys
Received with the Robert B. Honeyman collection as part of the George Clinton Gardner papers (BANC MSS P-B 221).
Arrangement
The Northwest Boundary Survey photographs have been arranged and numbered by Bancroft Library staff. No original order was
discernable, and items were entirely unidentified. Identifications were made by comparison to online images from collections
at the Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division, Yale's Beinecke Library, and the Victoria and Albert Museum. Identifications
from these collections were then compared to the tables of geographical coordinates in Marcus Baker's "Survey of the Northwestern
Boundary of the United States, 1857-1861" (Bulletin of the USGS, no. 174, 1900.)
The Bancroft Library items have now been arranged as views and landscapes, followed by portraits. Views and landscapes are
arranged by approximate geographic area, starting in the west at Point Roberts, on the 49th Parallel (items 1-4), followed
by views moving up the Columbia River (items 5-6) to the Fort Colville area (items 7-13). Following the Colville area views,
landscapes are arranged progressing from west to east, roughly along the 49th Parallel from the Boundary Commission's depot
at Sinyakwateen (item 14) eastward to the summit of the Rocky Mountains near the Akamina Ridge, in what is now Glacier National
Park (items 27-30). Viewers should note that this approximate geographic progression is not chronological and does not provide
a narrative of the survey's progress. The Commission's photographers are likely to have made photographs while progressing
eastward to the Rockies and upon their return journey to the west. Furthermore, the Point Roberts views (items 1-4) are believed
to have been taken in 1862, after the other views, when the obelisk was completed.
Portraits (items 31-45) are grouped based on identification of the individuals depicted and their identified tribes or affiliations,
or by similarity of background visible in the photographs. First is a group portrait of Vancouver Island Indians, followed
by Kootenai (Kootenay) Indians, Spokane Indians, "Colville Indians", and family members of Angus MacDonald, all of whom were
photographed in front of cabins that may be the British survey party's winter quarters near Fort Colville, or may be at the
Hudson's Bay Company depot in the same region, or some at each location. Following these is one portrait of a Kalispel couple,
whose territory was further to the east, and, finally, two portraits of British survey party members.
Arranged, numbered, and described in 2014.
Biography/Organization History
Between 1857 and 1862 a joint commission of the United States and Great Britain surveyed and marked the international boundary
as established by the Oregon Treaty of 1846. The border ran along the 49th Parallel from Point Roberts, in the west, inland.
The survey accomplished during this period extended eastward to the crest of the Rocky Mountains, in current Montana and Alberta,
at a longitude of approximately 114 degrees 3' 28.4".
The extant photographs produced during the survey were made by un-named photographers with the Corps of Royal Engineers of
the army of Great Britain. The American team attempted to use photographic equipment, apparently without success.
Since no official report was published immediately following the survey, the most readily available source of information
on the survey and the locations of border monuments and survey camps is the report written by Marcus Baker and published in
1900. It is titled "Survey of the Northwestern Boundary of the United States, 1857-1861," in the Bulletin of the United States
Geological Survey, no. 174 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1900.) This report enumerates locations noted in survey
documentation and gives latitude and longitude as recorded by both the British and American survey parties. This source is
invaluable for interpreting manuscript captions found on copies of photographs, which vary from collection to collection and
are often barely legible. It also facilitates reasonably accurate, if general, placement of the views.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of photographs taken chiefly in Washington Territory and along the 49th parallel by British photographers
in the Corps of Royal Engineers, as part of the survey to identify and mark the international boundary between British Columbia
and the United States. The images include landscapes, survey party members, camps, survey monuments and cairns, outposts (chiefly
Fort Colvile [sic] and the British party's winter quarters in the Colville vicinity), and Indians of the Pacific Northwest.
Note
Forms part of the Robert B. Honeyman, Jr. collection of early Californian and Western American pictorial material.