Photographs of the Old West | Hacker News Reader

Photographs of the Old West

cosmographia.substack.com

183 pointsmerothwell15 comments

What a fantastic archive, I had not seen these before. It is a tragedy that so much was lost. I know all these places, albeit in more modern times, but some are still very remote and rarely seen.

It isn’t for everyone, but if you follow the unpaved ranch and mining trails deep into the southwest mountains you can still find echos of this. Just brilliant magical country.

I hesitate to tell people where to find the magic anymore. These days, poorly behaved selfie tourists descend on these places en masse and destroy the allure instantly. Even the old dirt trails don’t stop them; I’ve seen a mega-busload of ill-equipped foreign tourists show up at a minor sites an hour from the nearest pavement because someone posted about it on instagram.

I know I am an old man shouting at clouds but I grew up with these places. I’m not “native” per se but even I can sense the desecration that bothers the people that were born there and never left. I wish I had a solution to this problem but I don’t.

Ban Instagram.

I've witnessed the "selfie tourists" overwhelm one of my favorite parks and it's just so frustrating. You want everyone to be able to experience it for themselves, but you have to be careful when sharing with others because human nature itself gets in the way. They ended up closing the park for the season to recover. Share responsibly.

That’s so sad that the vast majority of his photos were lost to the 1906 SF earthquake. Amazing photos that were preserved though.

that earthquake was responsible for deforesting most of the redwoods in the bay area. everything was clear-cut to rebuild.

Just a warning, there's a fair number of nude children in these photos, may not want to open at work

Sad but true. Normal is obscene now.

Interestingly enough it seems the Native Americans are really joyful and not posed in front of the camera (other than the grieving widow). Usually pictures from this time period are of people posed in a strict demeanor.

I can’t help but comment on the fact that Americans just decided the Natives needed to be seriously kicked out. It’s almost like we’ve got a problem deep within us because it keeps happening.

American culture has a complex and ambivalent relationship with the indigenous tribes. On one hand, they were treated poorly in many regards. On the other hand, American culture has always had a tremendous amount of respect for many aspects of their ethos — they weren’t viewed as alien. Many of the most successful military commanders of the indigenous tribes achieved celebrity in America and world-wide fame even though they killed many Americans and ultimately could not prevail against the American forces.

The best of them were very intelligent badasses, and Americans respect that enormously, independent of the outcomes. Their loss was inevitable but the way they prosecuted that conflict earned respect from the victors. This is the bittersweet reality that their modern descendants must live with.

I grew up among them and loved it.

For anyone particularly taken by the “sonder” described there at the beginning, I can’t recommend highly enough the video about Onfim by Trey The Explainer on YT. If you don’t already know what it’s about, I won’t spoil it. I highly doubt you’ll find it a waste of 12 minutes.

[https://youtu.be/H_nT6EFUZmI]

It felt like I was there, in my head, for a brief and beautiful moment of time. What an incredible set of photos.

Ahh, these are beautiful. Thanks 'merothwell for linking. I was in Monument Valley for the first time ever this year; if you like these photos, try and pay it a visit. You won't be disappointed.

M. E. Rothwell, if you're reading, the photo for "Two little girls from the Pueblo of Isleta, New Mexico (c. 1886 — 1911)" is in there twice.

Woops — thanks for catching that

There are Hopi people in those photos?.. advanced culture

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