$3.00 The CONFLUENCE Publication of Wenatchee Valley Museum Vol. 34, No. 3 & Cultural Center Fall 2018 Public Library and Library of Congress

Photographer Brothers Edward and Asahel Curtis Wenatchee Valley From the Curator of Exhibits Edward Curtis Photos Reveal Philosophical Agenda Kasey Koski M w U w S w E w U w M by Chris Rader I received a phone call in 2015 asking & Cultural Center Edward Curtis devoted his life to a if the Wenatchee Valley Museum would moments in midmorning when the fog lifted, “Inspiring dynamic connections to the unique project that some of his contemporaries be interested in an exhibit of the work or breaks in the afternoon between rain heritage of the Wenatchee Valley” considered an expensive folly: documen- of Edward Curtis. My intuitive response showers, when he could see the spectrum 127 S. Mission Street, Wenatchee, WA 98801 ting the lifestyles of more than 80 Native of the rainbow in a single drop held by a (509) 888-6240 v www.wenatcheevalleymuseum.org was “yes!” While my gut said yes, my American groups through photographs, 2 Hours: Tuesday-Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. mind asked, “Who is Edward Curtis?” rhododendron leaf. audio recordings and anthropological text. First Fridays: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m., free admission A few seconds of keyboard research A 16-year-old neighbor girl, Clara He pursued his goal for 30 years despite Member brought me up to speed as beautiful Phillips, came by often to help nurse Ed American Alliance of Museums bankruptcy, divorce and ill health. Re- images of Curtis’ photography filled my back to health. When he recovered, he American Association for State and Local History gardless of the high toll to Curtis’ personal screen. Many of them were familiar. moved to Seattle and found work as a Cascade Loop Association life, the end result – a 20-volume book Great Northern Railway Historical Association I immediately picked up a copy of Timothy Egan’s photographer. Clara joined him there, collection titled The North American Indian Museum Store Association Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher and found Curtis to be and they married in 1892. By 1895 Ed’s National Trust for Historic Preservation – is a priceless contribution to history. an incredibly interesting character. His passion and vision photography business, Curtis and Guptill: Upper Columbia Museum Association Edward Sheriff Curtis was born Museum Association were admirable; however, his motivation may have been a Photographers and Photoengravers, was Wikipedia, public domain February 16, 1868 in Whitewater, Wis- Wenatchee Area Genealogical Society little misguided. In his perception, Native Americans were a thriving. He and Clara bought a large Wenatchee Downtown Association consin. He was the second of four children “vanishing race.” Native populations had declined through house on Eighth Avenue and invited Wenatchee Rotary Club born to Civil War veteran and itinerant widespread disease introduced by European contact and Edward Curtis adopted a mother Ellen, siblings Eva and Asahel, an Wenatchee Valley Chamber of Commerce preacher Johnson Curtis and his wife Ellen. violent deaths through skirmishes with settlers and the U.S. Van Dyke-style beard in the aunt and two other relatives to live with Johnson, debilitated by his war experiences, “Linking the Past to the Future” Army in disputes over land. But the Native Americans would 1890s and kept it the rest of them. Asahel became an apprentice in the was never able to support his family and not vanish into the sunset as he predicted. Curtis’ work is his life. studio. they lived in poverty, sometimes subsisting Board of Trustees cited as the impetus for many of the misconceptions that live There was plenty of photo work in the Don Gurnard President on potatoes for weeks at a time. After his older brother on across the globe today. His subjects were not nameless bustling city of Seattle: portraits of prominent citizens, Linda Haglund Vice President Raphael left home, Ed quit school at age 12 and became savages or braves or squaws, but people with names that were scenes of construction, awe-inspiring landscapes. Kathleen McNalty Secretary the family caretaker when his father was too ill to work Lisa Dahlgreen Treasurer part of sophisticated societies with their own values who had But Edward Curtis found himself fascinated by the or find food. Lyle Markhart City of Wenatchee Liaison lived on the American continent since time immemorial. Duwamish and other native peoples who were being Chuck Johnson City of East Wenatchee Liaison In his early teen years Ed became interested in In today’s world, we are fortunate to still have the rich pushed out of their homeland. He found opportunities Ken Cramer, Carol Hofmann, Lorna Klemanski, photography, building a camera from a stereopticon tapestry of Native American cultures present in our society. to photograph them along the shores of Puget Sound Lisa Parks, Eliot Scull lens his father had brought back from the Civil War plus They lead the way in many forms of environmental activism gathering shellfish, weaving baskets, cooking, playing Ex-Officio Members $1.25 for the remaining parts.1 He moved to St. Paul, Wenatchee Mayor Frank Kuntz through their rich connection to Mother Earth. They draw with their children. On the action shots he would tell Minn. at 17 and apprenticed as a photographer, soon East Wenatchee Mayor Steve Lacy strength from their connection and provide teachings for them, “Don’t pose! I want people to see you as you are.” becoming very proficient. Wenatchee City Council: Jim Bailey, Ruth Esparza, those of us of European descent to learn from, despite their Linda Herald, Keith Huffaker, Mark Kulaas, Mike Poirier In 1887 Ed accompanied his father to Puget Sound in history of unfair treatment at our hands. East Wenatchee City Council: Jerrilea Crawford, Tim Detering, search of a climate that might restore Johnson’s health. Our exhibit honoring the 150th birthday of Edward Matthew Hepner, Shane Magdoff, Harry Raab, John Sterk They established a homestead near Port Orchard, across Curtis, opening Oct. 5, gives us the opportunity to examine Museum Staff the water from Seattle. Ed cut down trees and built Darrell Dickeson Interim Executive Director his legacy, the positive and negative impact of his undeniably a cabin for the family, the rest of whom arrived the Dawn Collings Wells House/Facilities Rental Coordinator beautiful work, and ponder: Can we live together with our Vacant Education & Volunteer Director following year. Rev. Curtis died shortly after the family native brothers and sisters in a peaceful, collaborative way to Linda Davis Bookkeeper relocated. Ed and his younger brother Asahel (see page Vacant Facilities Coordinator benefit all of humanity? Lyn Kelley Special Events Coordinator 10) fished for salmon, picked berries and dug shellfish; Kasey Koski Curator of Exhibits Ed did odd jobs for cash to keep the family alive. This photo Cami Ostrom Membership/Digital Engagement Coordinator Table of Contents While logging, Ed took a bad fall and seriously Debbie Sawyer Education/Volunteer Assistant of Princess Jill Sheets Education/Volunteer Assistant injured his spine. He was confined to his bed for nearly Angeline, Ashley Sinner Outreach/Public Relations Coordinator Editor: Chris Rader a year. Timothy Egan, in his award-winning biography daughter of Anna Spencer Administrative Assistant Edward S. Curtis...... 3 Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher, describes how Edward Chief Seattle, Marriah Thornock Interim Finance/Operations Director Curtis used the time to hone skills that would help his Melanie Wachholder Curator of Collections was Curtis’ Asahel Curtis...... 10 photographic career. The Confluence is published for members of the Wenatchee first Indian Valley Museum Association. All rights reserved. Nothing may Frank Matsura...... 15 It was awful not being able to get around, watching his portrait. be reprinted in whole or in part without written permission of Cover: In British Columbia c. 1914, Edward Curtis photo- mother put together a meal of boiled potatoes and bacon the publisher. Publisher: Wenatchee Valley Museum and Cul- grease. Out the window, though, was a world that gave tural Center; (509) 888-6240; [email protected]. Editor: Chris graphed Kwakiutl dancers in masks and costumes during a Rader, [email protected]. winter ceremony. flight to his spirit. He became a close observer: how the

color of the land would change subtly in shifting light, the University Wikipedia, public domain; Northwestern Confluence 2 Fall 2018 The Confluence 3 Fall 2018 This desire to document Indians in their traditional had led Curtis to but to listen and be humble. The younger man took Roosevelt called the project “a bully idea,” and gave habitat became Curtis’ lifelong obsession. formulate what became this advice – and followed it for the next 30 years in him a written letter of endorsement (though no cash). Mountaineering trip leads to useful contact his “Big Idea.” As his dealings with Native Americans. He later wrote in Buoyed by the president’s and Grinnell’s public Grinnell later described his memoir, As It Was: “To ask the Piegan … any direct support, Curtis continued to approach potential sponsors Both Edward and Asahel Curtis fell in love with the it, “Here was a great question bearing on the subject of religion yields scant in between trips to photograph Southwest tribes. Finally Cascade Mountains, so different from the Midwestern country in which still light. It is necessary to learn, rather, from the everyday in 1906 he hit pay dirt with J.P. Morgan. The banker- landscape of their childhood. Both became skillful live hundreds of tribes life of the people.”5 Over time he observed Piegans financier behind General Electric and U.S. Steel, Morgan climbers and took many photographs of mountain and remnants of tribes, fasting for three days before praying to the sun, Sioux had less interest in Native Americans than in profiting scenes most people would never encounter. On one 1898 some of which still retain warriors eating the hearts of grizzly bear, Hopi priests from Curtis’ project. He agreed to underwrite what solo climb of , Edward was looking across many of their primitive handling rattlesnakes, and other religious practices with Curtis now envisioned as a 20-book series, pledging an at the Nisqually Glacier as night began to fall when he customs and their ancient which he had no quarrel. In fact, Curtis felt more affinity initial $75,000 over five years, with the condition that heard a call of distress. Six middle-aged men were cold, beliefs. Would it not be for native religious traditions than for the evangelical the photographer would take no personal salary. Curtis wet and lost. Curtis climbed down to them, then led a worthy work, from Christianity his father had preached. was ecstatic. them upward to his refuge at Camp Muir where he had Park Glacier National the points of view of art Though Chief White Calf would not allow Curtis built a rock shelter and stockpiled firewood. He got a Volume I is published and science and history, to photograph the five-day Sun Dance ceremony, he fire going and the men soon cheered up. George Bird Grinnell With Morgan’s money, Ed was able to afford to represent them all by let him do portraits of willing tribal members (for a One of them was George Bird Grinnell, founder travel expenses and hire a team to help with photography?”4 price) and shots of the encampment, lodges, horses of the Audubon Society and considered the world’s anthropological research, text writing and editing. Standing on a cliff with Grinnell and looking down at and campfires. These likenesses, and the immersion foremost expert on Plains Indians. Grinnell was Former newspaperman William Myers, field manager hundreds of Piegans at the Sun Dance ceremony, Curtis into Piegan life, convinced Curtis that he should try to fascinated by Curtis’ descriptions of photographing Bill Phillips, Indian scholar Frederick Webb Hodge, and felt a reverence for the depth of feeling the Indians had capture the essence of other tribal communities as they Pacific coastal tribes. After the men safely returned to various cooks and translators shared the project’s vision in worshipping the sun. However, his appreciation for were – before their traditional way of life disappeared Seattle from the mountain, Grinnell visited Curtis in and made Curtis’ life easier. Even Ed’s 12-year-old son, the longstanding traditional dance contradicted official forever. his (now one-man) studio and was impressed by not Hal, rode horseback alongside his father to soak up the American government policy. The Indian Religious only the photographs but also his new friend’s amateur Meets Teddy Roosevelt culture of the Apache after they arrived in Arizona by Crimes Code of 1883 prevented indigenous people from anthropological records. Curtis had been collecting bits Curtis returned home after the Sun Dance but train. (Later collaborators included Alexander Upshaw, practicing any form of religion deemed “pagan”: certain of tribal mythology and travel narratives, writing up only stayed a few weeks. He was eager to travel to the a full-blooded Crow writer and interpreter.) dances, feasts, chants led by medicine men, even goods- summaries of these scraps of the Indian’s inner world.3 Southwest to meet and photograph the Navajo, Apache Curtis managed to convince a medicine man from the sharing potlatches. Indians still held these ceremonies, A conservationist and Indian lover himself, Grinnell and Hopi peoples. His wife and three young children Apache reservation, Goshonné, to share tribal religious but “underground,” away from white men’s eyes. invited Curtis to be the photographer on two significant were not happy to see him leave again, but Ed would secrets. For a fee, the medicine man allowed Curtis to Curtis was honored to be accepted by the Piegans and expeditions: the Harriman Alaskan scientific expedition not be deterred. He made several trips to Arizona and take pictures of a deerskin scroll containing symbols permitted to watch the Sun Dance. in 1899 and a quest in 1900 to witness the Sun Dance New Mexico during the next few years, spending much of the Apache creation myth. Ed made wax cylinder Grinnell cautioned Curtis not to come on too strong, ceremony in Montana. more time with Indians than with his family. audio recordings of Goshonné’s religious descriptions Grinnell, who was known as These self-financed photo- the Father of the Blackfoot, had graphic pilgrimages were taking spent twenty seasons in the field a toll on the Curtis studio. Even with the Blackfoot and Piegan under Clara’s thrifty management, and had established a position the business was barely squeaking of knowledge and trust that by on portrait sales (whenever Ed opened new doors for Curtis was home long enough to recruit that fateful summer. It was this wealthy Seattle subjects). He tried access to closely held native to interest some of these men in rituals and spiritual beliefs that financing his “Big Idea,” but it so profoundly changed his life. was not until he met President Equally important were the Theodore Roosevelt in 1904 that personal interactions between he found a kindred spirit. Curtis and several native Impressed by Curtis’ prize- individuals. winning portrait of a young Seattle Conversations with Grinnell girl, the president invited him to the White House to photograph Curtis earned the trust of Navajo the Roosevelt children. While elders and was allowed to there, Curtis showed his Indian photograph Yebichai dancers. portfolio to T.R. and shared his The man at left is clothed in dream of documenting the tribal Publishing Co. Azusa Postcard,

evergreen boughs. Collection, London Wikipedia, public domain, Wellcome culture of all American tribes. A young Assiniboine horseman is pictured outside a decorated tipi. The Confluence 4 Fall 2018 The Confluence 5 Fall 2018 author-photographer had hoped that subscriptions were to be stamped out at all costs…. would pay for his salary and Seattle studio expenses, In the General Introduction (of his 20- but this was not to be. book series) Curtis noted that his work Undaunted, he returned to the Southwest to gather “represents the result of a personal images and information for Volume II. It was published study of a people who are rapidly losing in 1908 and covered 10 smaller tribes including the the traces of the aboriginal character Yuma. For the next 22 years Curtis alternated field trips and who are destined ultimately to with studio work. He brought Clara and the children become assimilated with the ‘superior on a few trips, but his obsession with the book series race.’”6 (which he referred to as his mistress) alienated his wife. Curtis railed against U.S. She filed for divorce in 1910. Meanwhile, Ed’s mother governmental policies such as Ellen and sister Eva had moved in with brother Asahel interning Indian children in white and had little to do with Ed (see following story). schools meant to “kill the Indian Documents 80 tribes and save the man,” a practice that Curtis’ “Big Idea” took him all over the western Curtis considered “educational 7 United States. He documented the Sioux, Crow, whitewash.” He was particularly Mandan, Piegan, Nez Perce, Haida, Hopi, Shoshone, incensed at the government’s treat- Comanche and other tribes – 80 in all. Ever an optimist ment of the peaceful Nez Perce. In Postcard, Azusa Publishing Co. Azusa Postcard, and never a complainer, he endured discomfort and Volume VIII he described them as boredom as well as antagonism as he sought to befriend “a mentally superior people (who) Curtis captured a dramatic sky in this 1898 photograph of Salish men on Puget the Indians. His magnificent portraits and genre photos were friendly from their first contact Sound landing a canoe. of people hunting, fishing, picking berries, cooking, with white men. Their history since human can carry more filth than those here.” Beth had carrying firewood and water, weaving, beading, making 1855, and particularly in the war of 1877, tells how they were repaid for their loyalty to the white brother.” the same reaction, though without her father’s lifetime of pottery, building homes, and riding horses through perspective. “It is positively the most disgusting place I have beautiful landscapes convinced him of the worth and On one of his trips to Arizona to observe and photograph the Hopi for what would become Volume ever seen and the women and children have never bathed dignity of native peoples. Curtis’ view was not that of or combed their hair.”8 all Americans, however. XII, Curtis brought along a motion picture camera. He shot part of the Snake Dance. After editing, he used this

Postcard, Azusa Publishing Co. Azusa Postcard, In the 1870s General William Tecumseh Sherman had film as part of a multimedia presentation to prospective declared that “the only good Indian is a dead Indian.” By In 1906 Curtis photographed Nampeyo, “Serpent that 1900 missionaries and Indian agents were saying that “the donors. Then, in 1914, he filmed the Kwakiutl of British Has No Tooth,” one of the best-known Hopi potters. only good Indian is a Christian farmer in overalls.” The Columbia with their totem poles, ornamental war canoes, ritual ceremonies using elaborate animal costumes and and prayers, and was permitted to take photos of Indians’ nomadic life and “pagan” ceremonies and beliefs carved masks, and reputed history as head hunters individuals. and cannibals. He actually wrote a story line and hired The resulting book, the first volume in The North native actors, setting out to produce the world’s first American Indian series, was published in 1907. Theodore feature-length documentary film. The result was “In the Roosevelt wrote the foreword and J.P. Morgan was Land of the Head Hunters.” It opened in New York and credited as the field research patron. It was a large book Seattle to rave reviews by critics – but was caught up in of thick, fancy paper filled with photographic plates and litigation (Curtis had gone over budget and owed the pithy text describing the Apache, Jicarilla and Navajo movie distributor) and disappeared from public view. lifestyle. In the introduction, Curtis presented his plan Despite his miserable financial condition, Curtis was to tell the broad story of Indian life. determined to finish his 20-volume project. In the late It is thus near to Nature that much of the life of the Indian Become a member of the Wenatchee Valley Museum 1920s his daughter Beth and her husband, photographer and Cultural Center and receive The Confluence in still is; hence its story, rather than being replete with Edward Curtis Manford Magnuson, joined the business and ran a statistics of commercial conquest, is a record of the Indian’s took this photo the mail every quarter! Membership has many other branch Curtis studio in California (with ex-wife Clara perks: free admission, reduced prices on museum relations with and his dependence on the phenomena of of Nez Perce running the Seattle shop). Beth accompanied her father the universe – the trees and shrubs, the sun and stars, the Chief Joseph in classes and programs, gift shop discounts, members- to in 1927 to document several Eskimo tribes for only events, exhibit previews and annual parties. lightning and rain – for these to him are animate creatures. 1903, shortly the final book in the series. They were disappointed to Even more than that, they are deified. before the encounter a trash-filled village of about 300 Yup’ik who Upgrade to our Premium level and gain membership chief’s death. to more than 1,000 museums, art galleries, science Curtis did not sell the book separately but sought reeked of rotten seal meat and sea detritus. and technology centers, along with other benefits! subscribers for the entire 20-volume set, which he hoped “The Hooper Bay natives have the reputation of being the would be completed within seven years. The price was filthiest human beings on the globe,” Curtis wrote. “I have For more information call (509) 888-6240 or visit high, though, and only a few people signed on. The Publishing Co. Azusa Postcard, not seen all the world’s dirty natives but I can say that no www.wenatcheevalleymuseum.org/membership. The Confluence 6 Fall 2018 The Confluence 7 Fall 2018 Not only was he making tens of thousands of negatives A limited edition from Cardozo Fine Art, a historic throughout the western United States and , but re-publication including all 20 original volumes, is listed he also acted as the project’s principal ethnographer, today at $33,500. A rare copy of the original publication fundraiser, publisher, and administrator. He wrote most recently sold for $2.88 million at auction.12 Though of the initial drafts for the nearly four thousand pages of Edward Curtis never profited financially from his ethnographic narrative before submitting the text to the magnum opus, a century later he has virtually achieved project’s editor, Frederick Webb Hodge. immortality for his contribution to history. George Bird Grinnell … summed up Curtis’ work when he ENDNOTES said, in a 1907 issue of National Geographic: “The pictures 1. www.edwardcurtis.com. speak for themselves, and the artist who made them is 2. Timothy Egan, Short Nights of the Shadow Catcher: The Epic devoted to his work. To accomplish it he has exchanged Life and Immortal Photographs of Edward Curtis, 2012. ease, comfort, home life, for the hardest kind of work, 3. Ibid. frequent and long-continued separation from his family, 4. Egan, op. cit. the wearing toil of travel through difficult regions, and 5. Ibid. finally the heartbreaking struggle of winning over to his 6. Don D. Fowler, In a Sacred Manner We Live, 1972. purpose to primitive people, to whom ambition, time and 7. Egan, op. cit. money mean nothing, but to whom a dream or a cloud 8. Ibid. in the sky, or a bird flying across the trail from the wrong 9. www.edwardcurtis.com. direction, means much.”9 10. Egan, op. cit. 11. Lita Solis-Cohen, “Art Thieves Know the Product,” Toledo Readers loved the books and the individual Blade, Feb. 9, 1979. photographs, but Curtis faced financial ruin. He was 12. www.edwardcurtis.com. unable to pay his collaborators and, one by one, they found other work. Clara, after their divorce, sued Edward for seven years of unpaid alimony totaling Volumes: The North American Indian $4,400. Upon his return from Alaska in October 1927, (subjects summarized) Seattle police arrested him and he spent two days in Vol. I – Navajo, Apache, Jicarillo jail before appearing with Clara before a judge. King

Postcard, Azusa Publishing Co. Azusa Postcard, Vol. II – Yuma and 8 other small Southwestern County court records describe the judge asking Curtis Postcard, Azusa Publishing Co. Azusa Postcard, groups about his assets. Skohlpa’s braids are wrapped in otter fur and tied with Vol. III – Sioux A San Ildefonso Pueblo man holds up two feathers in an “None!” weasel-skin dangles. The young Kalispel woman’s dress is Vol. IV – Crow, Hidatsa offering to the sun. But you’ve produced all these books, a subscription to which sells for $3,500. How can you be insolvent? ornamented in shells, and white clay bands her hair. Vol. V – Mandan The photographers were annoyed to find that “I have no funds, your honor. I have no business. Vol. VI – Piegan/Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Arapaho Christian missionaries, for whom Edward Curtis had Only The North American Indian – and for that I get to the southern California farm owned by Beth and her Vol. VII – Yakima, Klickitat, Interior Salish, Kootenai little patience, had told the natives to avoid them. nothing” because J.P. Morgan owns the book rights. The husband. He died of a heart attack on Oct. 19, 1952 at Vol. VIII – Nez Perce, Walla Walla, Umatilla, age 84. The Seattle Times, which once had lauded him as Although Northwest Coast culture had severely business “operates on a deficit. I work for nothing.” Cayuse, Chinook one of the city’s most prominent citizens, ran only a 76- declined by the late 1920s, Curtis was able to capture Flabbergasted, the judge shook his head and asked Vol. IX – Coastal Salish (Chimakum, Quilliute, some of its earlier glory in his photographs. Volume why Curtis had spent 30 years on the project. word obituary on page 33. Virtually penniless, his estate consisted of a single set of The North American Indian, Willapa) XX was published in 1930 – the conclusion of a massive “Your honor, it was my job. The only thing, the only Vol. X – Kwakiutl documentation of Indians from the Southwest, Plains, thing I could do that was worth doing. … I am one of whose 20 volumes occupied five feet of shelf space in Vol. XI – Nootka, Haida Plateau, Northwest Coast, Desert West, northern and those fanatical persons who wants to finish what he his tiny apartment. central California, and western Alaska. starts.”10 It was not until the 1970s that interest in the Curtis Vol. XII – Hopi masterpiece revived. A Boston bookseller, Charles Vol. XIII – Klamath and tribes of northern Monumental project bankrupts Curtis The Morgan estate assumed ownership of the book project; Curtis ceded copyright to the pictures and text, Lauriat, had acquired many of the bound volumes and California Curtis admittedly favored the Indians in his work. only retaining a few subscriptions to sell. But when the thousands of Curtis photographs and copper plates Vol. XIV – Maidu and tribes of northern California He has been criticized by some for romanticizing them, final book was published in 1930, the nation’s attention during the Depression. A New Mexico investor pur- Vol. XV – Shoshone and tribes of southern selectively photographing them in classic, “noble” chased this collection and moved it to a gallery in Santa had turned to the Great Depression and The North California activities and posing them for portraits in fancy regalia American Indian faded from sight. Fe, where it made a sensation. America was experiencing rather than modern clothing. But his documentation an infatuation with Native American culture, and other Vol. XVI – Tiwa and Keres Curtis lived hand to mouth for the next several years. Vol. XVII – Zuni and Tewa of our Native American past is unequalled today and He did some more writing and patented a gold dust Curtis collectors (including the Morgan Library) began Vol. XVIII – Cree, Sarsi The North American Indian has been hailed as the most extractor. This he sold to Cecil B. DeMille, who hired displaying and selling his works. Original printings of Vol. XIX – Comanche and tribes of Oklahoma ambitious publishing project since the King James him to shoot a western film called “The Plainsman.” But The North American Indian began to fetch high prices at Bible. Curtis was growing weak and ill, and eventually moved auction. In 1972, a complete set sold for $20,000. Five Vol. XX – Alaskan Eskimo tribes It is difficult to imagine the enormity of Curtis’ task. years later, another set was auctioned for $60,500.11 The Confluence 8 Fall 2018 The Confluence 9 Fall 2018 Asahel Curtis Rivaled Brother as Photographer found that his brother had published an article in The Century magazine titled by Chris Rader “The Rush to the Klondike Over the Mountain Passes.” The article included Though Asahel and Edward Curtis Once in Dawson himself the following Asahel’s photographs, but with the started their professional careers together, year, after a difficult passage up the caption “Pictures from photographs by with Asahel working as an apprentice to daunting Chilkoot Pass and across icy the author” followed by Edward’s name. his older brother, the two parted ways rivers, Curtis and a partner filed a claim Asahel was furious. before 1900 and remained at odds with on a small mine on Sulphur Creek. But There is no evidence that Edward ever each other for the rest of their lives. Even they were late; most of the productive went to Alaska or the Yukon during that their wives and children had no contact, seams had already been claimed and time period, though he claimed he had. though both families lived in the same there wasn’t much gold left. Curtis However, the prevailing custom was for city (Seattle). Asahel became a noted divided his time between working the photographic studios to retain rights photographer, focusing on different mine (which never amounted to much), to all production by their employees, subjects from Edward but also attaining a taking photographs, and occasionally so there was no use in Asahel bringing national reputation. hiking back to Skagway to mail his work suit against his brother. He left the Asahel (pronounced Ay-shul) Curtis to Edward. The photos were varied: dog Curtis Studio and stopped talking to his was born November 5, 1874 in La Sueur teams pulling heavy sleds, prospectors 2013.0.3 Society, Historical State Washington brother. County, , the youngest child of Asahel Curtis crossing ice-filled lakes on makeshift Johnson and Ellen Curtis. As described in rafts, heavily burdened men slogging up What little contact the two had from then on was almost entirely through third the previous article, Johnson was a traveling preacher the steep Chilcoot Pass, gold-seekers gathered outside 1943.42.43713 Society, Historical State Washington the post office or playing cards in a saloon. parties…. The families lived separate lives, with the evangelical United Brethren Church who had Asahel Curtis was a charter member of , a Seattle club. He kept a sparse diary, one entry of which described with the children of Edward and Asahel trouble providing for his family. The Curtis family He took this photo of fellow club members crossing a snow field in the relocated to Sidney (later Port Orchard), Wash., in 1888 encountering a man who tried to sell him a piece of growing up not knowing their cousins. A telegram to Edward informing him of his Elwha River Canyon on the Olympic Peninsula in 1907. when Asahel was 14. After the death of their father, meat from an animal he claimed to have killed a few brother’s death in 1941 went unanswered. Asahel and Edward, 20, did odd jobs and scrounged for minutes earlier. Curtis declined. He was glad of that Asahel Curtis’ subject matter was rich and diverse. The strain on mother Ellen and sister Eva, caught in the food to keep the family alive. Ed moved to Seattle and when, a short distance up the trail, he found the animal He photographed leading Seattleites and folks less middle, can only be imagined.3 joined another man in a photography studio. Asahel from which the man had cut the meat. It appeared to prominent: people working, fishing, logging, selling followed him a few years later, living with Ed and have been dead for a long time.2 Asahel Curtis was intelligent, short (5’ 6”) but robust, vegetables at Pike Place Market, farming with their becoming his apprentice. He learned to mix chemicals, Asahel returned to Seattle in the summer of 1899. He independent, a nature lover and a hard worker – traits animals, harvesting apples, relaxing, playing games, develop negatives from exposed glass shared with his brother except the height: Ed was six marching in parades, milling about city streets. plates, customize cameras and take feet tall. Asahel remained clean shaven while Edward Transportation fascinated him. He captured horse- photographs. wore a beard. Both men were avid mountaineers. drawn wagons and carriages, trolleys, trucks, Married and on his own automobiles, trains, small boats, ships and warships, and airplanes. More than 100,000 miners began Asahel entered a studio partnership with William His client list grew to include the Northern Pacific thronging to the Klondike region of Romans for a few years. He married Florence Carney Railroad, Great Northern and other railways, National Canada’s Yukon Territory following in November 1902 and the couple moved to San Park Service, Bureau of Reclamation, state Bureau of discovery of gold there in 1896. The Curtis Francisco, where Asahel found a higher-paying job as Public Roads, Puget Sound Navigation Company, brothers decided to send Asahel there to a photoengraver. By 1905 they were back in Seattle and several construction companies, and the chambers of take photos of this exciting phenomenon. Asahel worked as a photographer for The Seattle Post- commerce of Seattle, Spokane and Yakima.5 He boarded the steamship Rosalie for Intelligencer. He then rejoined the Romans Photographic Founder of The Mountaineers Skagway, Alaska, in September 1897 with Company as a photographer and then president- a camera, tripod, light meter, thousands manager. Like his brother Ed, Asahel was enamored of Mount of glass plates, and developing chemicals. By 1912, with Romans gone, Curtis brought in Rainier and the Cascades. He was one of the original In Skagway he took pictures of gold Walter Miller as a partner. Five years later, Miller left founders of the still-active Mountaineers Club of Seattle seekers en route to the gold fields around and Curtis was sole proprietor of the studio (still under in 1906 and took thousands of pictures of the landscape Dawson City, Yukon. Asahel developed the Romans name). The business ad in the city directory and fellow climbers. He made friends with another some of these pictures as post cards which boasted of “expert operators to cover the most difficult Mountaineer charter member and photographer, assignments in the Northwest” and of “lantern slides Lawrence Lindsley, who became well known for his

he sold to the miners for $1.50, a decent 284 Libraries, Special Collections, Klondike University of Washington price considering that a simple meal in a covering the scenery and industries of the Northwest work on the eastern slopes of the Cascades. Curtis trailside tent restaurant went for $2.50.1 Asahel Curtis photographed four men standing outside a cabin in Skag- and Alaska.” Another ad declared that “We photograph employed Lindsley in his studio on and off from 1914 He also sent prints and exposed glass way, Alaska, in early 1898. Skagway was the portal to the Yukon gold rush everything.”4 Over the years Asahel employed his wife, to 1931. plates to Edward, back in Seattle. until prospectors shifted their attention to Nome in 1899. sister Eva, daughter Betty, as well as other darkroom Much as he loved the wilderness aspect of Mount workers and colorists. Rainier National Park, which had been established in The Confluence 10 Fall 2018 The Confluence 11 Fall 2018 Certainly the NPS had the Glacier National Park.7 dominant part in formulating Asahel also became active in the park’s road development the state Good Roads Association, plans, but it received an becoming its president in 1933. enormous amount of input He strongly advocated for from Curtis and the Advisory highway beautification and Board. Where the board landscape preservation as well as occasionally proved useful for economic development and to the NPS was in lobbying increased tourism. members of Congress during Cultivates farm near Yakima the park appropriations process.6 Asahel, an avid gardener, and Florence purchased just Asahel Curtis’ photo- under 10 acres of irrigated land graphs helped lure tourists as outside Grandview, in the Yakima well as development dollars, Valley, in 1907. They and their including from Congress, four children – Walter, Asahel to Mount Rainier NP. Some Jr., Betty, and Polly – divided of his photos showed a their time between the farm and whimsical side, such as their home in Seattle. Through a series taken of young the state Good Roads Association Washington State Historical Society, 1943.42.58587 Society, Historical State Washington women from Seattle’s Mary Asahel got to know the legendary

Asahel Curtis captured earth-moving projects as Seattle planners sought to make the Ann Wells School of Dance multimillionaire Sam Hill, who Libraries Public domain, University of Washington city flatter. Some property owners fought the regrades. While their claims were pend- cavorting in ballet costumes lived in nearby Goldendale and Asahel took this picture of Makah whalers in Neah Bay in 1910. He photographed ing in court, contractors sluiced around their land, leaving 50 to 60-foot columns of with automobiles in the was a fellow promoter of highways Native Americans as they were, not attempting to portray them in traditional dirt. This photo of the Denny regrade was taken at 4th and Bell streets in 1910. park. Curtis sent a flurry of and tourism. Hill invited Curtis to dress or activities. letters, photos and telegrams photograph his mansion (now the 1899, Curtis also saw the potential of bringing tourists to President Herbert Hoover in the late 1920s promising closer to the mountain. He became involved with the Maryhill Museum) and was an influence on the younger development, and a statewide view of the road problem “paved roads”: they succeeded in luring the president man’s roads philosophy. … where the Cascade Range walled off generally rainy Rainier National Park Advisory Board (originally called to Mount Rainier. However, Curtis was disappointed the Seattle-Tacoma Rainier National Park Committee), Hill’s expansive nature and his strong, forthright opinions, and commercially focused western Washington from the when a similar campaign failed to bring the following parched east, a larger area with a continental climate and chairing it from 1916 to the mid-1930s. The committee not to mention his client relationship, would have bound president, Franklin D. Roosevelt, any further west than interests centered on agriculture. Farmers often were was comprised of community businesses Curtis to him in an attitude of, if not awe, at least one of hostile, not to adequate roads, but to highways built for interested in promoting tourism and high esteem. Hill’s example shaped Curtis’ own advocacy what they perceived were urban pastimes like touring.8 building roads. of first-class highways, centralized control of road America’s growing enthusiasm for the In addition to his home automobile, the Good Roads and See America on bluffs above the Columbia First movements, and the government’s River, Hill built the nearby generous support of road-building helped Stonehenge monument, expand the popularity of national parks. a concrete home near Mount Rainier NP visitation grew from Volunteer Park in Seattle, 30,000 in 1915 to 250,000 in 1929. and the Peace Arch at Blaine, Curtis mediated between the automobile clubs, Wash. chambers of commerce, and the state highway The first Curtis home commissioner on the one hand and NPS at the Grandview orchard officials, the RNPC, and The Mountaineers on was a three-room cabin. the other…. It was said that the main purpose Later they moved into a of the Rainier National Park Advisory Board one-and-a-half story frame was to coordinate the development of state bungalow with a shady front and county access roads with park roads and porch. The family would to bring various western Washington entities ride the Northern Pacific in

together so that the development of Mount Libraries Public domain, University of Washington June, with Florence and the Rainier National Park would not be waylaid by 1943.42.58587 Society, Historical State Washington children staying full-time petty rivalries at the local level…. Asahel photographed many scenes of Seattle, including this shot of a Asahel’s sense of humor was on display in a series of promotional photographs of until returning to Seattle busy First Avenue looking north from Pioneer Square on Dec. 31, 1899. Mount Rainier featuring Seattle ballet dancers and cars. when school was about to The Confluence 12 Fall 2018 The Confluence 13 Fall 2018 start. His daughter Betty recalled that Asahel was only agriculture. Frank Matsura Photographed Okanogan County there on weekends, apparently allergic to the dust and In 1942 the U.S. Forest Service converted an existing pollen at the farm; he would stay for longer periods campground into a memorial Asahel Curtis Forest by Chris Rader during harvest time. Young Betty enjoyed the farm life, Camp, two acres south and west of the Though they probably never met, children on horseback in town for the Fourth of especially the horses and the old Model T Ford which Snoqualmie Pass summit on Denny Creek. An urn photographer Frank S. Matsura had several July parade.1 she learned to drive at age 11. All of the children, when containing his ashes was buried beneath a modest rock things in common with Edward and Asahel Many of Matsura’s photographs show his they were old enough, helped Asahel and Florence pick crypt. A severe 90-mph wind storm in October 1962 Curtis. He lived in Washington state during sense of humor. He lined up 11 of Okanogan’s apples and care for other crops. toppled a huge fir tree onto the crypt, destroying it. The the same era, captured images of Native bachelors, dressed in their Sunday best, on Winesaps and yellow newtons were the mainstays of the Forest Service then converted the campground to the Americans and a developing community, and a railing for a group shot. One photo shows apple crop. Both were good eating and cooking apples, Asahel Curtis Nature Trail, a roadside stop with a half- earned widespread admiration. seven children sitting on the back of a cow; and old, proven varieties. Other types supplanted them mile trail through ferns and fir trees. Matsura, born in Japan c. 1874, came to another captures three women trying to balance in later years, but their lineage and dependability would Though Asahel Curtis’ photographs did not achieve Seattle in 1901. Two years later he moved to watermelons on their heads. Mickey, a dog tiny Conconully, in Okanogan County, to have appealed to Curtis. Apricots, grapes, and potatoes the lasting fame of the Indian photos of his brother Frank Matsura belonging to Matsura’s friend Judge William Edward, they are historically valuable. The brothers work as a cook’s helper and laundryman at the C. Brown, appears in several photos including

planted between the tree rows were lesser crops. There Museum #012-51-3596 Valley Wenatchee was a kitchen garden.9 had different approaches to their subjects: Edward Elliott Hotel. The town was struggling after the decline studio shots with pipe and glasses. of the Ruby and other mines, but irrigation projects The purpose of the farm was to make money; it upholding the past and Asahel praising the commercial Matsura was intelligent, skilled, highly productive, and orchards were attracting new residents. Matsura was successful some years, but other years the family future. modest and popular. When he died of tuberculosis in spent his free time out with his camera shooting public depended on Asahel’s photography studio for income. Edward -- a master of dramatic lighting, meticulous posing, June 1913, The Okanogan works projects, town events, landscapes and people, In the mid-1920s, with the children grown and less and exhaustive research -- earned national acclaim for his Independent noted that a developing the pictures in the hotel laundry room. interested in leaving the city for the farm in the exhaustive effort to capture in text and photographs every shadow of sorrow was In 1907 he moved to Okanogan and opened a summertime, Asahel sublet the farm to an Alfred Jensen. major Indian tribe and Eskimo grouping in North America. cast over the community. photography studio. His subject matter continued to Like other Eastern Washington orchards, it succumbed He was driven, in part, by his belief that the American Frank Matsura’s place expand: orchards and cattle ranches, a large federal to the Great Depression and was sold at auction to pay Indians were a vanishing race. in Okanogan city will irrigation project, men working on the Conconully for back taxes. Asahel, a whirlwind of activity, was of the what-you-see-is- never be filled. He was a Dam, sawmills, stables, saloons, schools, men playing photographer of fine ability Asahel’s legacy what-you-get school. He seldom posed subjects. Nor did he baseball, bridges, steamboats on the Okanogan River. bother to pick up litter at a scene, feeling it was a natural and his studio contains a Asahel Curtis died of a heart attack at age 67, on He did portraits of men, women and children, including part of the landscape. Since many of his photographs were collection of views that March 7, 1941. A Post-Intelligencer editorial lauded him many Native Americans. commercial assignments, he reasoned that there was only form a most complete and declared that most outsiders knew of Washington Some scholars have compared Matsura’s Indian so much one could do with a shipyard, a dam, a school, a photographic history of photographs with those of Edward Curtis. through his photographs as well as his tireless efforts wheat field, or a downtown building. this city and surrounding to promote tourism, Mount Rainier, highways and Curtis’s work is melancholy, what he claimed was a country covering a period While compiling a portfolio of virtually every facet of life in capturing of the Indian’s lives before they disappeared into of seven or eight years. the Northwest during the first half of the twentieth the past. Matsura, instead, recorded a society in transition. He was always on the Museum #012-51-1270 Valley Wenatchee century, Asahel earned the respect of the business Some of his subjects lived in the traditional teepees, but job. Whenever anything Okanogan medicine man community for his unfailing efforts to promote wore western clothes. Others built houses, routinely happened Frank was there Chilliwist Jim Washington state. He also earned the respect of interacted with their white neighbors, and took part in the with his camera to record the event.... Furthermore, Frank 10 conservationists and lovers of the outdoors. daily life of the towns. Matsura’s Indians were individuals, Matsura was a gentleman in every sense of the word. He Some 40,000 of Asahel’s photographs are happy families, cowboys and cowgirls… a Chelan Indian held the highest esteem of all who knew him.2 conserved at the Washington State Historical man in a bowtie, and Wenatchee and Chelan women and Judge Brown became the executor of Matsura’s Society in Tacoma. estate, which included three boxes of prints ENDNOTES and negatives. Brown didn’t open the boxes 1. William H. Wilson, Developing the : until 1954, at which time he donated them to The Life and Work of Asahel Curtis, 2015. Washington State University. 2. Don Duncan, “Asahel Curtis, Photographer,” h ENDNOTES HistoryLink.org, Oct. 28, 2008. 1. Hannelore Sudermann, “A Re-dress of the West,” 3. Ibid. Washington State University magazine, spring 2015. 4. Wilson, op. cit. 2. “Frank S. Matsura,” Wikipedia.org. 5. Ibid. OTHER SOURCES 6. “Mount Rainier,” nps.gov. Okanogan County Historical Society, Images of 7. Duncan, op. cit. Okanogan County As Photographed by Frank S. Washington State Historical Society, 1943.42.26385 Society, Historical State Washington 8. Wilson, op. cit. Matsura, 2002.

Asahel Curtis used imagination and trick photography to empha- 9. Ibid. Museum #88-163-5 Valley Wenatchee Kit Oldham, “Frank Matsura arrives in and begins size the size and quality of Yakima grapes in this picture. 10. Duncan, op. cit. Matsura photographed the steamer Okanogan passing under the photographing Okanogan County in 1903,” March 4, Okanogan bridge on the Okanogan River in 1910. 2003, HistoryLink.org. The Confluence 14 Fall 2018 The Confluence 15 Fall 2018 Nonprofit Wenatchee Valley Museum & Cultural Center U.S. POSTAGE 127 S. Mission Street Wenatchee, WA 98801-3039 PAID Permit No. 422 Wenatchee, WA 98801

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Museum members: If you move, please inform the museum of your new address. Call (509) 888-6240 or e-mail [email protected].

Coming Up at the Wenatchee Valley Museum

First Friday Reception:Friday, Sept. 7 Wellington and Railroad History Tour: Saturday, Sept. 8 Pipe Organ Concert: Friday, Sept. 28 Members-only Reception & Salmon Feast: Thursday, Oct. 4 First Friday Reception: Curtis Exhibit opening, Friday, Oct. 5 Ice Age Geology Tour: Saturday, Oct.6 Tule Mat Workshop: Saturday, Oct. 13 Yakima Canyon Geology Tour: Saturday, Oct. 13 Wells House Nooks & Crannies Tour: Friday-Saturday, Oct. 19-20 Day of the Dead: Thursday, Nov. 1 First Friday Reception: Friday, Nov. 2 Survivors of Wellington disaster Basket Weaving Workshop: Saturday-Sunday, Nov. 3-4

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