Views Of Granite, Philisburg And Vicinity

WEITFLE, CHARLES [PHOTOGRAPHER]

Publication: Charles Weitfle, 1893, Granite

First edition. 5" x 6" containing [16] leaves. Albertype sepia-tinted lithographs from photographs bound in accordion-style format. Embossed dark blue publisher’s boards, decorative embossed raised borders, raised gilt lettering. Souvenir view book filled with images of Granite and Philipsburg, mining towns in western Montana, just west of Helena and not far from the Anaconda copper mine. Granite, which thrived in the 1890s as a silver mining center, is now a ghost town, though Philipsburg still exists, with a population of 820 in the 2010 census. These images include birds-eye views of the towns, residences, storefronts, street views, railroad station, group portraits of miners from the Metallic Mine, Puritan Mine, and Granite Mines, as well as images of mining operations, logging, and miners in the Harrison Shaft, Black Pine Mill. There is also an interesting view of Main Street in Granite on June 9, 1891, showing the street flooded with rushing water. Features an image of the giant silver nugget displayed at the Columbian Exposition in 1893, this view book also tragically shows Granite on the cusp of disaster as the Sherman Silver Purchase Act was repealed in 1893, drastically cut the price of silver, setting contributing to the recession which spread across the West, and caused residents to abandon Granite, with less than 140 remaining by 1894. Weitfle (1836-1921) began as a photographer in the 1850s, opened a studio in Rio de Janiero, and by 1860 returned to the US where he opened a gallery in Washington DC, became a Civil War photographer embedded with the 1st and 3rd Divisions of the Union Army’s Sixth Corps, and later became a photographer for the Union Pacific RR in Central City, CO, followed by Denver suffering a devastating fire in 1883. He moved to Granite, Montana, in 1892 at the height of the silver boom, and finally in 1899 moved to Idaho Falls, Idaho where he became a beekeeper. Rubbing to front and rear boards, corners and spine. Pages with light soiling. From the library of Jennie [Erickson] Kolemaine (b. 1890), wife at the time to Adam Kolmaine (1884-1940), Finnish-American grocery merchant, and owner of tailoring shop in Butte, Montana. Neatly signed by Mrs. J. Kolemaine on the rear paste-down sheet.

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