Six Original 6" X 8" Photographs By P. S. Hunt Of The Valdez Transportation Company

HUNT, PHINNEY S. [PHOTOGRAPHER]

Publication: Photographed By P S Hunt, 1907, N P Alaska

All six 8" x 6" black & white photographs depict horse-drawn teams hauling tons of freight over Tasnuna Divide en-route to Gray's Camp on the Kotsina River in 1907. All six photographs show the teams in deep snow including two incredible views of clearing the trail for the teams to travel through the snow and a photograph of 305 tons of freight in the company's cache at the top of the Divide. Phinney S. Hunt (1866-1917) was born and raised in Michigan, moved to California where he was an optician, then went north to Valdez, Alaska in 1898 as a prospector. He became a photographer and, besides having a photography studio, took pictorial views of Valdez and the surrounding region. He moved to Anchorage around 1915 after becoming the official photographer for the Alaskan Engineering Commission at the beginning of the Alaska railroad construction venture. He died suddenly while photographing in Seward, Alaska in 1917. Fortunately, Hunt inserted dated titles and negative numbers into the negatives of many of his photographs. Today his photographs are in many collections including the Alaska State Library, the Valdez Museum, the Library of Congress, and the University of Washington. However, only a couple of his photographs of the series included here are in those collections, making these quite an unusual group. The six photographs are G 1099: Valdez Transportation Company's teams leaving Valdez for Gray's Camp on Kotsina River, Alaska, with from three to four tons to the load, Jan. 7, 1907. The first four horse double bob sleighs to make the entire distance; G 1104: Valdez Transportation Company's teams hauling freight over Tasnuna Divide enroute to Gray's Camp on the Kotsina River, Jan. 15, 1907; G 1106: Valdez Transportation Company's teams on Tasnuna Divide enroute to Gray's Camp on Kotsina River, Jan. 15, 1907; G 1108: Valdez Transportation Company's teams at their cache on top of Tasnuna Divide enroute to Gray's Camp on Kotsina River with three hundred and five tons of freight, Jan. 15, 1907; G 1112: Valdez Transportation Company's teams breaking trail on top of Tasnuna Divide, Jan. 15, 1907; and G 1114: Valdez Transportation Company's teams breaking trail on Tasnuna Divide. Very good.

Inventory Number: 46602