1880s Photograph of Cabinet Gorge, Clark Fork River, Northern Idaho

Portland, Oregon: Davidson Photo, 1883. Very good. 5.5" x 8" albumen photograph on a 9.25" x 12" mount. Titled "Cabinet Gorge, Clark's River, looking down stream," with further caption for the series: "Scenery Along the Line of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company, Clarke's Fork Division." Credited "Davidson, Photo. Portland, Oregon." Very good condition, with small chips at corners of mount, contrast a bit light. This series of views was apparently taken to celebrate and promote the completion of the Northern Pacific Railroad. Construction had begun in Minnesota in 1870, and the final section was completed on September 8, 1883. An article published in the Helena [Montana] Semi-Weekly Herald on July 19, 1883, reports that "Mr. Ed Stone, General Agent of the Land Department of the Northern Pacific Railroad, is the possessor of a large album of views entitled "Oregon and the Pacific Northwest." Glimpses of pretty sports along the valley of the Columbia River from northern Montana to the Pacific Ocean. Scenery along the line of the Northern Pacific railroad, showing the new Trans-continental route. The photographs were made by I.G. Davidson of Portland, Oregon....There can be no grander promise of pictures of fine scenery given to any travelers than will be viewed by the tourists over the Northern Pacific railroad when it is completed through to the Pacific ocean this fall." Isaac Grundy Davidson (1845-1922) moved to Oregon from Illinois in 1850 and opened a photography studio in Portland in 1878. Mautz describes him as "one of the Northwest's premier photographers.