MAMMOTH ALBUMEN OF THE NEW ALMADEN MINE BY CARLETON WATKINS

Carleton Watkins (1829-1916). [General View of the Smelting Works, New Almaden.] Mammoth albumen. [San Francisco: C. Watkins, 1863]. Visible 20 1/4 x 15 1/2 in., matted and framed to 30 3/4 x 24 3/4 in. 

Watkins was hired in 1863 to photograph the new mercury mining operations in New Almaden, near San Jose, California. Quicksilver was an important ingredient to the gold mining process, binding with fine gold particles that might otherwise be lost in sluicing. There were mines at New Almaden as early as 1824, and the site had been disputed by many seeking claims over the natural source of the element essential to the gold mining industry. 

In 1846, William Eustace Barron (1822-1871), James Alexander Forbes (1805-1881), and Alexander Forbes (1778-1862), operating as Barron, Forbes & Co., purchased the mines, but were met with competing claims. The court battles languished until the United States Supreme Court made a decision in 1862. The Company hired Watkins in 1863 to take views which they could use to promote the project to potential investors. 

Watkins created several stereoviews carefully documenting the mining process, but also large mammoth views intending to show the site to the best possible advantage. He successfully portrayed the mining camp as a charming mountain village possessing an appealing, tidy industriousness. Evidently effective, Barron, Forbes & Co. sold the entire operation the next year to the Quicksilver Mining Company for an eye-watering $1,750,000, somewhere north of $37 million in today's currency. 

The view here is expertly composed by Watkins, deftly highlighting the industrial buildings and equipment while artistically capturing the natural landscape. New Almaden views are scarce on the market, especially Watkins' desirable mammoth views. 

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