Our Artist at the Falls Mo. Riv. Outdoor albumen stereoview. Fargo, Dakota Territory: F. Jay Haynes, ca.1880–1882. Titled in-negative. Photographer's imprint printed to mount recto. Photographer's series imprint printed to mount verso. Modern pencil to mount verso.

A classic and highly desirable self-portrait of pioneer Western photographer Frank Jay Haynes operating along the Great Falls of the Missouri River in Montana Territory. The photographer is shown standing on a rocky outcrop above the churning river rapids, resting his hand casually on a view camera mounted atop a tall wooden field tripod, with a plate holder in hand and dark cloth draped over the frame. At his feet sits a wooden field transportation box boldly stenciled "Haynes / Fargo." The photographer was just 27 at the time of the portrait, and when he saw the portrait later in life, he is recorded to have remarked, "What a dashing young man this was! What self-confidence!" (c.f. Tilden). 

Frank Jay Haynes (1853–1921) was among the most significant photographic documentarians of the American Northwest. Appointed official photographer for the Northern Pacific Railroad in 1876 and later the first official photographer of Yellowstone National Park, Haynes traveled extensively across Minnesota, Dakota Territory, Montana, and the Pacific Northwest in his custom "Haynes Palace Studio" railcar, producing definitive views of frontier settlement, indigenous life, railroad construction, and natural wonders. Meta-photographs showing Haynes actively at work in the field with his camera apparatus are exceedingly scarce.

References

Freeman Tilden. Following the Frontier with F. Jay Haynes. 1964. 

[F. Jay Haynes, Frank Jay Haynes, Great Falls, Missouri River, Montana Territory, Fargo Dakota Territory, Northern Pacific Railroad, Railroad Photography, Camera Equipment, View Cameras, Meta Photography, Field Photographers, American West] [Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Stereoviews, Stereographs, Albumen Prints, F. Jay Haynes, Western Photographers]

Good to very good condition overall. The yellow card mount remains sturdy and flat, with a small area of surface loss/paper skinning to the yellow mount at the top center between the two arched prints, and minor edge rubbing. Mount verso is bright, crisp, and fully legible.