A grouping of five (5) stereoviews across the West, ca. 1860-70s. Four orange mounts with image titles to mount recto. One blue mount with title added in negative. All feature an imprint from Charles Bierstadt (1819-1903) in Niagara Falls, New York. Charles was the older brother of Western landscape painter, Albert Bierstadt. Born in Prussia, Charles grew up in Massachusetts and started a photography business with his brother, Edward, in 1856. Charles moved his business up to Niagara Falls in 1863 and continued to use this studio as his home base even when he traveled to California in 1870 and across Europe and the Middle East in 1873. 

Included in this lot are the following: 

1. 1221 Digger Indian Huts. Two native people lie in front of their hut, which is teeming with sacks full of household goods. 

2. 1249. Snow Sheds, on C.P.R.R. A nerve-racking image of sheds near the Central Pacific Railroad on a cliffside. 

3. 1215. The Fallen Monarch, Mariposa Grove, Cal. A man on horseback reaches his hand up high to touch the trunk of the Fallen Monarch, a Giant Sequoia in Yosemite. The Fallen Monarch was one of the first trees visitors named in the park, but no one knows for sure when it fell. 

4. 1218. The Town of Mariposa, Cal. A panoramic view of Mariposa, California. Men sit on the hillside of this Gold Rush-town, which is roughly 30 miles from Yosemite. 

5. 1209. Clark's Hotel, Mariposa, Cal. Mount verso features a listing of his accolades from 1873. An image of a cabin with multiple people sitting and standing on the covered porch. This cabin belonged to Galen Clark, who was especially impressed with Mariposa Grove that he settled there in the 1850s and built this initial cabin to offer tourists lodging while traversing Yosemite. In addition to settling his land, he also grew an orchard on the property. 

[Photography, Early Photography, Historic Photography, Daguerreotypes, Ambrotypes, Tintypes, Cased Images, Union Cases, Albumen Photographs, CDVs, Carte de Visites, Cartes de Visite, Carte-de-visite, Cartes-de-visite, CDV, Cabinet Cards, Stereoviews, Stereocards] [Western Americana, Western History, Western Expansion, Wild West]

Images and mounts in very good condition, only showing some slight age.