1850s from Niagara Falls

From the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS):

1850s from Niagara Falls — Today for #TBT, we're going WAY back. This photo is a copy of a daguerreotype made in 1854-55 taken at Prospect Point, Niagara Falls, New York. It was placed into a USGS Bulletin in 1907 (No. 306, Plate 9, page 19). In the bulletin, G.K. Gilbert says: "The earliest good daguerreotype of the American Fall to which I have been able to assign a date is reproduced in Pl. IX.The gentleman who loaned me the daguerreotype appears in the picture as a child, and was able by that circumstance to fortify his memory and say that the view was taken in 1854 or 1855."

The photo is a copy only found in the G.K. Gilbert Collection. If you care to read the 1906 Bulletin yourself on the "Rate of Recession of Niagara Falls" visit: http://on.doi.gov/USGSBull306.

#USGS #science #water #ThrowBackThursday#publications #history #historical #photography#daguerreotype