A homestead cabin in a wooded area, possibly a lumber camp. Year unknown.
Photograph by J.W. Bledsoe when located in Traver, CA, which dates the photo to roughly ~1885-1888.
JW Bledsoe, California Photographer
Late 19th and Early 20th Century Photography of the California Wilderness
Category: Industry and Development
Eva Pursell’s cabin, Lake Arrowhead, CA. Year unknown. Shake siding, stone chimney, corrugated metal roof, timber porch, and a scrap wood fence. A mounted deer’s head, hammock, and a vase with flowers are visible on the front porch. Horse manure in foreground, with what appear to be automobile tire tracks visible as well.
Photographer unknown. Eva was J.W. Bledsoe’s sister-in-law. It is likely the photo was taken by him, and he certainly knew the location.
Two views of Independence, CA, dating from when Bledsoe had a studio in Traver, CA. These are from the collection of the California Historical Society at USC. The Nathan Rhine store is to the right in the lower image. The notes in the USC database suggest that Nathan Rhine himself is in the upper image. I’m betting on the guy with his hands on his hips.
Images by J. W. Bledsoe.
Panoramic photo of the opening ceremony (November 5, 1913) for the Los Angeles Aqueduct, held at the Cascades. This is where the modern Interstate 5 crosses Balboa Blvd, around here: Google Map Location
Photograph taken by J.W. Bledsoe. Label on lower left corner reads “Cascades L.A.A. Nov. 5 1913 (c) 1913 by Bledsoe Photo Co.”
Part of the collection of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, this image was stitched together from four photographs of a print.
This is part of the collection of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, which has the single largest collection of Bledsoe’s work that I have seen. Their collection is now held by the California Historical Society, and is archived, curated, and conserved by the University of Southern California library. It shows the construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. The original images were on 6×8 glass plates, but these are rarely handled, and most images (including this one) have been scanned from internegatives or prints and have lost image quality along the way.
This is the library’s description of the image: Photograph of a view of construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, showing a wooden track, ca.1910-1920. A large, riveted pipe, supported by concrete blocks, runs from the left foreground to the hill that sits at the center background. A wooden track runs along the ground, parallel to the pipe. In the center of the image, two men lean on a cart that rests on the track. A metal apparatus with cables extending from the top, apparently used to hoist beams, sits to the right of the track. Hills are visible in the distance.
Photograph by J.W. Bledsoe
From the California Historical Society Collection at the University of Southern California
http://digitallibrary.usc.edu/cdm/singleitem/collection/p15799coll65/id/3551/rec/6
Mission San Juan Capistrano, ca. 1915. This is the very famous mission, founded by Juniper Serra (now a Catholic Saint). The mission is now a popular tourist destination, and has been extensively restored.
Bear in mind that this photograph was taken decades before the Zone System was formally described (Ansel Adams was 13 years old at the time). I wonder if Bledsoe had an Actinograph?
Photograph by J.W. Bledsoe
Image courtesy Jim Smart at CSUSB, from an 8×10 glass plate.
Downtown Los Angeles, showing City Hall under construction, March 10, 1927. View Northeast up South Hill Street, from around W 15th St. The Casa Loma Hotel is now called Casa Loma Apartments (hotel sign is still visible), and sits on the corner of W 14th St and S. Hill St. Google Maps
Photograph by J.W .Bledsoe.
Image courtesy Jim Smart at CSUSB, from an 8×10 negative.
Arrowhead Springs Hotel, 1915, by JW Bledsoe. The “arrowhead” landslide for which the region is named is easily visible on the upper left side of the image. This is Arrowhead Springs Hotel #3, it was destroyed by wildfire in 1938 and replaced in 1939 (the 1939 version survives to the present, but is abandoned).
More information on the Hotel is here: https://www.ci.san-bernardino.ca.us/about/history/arrowhead_springs_hotels.asp
And here: http://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/hotels-arrowhead-112008
Image courtesy Jim Smart at CSUSB, from an 8×10 negative.
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