DONNER LAKE FROM SUMMIT -- LINCOLN HIGHWAY. Gelatin silver print. San Francisco: T. C. Wohlbrück Co. 251 Post S. F., [1919]. Panoramic photograph, 16.5x69.3 cm (6 1/2 x 27 1/4 inches), copyright 1919. A stunning view looking east from the summit of the historic Lincoln Highway, the first automobile road across America, which is seen in the center foreground descending to Donner Lake. To the right are the summit snow sheds and tunnels of the Central Pacific Railroad, the first rails to pass over the Sierra Nevada -- a monumental feat of engineering at the time. "In 1900, when he was twenty-two years old, Theodore Clemens Wohlbrück (1879–1936) moved to Worcester, Massachusetts, from New Jersey and started a career as a photographer. He specialized in city views that were often turned into postcards and also took class photographs of children for schools. He opened a modest photo studio on Main Street and married a local girl in 1902. By 1910, Wohlbrück had grown tired of his life in Worcester and moved west; first setting up a studio in Reno, Nevada, and later permanently settling in California. In addition to continuing his photography business (which now focused on western scenery), he also started other projects -- including operating a series of souvenir shops and gas stations in the Sierra Nevada along the route of the ill-fated Donner Party, and opening a museum of transportation built around his large collection of horse-drawn vehicles and early automobiles" (American Antiquarian Society). Small repair at top edge, a bit of fading at edges; nearly fine overall. Wohlbrück's western panoramas are uncommon and are rarely offered for sale. (#167142).
Price: $750.00
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