Road View to Sutro Tunnel 1875

Carleton Watkins captured this photograph, "Road View to Sutro Tunnel," using the wet plate collodion process. Dominating the scene is a vast, arid landscape leading to distant mountains, a motif echoing humanity's enduring quest into the unknown. Consider the horizon line—a consistent symbol across cultures—representing not just the boundary between earth and sky, but also between the known and the unexplored. This line evokes the same sense of anticipation and uncertainty found in ancient maps depicting uncharted territories. The road itself, winding and indistinct, harkens back to the "via dolorosa," the painful path. But here, it's secularized, representing the arduous journey of progress and industrialization. Like Ariadne's thread, it suggests navigation through the labyrinth of human ambition, hinting at both potential reward and inherent risk. This image subtly stirs our collective memory, a visual echo of past ventures and future possibilities.