Circular Bridge, Mt. Lowe Railway, California, No. 6112 1899

Curator: Here we have "Circular Bridge, Mt. Lowe Railway, California, No. 6112," a print from 1899 by the Detroit Publishing Company. It captures a unique aspect of early Californian tourism. Editor: My first thought? That track gives me anxiety! It looks so fragile, like it's barely holding that railway car and its passengers. The open car certainly puts them at risk... Curator: Precisely. The image, presented in the pictorialist style, highlights the technological marvel of the Mt. Lowe Railway, an ambitious engineering feat intended to draw tourists to the San Gabriel Mountains. Editor: Pictorialist? Interesting. To me, the focus is clearly on materials, like the heavy reliance on timber. Imagine the labor involved in cutting and assembling all those wooden supports, piece by piece, on such a steep slope. It gives me chills. Curator: Indeed. The railway itself became a key spectacle, promoting California’s image as both a wild frontier and a site of modern innovation. The choice of photography helped the masses grasp this "oriental" aesthetic vision of the west. Editor: But what about the cost? I’m talking human and material costs to make such a grand bridge... Were laborers brought in just to fulfill this touristic vision? What were their working conditions? I see more than an oriental aesthetic; I see exploitation made beautiful. Curator: A valid point. While it romanticizes the landscape, its distribution via print served as advertisement for the Pacific Coast and its "mild climate," boosting both land sales and tourism. These types of images shaped popular perceptions and bolstered economic activity, no matter the conditions behind them. Editor: True. But for me, that wooden architecture speaks to a bigger narrative. It's a reminder of how material things carry stories within them, if we are only prepared to read them beyond a picture postcard. Curator: So, this print allows us to ponder how such innovations transform landscapes into leisure destinations, promoting specific ideas and activities through targeted, politically driven marketing schemes. Editor: And I think that "Circular Bridge" demands we remember that behind every engineering achievement is a chain of human labor. Let's reflect on that intersection.