['Starting a shaft', 'Aqueduct trench No. 12, Saw Mill river crossing'] before 1887

Saul Davis’ photographic album contains these images of the construction of an aqueduct, likely made in the late 19th or early 20th century. These are not presented as artistic achievements, but as documentary evidence of engineering progress. The photographs highlight the scale of the industrial undertaking and the technology mobilized to complete it. But if we dig a little deeper, they also speak volumes about the social conditions of the time. We can see the aqueduct trench; this required a workforce, and a largely faceless one. The photographs capture the physical labor involved, and the social structures that organized and enabled it. They remind us that behind every great engineering feat is the story of human effort, expertise, and social organization. To fully understand these images, we would need to research the specific aqueduct project, the company or institution behind it, and the lives of the workers who built it. Such historical and sociological research would shed light on the social and institutional context that made these photographs possible.