Thursday, October 08, 2020
Railroads with taxidermists
Vintage.es has a set of 1873 photographs of Kansas that I hadn't seen before. The pics were made by Robert Benecke for the Kansas Pacific RR, which ran from KC to Denver and later became part of UP.
The first picture shows the eastern terminal in KCMO, right down by the river. Part of the street is held up by a crude trestle IN the river. Second picture is a closeup of the first scene, showing KP's taxidermy department with samples of their work on display. They hired hunters to kill buffalo and elk, then stuffed and mounted the heads to serve as advertising in the stations. Were they aiming to attract frontiersmen, or NYC executives who fancied themselves as Great White Hunters? I suspect the latter.
The set includes several shots of Manhattan, looking down from K-Hill, which was called Mount Prospect. Closeups of Manhattan show the same crude wooden streets. There are attractive steel railroad bridges across the Kaw and Blue; I'm sure all of them were wiped out by the floods of '03 and '51.
Benecke manages to photobomb most of the shots, posing as a leisurely traveler who happened to be out for a hike or hunt, unaware of the camera. I suppose his assistant was behind the shutter, groaning and grumbling about the imposture.
Labels: Alternate universe
¶ 4:41 PM
