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——, 1919, The Watkins Manual, Hereford: The Watkins Meter
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WATKINS, CARLETON E. (1829–1916)
American photographer
Well-known photographers of the nineteenth-century
American West such as Charles Roscoe Savage, Timothy
O’Sullivan, Jack Hillers, Andrew Joseph Russell, and
William Henry Jackson are all praised for a variety of
reasons. They documented historical events, they trav-
eled to the remote corners of the West and photographed
its spectacular scenery, they furthered the budding
science of geology, and they documented the natural
resources of the West for the United States Congress
and the American public. Carleton Eugene Watkins,
however, in addition to doing all of the above also gained
critical acclaim as an artist. Not only did Watkins win
praise from his contemporaries in the Eastern United
States and also in Europe, but he was also praised by sub-
sequent generations of art historians and critics. Initially
Watkins was recognized mainly for his photographs of
the area now known as Yosemite National Park. Despite
the diffi culties of taking mammoth-plate negatives in an
incredibly remote area, these images were known for
their composition, fl awless character, depth of detail, and
excellent use of light. Watkins, however, photographed
up and down the West Coast (as far north as British Co-
lumbia and as far South as Mexico) and also in Arizona,
Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming. While
it is true that throughout his life he pursued nature’s
“grand view,” Watkins also sought to show the subtle
relationships between man and nature.
C. E. Watkins was born on November 11, 1829, in
Oneonta, New York the oldest of eight children. In 1851
he left New York for California with another Oneonta
native, Collis Huntington. Huntington was destined to
become one of the most wealthy and powerful men in
California and throughout Watkins’ life he received fi -
nancial support from his friend. Watkins initially worked
as a clerk in Huntington’s Sacramento store, but after
a fi re destroyed the store in 1852 he became a clerk in
a bookstore owned by George W. Murray. Murray and
Watkins would relocate to San Francisco in 1853 and
in the fall of 1854 well-established daguerreotypist
Robert Vance asked Watkins to temporarily replace an
employee who had suddenly left his job.
Watkins learned the job so well that Vance kept him
employed taking studio portraits. In 1856 Watkins left
Vance to run a studio in San Jose (specializing in am-
brotypes of babies), but apparently Wakins left that job
as well before the end of the year. Watkins’s activitiesWATKINS, CARLETON E.
Attributed to George
Davidson. Pack Train-Resting.
From the Mount Conness,
Sierra Nevada.
The J. Paul Getty Museum,
Los Angeles © The J. Paul
Getty Museum.