Location of Name
On the walls of Spaulding's Cavern inside North Gateway Rock.Condition of Name
The "W.H. Jackson, 1870" name was just barely legible when photographed by a Gazette and Telegraph reporter in 1935. The reporter was trying to photograph the "Mrs. Lou Frost" name and inadvertently also photographed the "W.H. Jackson" name just below.Biography of William Henry Jackson
William Henry Jackson was born at Keeseville, New York, on 4 April 1843. His father was born a farmer, but later took up blacksmithing and carriage making. His mother was a city-bred girl, an artist who used both pen and brush.. From her young William learned how to draw. At the age of 15, he was doing retouching in a photographer’s studio in Troy, New York. Two years later, he took a job in Rutland, Vermont, as a photographer’s helper.During the Civil War, William Jackson enlisted in the 12th Vermont Volunteers. He was in service during the battle of Gettysburg, not on the fighting front, but rather behind the lines guarding baggage. Afterwards, he helped escort 2,300 Confederate prisoners to Baltimore.
After his enlistment ran out, Jackson returned to Vermont. There he worked in Styles’ Gallery in Burlington, tinting enlarged photographs of military men. A failed love affair in 1866 turned his attention to the west. With an old Civil War buddy named Ruel Rounds he traveled the Oregon and California trails from St. Joseph to the west coast, making many sketches along the way.
On his return from California, Jackson set up a photography shop in Omaha with his two brothers. A sign above the door read: “Jackson Brothers, Photographers." Soon after he was married to Mollie Greer, who had recently moved west from Ohio.
On 23 July 1870, Professor F.V. Hayden arrived in Omaha seeking a photographer to accompany him on his surveys. Jackson fit the bill perfectly. He was, however, to receive no salary, but merely payment of expenses. No matter. Jackson was soon on the trail west. After reaching Cheyenne, he continued westward toward Fort Bridger, turned southward into the Uintah Mountains, then slowly made his way to the Pikes Peak region – all the while taking photographs of the many scenic wonders. Once his photographs were seen in Washington, D.C., Jackson became a regular and salaried member of Hayden’s staff. Throughout the fall of 1870 Jackson was in Colorado Territory, taking photographs of Pikes Peak and the Garden of the Gods. While there, he seems to have entered Spaulding’s Cavern inside North Gateway Rock and inscribed his name on the cavern walls. The next summer he traveled north to photograph the many wonders of the Yellowstone country.
Personal tragedy struck the Jackson family in February of 1872. William’s young wife Mary and her newborn baby both died during childbirth. He returned to Omaha and sold his photography shop, intending thereafter to devote himself exclusively to the Geological Survey. During the ensuing years he photographed numerous southwestern scenes, including the Mount of the Holy Cross, the Elk Mountains and Mesa Verde.
After nine years of continuous travel, Jackson work with the Geological Survey finally came to an end. Jackson decided to open his own photograph studio in Denver. He also had a beautiful home built on Capitol Hill to house his second wife, Emilie, and their three children. During the years 1880-1881 he was busy picturing the scenic wonders along the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. From time to time he also made special trips to the Pikes Peak region to re-photograph the Garden of the Gods. It is said that between the years 1885-1892, Jackson carried his camera into every corner of the United States, as well as through Canada. In October of 1894 he set out on a world tour with the World’s Transportation Commission, photographing Europe, Africa, India, Australia, Japan and Russia.
In later years, Jackson sold his studio in Denver and moved to Detroit where he became a partner in the Detroit Publishing Company. The company specialized in photographic views and copies of famous oil paintings. The business prospered until 1923, when it went into bankruptcy.
At the time of the bankruptcy, Jackson was 81 years old. His second wife had died five years earlier. His son and two daughters were all already married. He himself was left with a bank account of only $6,000 and a Civil war pension of $75 a month. But somehow he managed to survive for 19 more years. His recipes for longevity was: “Always have something to do tomorrow.”
In 1929, Jackson moved to New York City to become research secretary for the Oregon Trail Memorial Association. He celebrated his 99th birthday at the Explorers Club in April of 1942. He died on 30 June of the same year as a result of a fall in his apartment at the Hotel Lathem.
William Henry Jackson’s photographic legacy is preserved in the collection of western negatives acquired by the State Historical Society of Colorado through the courtesy of the Ford Foundation in Detroit. Also, some 35 of his original Oregon Trail paintings and sketches are on permanent display at the Visitor Center at Scotts Bluff National Monument in Nebraska. His name and the date “1870” still remain hidden inside Spaulding’s Cavern in the Garden of the Gods.
(Source: The Diaries of William Henry Jackson, ed. By LeRoy R. Hafen and Ann W. Hafen. Glendale, CA: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1959.)