Kicking Horse Valley

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Summary

Charles Doolittle Walcott's panoramic image is from Burgess Pass, looking across the Kicking Horse Valley toward Mount Stephen, British Columbia (now Alberta), Canada. Walcott used a Cirkut Outfit Camera to capture the image.

Category

Historic Images of the Smithsonian

Notes

Charles Doolittle Walcott (1850-1927), fourth Secretary of the Smithsonian (1907-1927), was a paleontologist whose research focused on North American Cambrian fossils. He conducted field work in the United States and Canada, and, in 1909, while in the Canadian Rockies near Field, British Columbia, discovered what has come to be known as the Burgess Shale. The shale contained fossils that provided the foundation for study of the Cambrian Period in Western North America. Neither Walcott nor the scientific community realized the importance of this discovery, but the Burgess Shale came to be recognized as one of the most important geologic findings of the 20th century. Walcott is equally well-known for his method of photographing topographies for scientific documentary purposes, producing stunning images of these majestic landscapes.

Contained within

Smithsonian Institution Archives, Record Unit 7004, Charles D. Walcott Papers

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, S.W., Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

1909

Restrictions & Rights

No restrictions

Topic

  • Scientific expeditions
  • Landscapes
  • Photography, Panoramic
  • Burgess Shale (B.C.)
  • Paleontology
  • Canada

Place

  • Canadian Rockies (B.C. and Alta.)
  • Canada
  • Banff National Park (Alta.)
  • Kicking Horse Valley (Alta.)

Form/Genre

  • Photographic print
  • Landscape
  • Panoramic photographs

ID Number

Walcott 762

Physical description

Number of Images: 1; Color: Black and white; Size: Neg. 5" film; Type of Image: Landscape; Panoramic photograph; Medium: Photographic print

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