A well-preserved view of Pocatello's early days

While searching through an archive recently, a beautifully preserved photo appeared that provides one of the clearest views ever into Pocatello’s earliest days. Not only is the image undeniably Pocatello, but it’s an incredibly clear and well-preserved photograph of the city from 1892 when Pocatello was only a few years old.

The photograph is one in a series taken by C. R. Savage of Salt Lake City. Savage was a successful photographer in the region who was best known for his portraits of Brigham Young, Porter Rockwell and other Utah notables during the 19th century. However, Savage was also an accomplished landscape photographer, and he apparently saw the birth of a new city in Idaho as an important subject to document. All of his known photographs of Pocatello were taken from the west bench and this one appears to have been captured while standing somewhere near Trail Creek.

We can date the photograph through a number of cues, but two of them stand out more than the others. First, and foremost, is the West Side school that would later be expanded and turned into the original Pocatello High School. The large cubic structure is readily apparent and was not built until 1892.

The second indicator of date is less obvious but is even more precise. In the foreground a ditch or canal can be seen leading from the right edge to the left side where it ends just above a pool next to an outbuilding. This ditch was a source of water for Pocatello’s first hydroelectric powerhouse built by local butcher and politician, Daniel Swineheart. He began his work in July of 1892 and the powerhouse was completed by 1893. In this photo, the ditch is not completed, but it is rapidly progressing and the tailing pool is also complete. However, there is no trace yet of the powerhouse that would soon be built on the far bank above the tailing pool. Given the snow on the hills, ice on the river, and the early development of the ditch, it is almost certain that the photograph was taken in the late fall or early winter of 1892.

However, it is not just the age of the photo that is important. The image was so professionally taken and so well preserved that only minor digital adjustments were required for enlarged areas of the photograph. This is because Savage used a process known as wet-plate collodion. Collodion negatives, made on glass plates, have no discernible grain and allow for very high-quality reproduction prints showing minute detail.

Of course, Savage made more than one print of this image. The Bannock County Historical Society has another copy of this photo; unfortunately, it is in poor condition. Another version was included in the book “Idaho — The Gem of the Mountains” published in 1920, but the screening used in the print process removes much of the detail. This print, held by the BYU Library, has one significant tear over an unimportant portion of the photo and some mild discoloration, but for its age it is a wonderfully preserved specimen.

Despite the distance, and because of the wet-plate process and Savage’s skill, many of the buildings in the center of town are easily recognizable even though they are over a mile away. It’s hard to pick a favorite, but one has to be the original Opera House. The building had suffered from two fires within just a couple years of each other, but here it is completely intact. Other buildings to note include the original beautiful wood-framed Baptist Church near the school, the Pocatello House hotel across from the Opera House, the Pacific Hotel, the train depot, and the immense railroad workshops that were the reason for the city’s birth.

There are also smaller things to note. Because of the wet-plate process, Savage’s photograph could be taken with a much shorter exposure than older photographic methods such as albumin, which could not effectively capture animals and people in a street scene. Look closely and you will see boys playing on the roof of the small barn by Swineheart’s powerhouse site. In one place, a horse is hitched to a two-wheeled buggy. There is also a cow corral near the Portneuf and everywhere outhouses dot the landscape.

Thanks to Mr. Savage and the archivists at the BYU Library we can peer into that past and enjoy the exciting growth of that railroad town so long ago. Here is Pocatello in 1892.

The Bannock County Historical Museum now has printed copies of this photo and you may view it online at the BYU Library’s digital archive by following this link: bit.ly/35yMUR5.