Item Details

Albumen photograph, 1890. size: 6 3/4 x 8 5/8" on 11 x 14" mount. Numbered '89' in the negative.

A photograph of the U.S. Coast and Geodetic Survey's expedition to the summit of Mount Conness led by George Davidson. Mount Conness at 12,600 feet is one of the highest in the Sierra Nevada. The expedition's purpose was  to construct a small observatory from which surveying instruments carried up to the peak could be used to take geodetic measurements. The  camp tents can be seen at the upper right of the photograph and the small observatory can be seen on the summit. According to the Getty Museum website the authorship of this photograph is in dispute.

George Davidson (1825-1911), astronomer, geographer, surveyor, president of the California Academy of Sciences from 871 to 1887, regent of the University of California, and first professor of geography at UC Berkeley. He played a pivotal role in surveying the Sierra Nevada.  In 1890 he led a U.S. Coast & Geodetic Survey expedition to Mount Conness near Yosemite, where he established an observatory at the summit.