A Word about the Pictures

At the age of about eleven years, the writer received as a birthday gift an eight dollar box camera by Eastman, called the "Bulls Eye Kodak". It was a crude affair, and in the hands of a young amateur, it is surprising that it produced some fairly good snap - shots. Shortly thereafter, a miner friend, Al Austin, who was also a camera buff, taught the youngster to process and develop his own negatives and prints. In an isolated old mining camp, this was a rare novelty and attracted considerable attention. Most of the photos size 3 1/4 by 4 1/4 inches resulted from this original camera.

Then, about 1911, having accumulated twenty dollars by selling post cards and prints from the box camera, the "photographer" purchased an Eastman Folding Kodak - "Post Card Size". This was, at the time, one of the best amateur cameras available. This instrument produced some very good "snaps", and accounts for many of the photos size 3 1/4 X 5 1/2 inches.

In 1914 this good camera was taken along on an excursion of a high school class. The trip was from Portland to The Dalles on the Columbia River on an old stern wheeler. The large group debarked for lunch at The Dalles, innocently leaving coats, purses and other equipment on the boat deck. On their return to the boat, many articles, including the Kodak, were missing, - apparently stolen by some adult passenger getting off at The Dalles.

Being unhappy without some kind of camera, and being financially unable to replace the twenty dollar Kodak, the "photographer" next purchased an Eastman "Vest Pocket" Kodak for six dollars. This, a very simple instrument, was among the first of the "miniature" cameras, and produced pictures in size only about 1 1/2 X 2 1/2 inches. At the time, Eastman advertised this camera extensively, and sold hundreds of thousands of them. The better negatives from this camera enlarge fairly well to size 3 1/4 X 5 1/4 inches, and account for a large percentage of pictures in the book, for it was the only camera used between 1914 and 1924.

Most of the negatives from all of these cameras were saved through the years, and for the purpose of this album, new prints were made from them. This accounts for the freshness of the photos, and the late marginal dates on some of them.

Another source of the pictures was a large, miscellaneous collection of post cards, photos and prints accumulated at the old hotel over the years. Some of these, faded and brown, were used in the album. Others were copied by use of a later model 35 mm. camera. Some were too faded and brown for either direct use or for copying.