The Pictorial Record of the Old West, 6
VI. Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen
by Robert Taft
August 1948 (Vol. 16, No. 3), pages 225 to 244
Transcribed by Gardner Smith; digitized with permission of
the Kansas Historical Society.
In the great flood of German immigrants to this country in the early half of the nineteenth century there were considerable numbers who found their way westward. Many established homes and eventually became absorbed in the American life stream. Others stayed but for a time and then returned to the fatherland, and still others were casual visitors. A few of each of these groups were articulate and have left personal narratives or written descriptions that are records of more or less value. One has only to recall, among our Western visitors, the names of Duke Paul William of Württemberg, Prince Maximilian of Wied, Frederick Wislizenus, Rudolph Kurz, Friederich Gerstäcker, Julius Fröbel, Friedrich Strubberg, Capitain B. Schmölder, George Engelmann (for whom the Engelmann spruce is named), as well as Heinrich Balduin Möllhausen, to appreciate their contributions to early Western literature. [1] Although some of these German writers have been dealt with individually, a comprehensive study of their contributions, which in toto would number hundreds of volumes, and of the effect of these contributions on German life and immigration to America remains to be made. [2]
Several of this group have also contributed to the pictorial record of the West but we are here concerned primarily with the work of H.B. Möllhausen (sometimes called Balduin, sometimes Baldwin; the Heinrich is seldom used). [3] Möllhausen not only wrote personal narratives describing his three exploring trips in Western America, made many sketches "from nature" during these periods, but as the result of his personal experiences in the West, gave the major share of his adult life to the profession of letters. He wrote no less than 45 novels or books of short stories (some novels ran into as many as six volumes). To be sure, this literary output was not confined to the Western scene as a background, but the original impetus for Möllhausen’s career came from his Western experiences. Indians, the plains, Utah and the Mormons, gold and California, the Santa Fe trail, the Civil War, the South, the Great Lakes, the sea were all used in his literary output. So frequent were the parallels between Möllhausen and Cooper that Barba, his biographer, calls Möllhausen "the German Cooper." [4] It seems probable that Möllhausen’s work, like Cooper’s, was strong in description of scenery and surroundings, but the characters introduced were stiff and stylized, and Möllhausen’s plots were frequently complicated and bizarre.
The narratives of personal experience written by Möllhausen are, however, documents of first-rate importance and the illustrations he drew to accompany them enhance their value. In addition, these narratives contribute to our biographical knowledge of the author. The sketches made by Möllhausen are here of primary concern and can conveniently be treated according to his three trips to America.
First American Visit, 1849-1852
Möllhausen was born January 27, 1825, near the city of Bonn. His father, the possessor of a restless disposition, was a wide traveler and also possessed "an uncontrollable desire for collecting copper engravings;" [5] factors which undoubtedly played a part in the younger Möllhausen’s career. After his father’s early death, Möllhausen was reared by relatives, receiving some schooling at Bonn. He also seems to have early shown a talent for drawing but received no special training other than that given in the school at Bonn. After several years in military service, Möllhausen sailed for America in 1849. [6] There is little record of Möllhausen’s life for much of this three-year period (1849-1852) but he appears to have lived for a time in Belleville, Ill. (near St. Louis), and to have spent considerable time as a hunter in the region of the Kaskaskia river in southwestern Illinois. [7]
In the spring of 1851, however, he heard that his countryman, Prince Paul of Württemberg, was outfitting an expedition to the Rocky Mountains and he applied to Prince Paul for permission to accompany the expedition. The permission was granted and the outfit was on the plains of Nebraska (the Platte river) "when the spring sun was drawing out millions of buds among the herbs and grass." [8] Prince Paul’s expedition however, encountered such serious Indian and transportation difficulties that the trip was given up at Fort Laramie and the return to civilization was begun in the fall of that year (1851). Indians killed one of their four horses, fodder was scanty, they became almost buried in a snow storm which killed their remaining horses, and the two travelers were forced to make camp on Sandy Hill creek "where it falls into the Big Blue." [9] Here the eastbound stage for Independence, Mo., passed them but as the stage had room for only one passenger, Prince Paul and Möllhausen drew lots to see which should go. Chance decreed that Möllhausen was the one to stay until help could be sent back. The help failed to materialize and Möllhausen remained alone in his camp from the latter part of November until early in January. During his enforced stay, huge wolf packs, additional snow storms, illness so severe that he became unconscious, and hunger so violent that he was reduced to eating frozen wolf meat, were Möllhausen’s lot. But the culminating drama was one that almost cost him his life. Toward the end of his stay he had forced himself to the top of a distant hill for observation, when to his horror he discovered two Pawnees creeping with extreme caution upon his camp unaware of his presence on the observation point. After hastily preparing for their arrival, he shot one Indian and mortally injured the second. Shortly after this experience, a friendly band of Otoes on the way to their villages at the mouth of the Platte passed by and Möllhausen joined them as they journeyed eastward. After traveling for four weeks, Möllhausen reached the settlement of Bethlehem on the Missouri. [10] At Bethlehem [11] Möllhausen was a gain in the presence of white company, where he reveled in the homely satisfactions of "sitting by their warm fireside, eating good bread, drinking a glass of whisky-punch, and entertaining my hosts with the story of my adventures." [12]
But after he re-outfitted at Bethlehem, Möllhausen returned to his Oto friends for a few days and then proceeded to the fur-trading post and nearby Presbyterian mission at Belle Vue. [13] The post trader, Peter Sarpy, [14] welcomed him with open arms and Möllhausen spent over three months with him. He even contemplated marrying a beautiful young half-breed, a niece of Sarpy, and settling down to a life on the frontier. A letter from Prince Paul, however, urged him to come at once to New Orleans, and as funds were provided for, Möllhausen took passage in a river boat for St. Louis and New Orleans. [15]
Möllhausen had as a result of this first trip, therefore, over a year’s experience on the Western frontier with adventure and harrowing experience sufficient to satisfy the most rabid seeker of thrills. Further, he was able to put on paper some of the scenes which he had viewed. An exact catalogue of Möllhausen’s pictorial records resulting from the experiences of this first trip to America is not possible, but an estimate can be made. In 1939, the Staatliches Museum für Volkerkunde in Berlin possessed an original sketchbook of Möllhausen’s containing 99 pencil sketches and 83 water-colors made on his American excursions. [16] In addition, his work has been reproduced in lithographic form in a number of volumes.
The original work of Möllhausen has unfortunately been largely destroyed, having been burned during the conquest of Berlin in April, 1945. [17] The United States National Museum, Washington, however, possesses eight original pen and ink drawings and one original water-color sketch by Möllhausen with the following titles:
1. A cougar. Signed, "Möllhausen." (No date or location given.)
2. Indian woman with dog travois. Titled, "Sioux Squaw," in Möllhausen’s handwriting. Signed, "Möllhausen." (No date or location given.)
3. Indian woman with horse drawing tipi poles. Unsigned. (No date, tribe or location given.)
4. Pictographic designs painted by Indians on a buffalo hide. Unsigned. (No tribe, date or location given.)
5. Mounted Indians fighting. Signed, "B. Möllhausen." (2 Indians shown, no tribe, date or location given.)
6. Five Indians, one scalping a fallen enemy, the remainder brandishing weapons. Unsigned. (No tribe, date or location given.)
7. Three bears. Signed, "B. Möllhausen." (No date or location given.)
8. Indians and white man. Unsigned. (No date, tribe or location.)
9. Two Indians, one with Catlinite pipe, other with long barrel flintlock. Signed, "Möllhausen." (No tribe, date or location.) [18]
Paul Hudson, museum curator, Morristown National Historical Park, Morristown, N.J., examined Möllhausen’s collection in Berlin in 1939 and noted the titles of a number of the sketches which are given below:
1. "San Felipe on the Rio Grande," 1853.
2. "Walapai Indians, Diamond Creek." Colorado Expedition, 1857-1858.
3. "Buffalo Hunt on the Prairie," 1851. (Indian and white hunters.)
4. "Antelope," 1851. (Closeup of 5 animals.)
5. "Zuni Pueblo," 1853. (Distant view.)
6. "Corero, New Mexico," 1853.
7. "The Grey Bear," 1859. (Three bears.)
8. "Wolves Fighting Buffalo," 1852.
9. "Sioux Indians," 1851. (Group on prairie, skinning deer, using fire, etc. Reproduced with this article.)
10. "Kioway," 1853. (Village with painted lodge in foreground.)
11. "Comanche," 1853. (One mounted, three standing males, one female.)
12. "Inhabitants of New Mexico (Albuquerque)," 1853. (Mexican costume.)
13. "Waco, Delaware and Shawnee," 1853. (Four men, full length.)
14. "Oto Chiefs in Trading Post, Council Bluffs," 1852. (Indians and traders. Reproduced with this article.)
15. "Fort Roubideaux, 1851, Western Slope of Rocky Mountains." (Panoramic view. Reproduced with this article.)
16. "Ruins on Pecos River, N.M." Colorado Expedition, 1857-1858.
17. "Mohave Indians." Colorado Expedition, 1857-1858.
18. "Apache, Chimehuevi, Mohave, Haulpi Indians." Colorado Expedition, 1857-1858.
19. "Ojibway Indians of the Upper Mississippi," 1850.
20. "Pawnee Indians," 1851-1852. (One male mounted; three males, one female standing.)
21. "Buffalo Crossing the Platte River," 1851.
22. "Dancing Warriors, Omaha Indians," 1852. (Good for dance costume and equipment.)
23. "Navaho Indians," 1853. (Good costume.)
24. "Wild Game of Colorado Region." Colorado Expedition, 1857-1858.
25. "Hunters-Oto Warriors," 1851. (In winter costume.)
26. "The Wild Buffalo." (No date.)
27. "Apache, Moqui, Navaho." Colorado Expedition, 1857-1858.
28. "Mohave Indians near Colorado River," 1854, (House in background; men and boys playing hoop-and-pole game in foreground.)
29. "Choctaws, Chickasaws and Cherokees (Arkansas)," 1853 (Varied costume worn by these Indians at that period.)
30. "Interior of Oto Tipi," 1851.
31. "Zuni and Moqui Indians," 1853. (Good for costume.)
32. "Crossing of the Colorado by the Expedition," 1854. (Distant view.) [19]
Fortunately the writer secured in 1939 photographic reproductions of several of the Möllhausen sketches. The titles of these sketches as received from the Berlin museum include:
V: "Oto-Handler auf der Pelztauschstation in den Council Bluffs," 1852. (See reproduction with this article.)
VIII: "Fort Roupideau, Scott Bluffs," 1851. (See reproduction with this article.)
XIV: "Sioux," 1851. (See reproduction with this article.)
XV: "Choctaw, Chickasaw, Cherokee," 1853.
XXV: "Übergang der Expedition über den Colorado," 1854.
XXIX: "San Felipe, Rio Grande, Neumexico," 1853. [20]
In addition, Dr. Charles L. Camp of the University of California wrote me that he photographed several dozen original Möllhausen sketches in Berlin "several years ago." [21]
Altogether, when the copies of the originals are considered and the reproductions of Möllhausen’s originals as lithographs are counted, a sizeable collection is available for the student.
Of this work, those resulting from Möllhausen’s first trip to America include V (probably No. 14 of the Hudson list) VIII (possibly No. 15 of the Hudson list), and XIV (probably No. 9 of the Hudson list) of the writer’s list. [22]
In addition to this list of subjects, the following pictorial records of Möllhausen (note that these were made on his first American trip) are found as chromolithographs in his Diary (cited in Footnote 6):
1. "Wa-ki-ta-mo-ne and Hunting Party of Ottoe Warriors," v. 1, frontispiece.
2. "Chiefs of the Ottoe Tribe," v. 1, facing p. 248. [23]
Möllhausen’s Second American Trip
After nearly four months among the Omahas around Bellevue, Möllhausen rejoined Prince Paul either in St. Louis or New Orleans and spent several months in those places. In the fall of 1852, at the request of the German consul at St. Louis, he took charge of a consignment of animals for the Berlin zoo. He arrived in Berlin on January 6, 1853, and soon made the acquaintance of the celebrated geographer, Alexander von Humboldt, who became much interested in the young man and in the stories of his travels and in his sketches of Indian and frontier life. [24] Von Humboldt encouraged Möllhausen to continue his travels, and after a four months’ stay in Berlin in which he perfected himself "in some branches of artistic study" he returned to the United States with glowing recommendations from von Humboldt and other German dignitaries. [25] He arrived in New York on May 3, 1853, went immediately to Washington and one week later had been appointed "topographer or draughtsman" to Lt. A. W. Whipple’s surveying expedition along the 35th parallel through southwestern United States. [26]
The expedition, one of three sent out by the government to seek possible rail routes to the Pacific, left Fort Smith on the Arkansas river, near the western boundary of Arkansas, on July 15, 1853. The route in general lay through Indian territory, across the Llano Estacado of Texas, through New Mexico territory to Albuquerque, through the petrified forest, south past the San Francisco mountains, across Bill Williams’ fork of the Colorado, the Colorado itself, through the torrid stretches of the Mohave desert, and across the Coast range. The expedition eventually arrived at the Pueblo de los Angeles, some nine months after its start, on March 21, 1854. [27]
Möllhausen’s experiences on this trip were published in the various editions of his Diary, cited in Footnotes 6 and 23. The Diary, however, is more than a logbook of travel, for Möllhausen has included in it an extended account of his own earlier experiences in the West, of stories gathered along the way, with stray bits of history and previous exploration thrown in for good measure. In his account, too, he occasionally refers to himself as "the German naturalist." Möllhausen appears to have had some training in natural history and indeed on his third trip to America was appointed "artist and collector in natural history" on still another government expedition. [28] His chief scientific interests, however, were in the native tribes. Many of the illustrations in the official reports of the two government expeditions with which Möllhausen was connected, depict Indians and Indian modes of life. Choctaw, Creek, Cherokee, Shawnee, Delaware, Wichita, Comanche, Kiowa, Zuni, and Mohave were all recorded by his pencil and constitute important ethnographic records for the present day.
The pictorial record of the Whipple expedition appears in the illustrations of the various editions of the Diary and of Whipple’s official report. In the Diary the following full-page lithographic illustrations (in color) will be found:
Vol. Facing p.
1. "Sandstone Formation in the Prairie Northwest of Texas" 1 136
2. "Camp of the Kioway Indians" 1 212
3. "Sandstone Formation at Pueblo de Santo Domingo" 1 276
4. "Church in the Pueblo of Santo Domingo" 1 336
5. "Tile Petrified Forest in the Valley of the Rio Seco" 2 front.
6. "Zuni, New Mexico" 2 98
7. "San Francisco Mountains (Extinct Volcanoes)" 2 156
8. "Mohave Indians, Valley of the Rio Colorado of the West" 2 250
9. -"Dwellings of the Natives of the Rio Colorado of the West," [29] 2 262
In addition to the lithographs, there are 12 woodcut illustrations, chiefly of Indian utensils and drawings, although the following full-page woodcuts possibly should be noted:
Vol. Facing p.
1. "Cereus Giganteus" 2 219
2. "The Colorado River" 2 239
3. "Sequoia Gigantea" 2 364
The illustrations in the German edition (first) of the Diary (see Footnote 23) were much the same as those listed above, although slightly larger than those in Mrs. Sinnett’s translation.
In Whipple’s official report (see Footnote 26), Möllhausen, A. H. Campbell, and Lt. J. C. Tidball contributed most of the illustrations. Twenty-two full-page lithographs in color (or tinted) measuring approximately 6 x 9 inches in the print (the pages are quarto), some 65 woodcuts in the text as well as a number of geological and elevation cross-sections, make up the illustrated portion of the book. Leaving the last, the purely technical illustrations, out of consideration, ten of the lithographic illustrations are credited directly to Möllhausen, two indirectly, and another almost surely resulted from Möllhausen’s work. (It should be pointed out, as is done on page 235, that credit for illustrations varies somewhat from volume to volume.) The remainder are credited to F. B. Meek (two fossil drawings), three to A. H. Campbell, three to J. C. Tidball and one to an unknown "F. S." Of the 65 woodcuts, a number are uncredited and it is difficult to trace the source. In Part III, 35 of the woodcuts appear to be credited to Möllhausen, [30] and in Part IV some 15 woodcuts are credited to Möllhausen.
It can thus be seen that Möllhausen was the principal illustrator of the report. Some of the noteworthy full-page illustrations included in the report as typical of Möllhausen’s work would include:
1. "Fort Smith, Arkansas" (see reproduction with this article), Part I, facing p. 5.
2. "San Francisco Mountain" (From Leroux’s river), Part I, facing p. 80.
3. "Rio Colorado Near the Mojave Villages" (depicts the crossing of the expedition), Part II, front.
4. "Navajos" (Two mounted warriors), Part III, facing p. 31.
5. "Mojaves" (Three painted natives), Part III, facing p. 33.
6. "A Conical Hill, 500 Feet High" (Valley of Laguna), Part IV, facing p. 25.
The "San Francisco Mountain" listed above, is not credited in all volumes to Möllhausen but since practically the same view appears in the Diary (both the German and the English editions) it is virtually certain that Möllhausen drew the original sketch ‘upon which the lithograph was based. [31] The lithographic work was done by three: T. Sinclair, Philadelphia; A. Hoen and Co., Baltimore, and Sarony and Co. (or Sarony, Major, and Knapp), New York. The same subject in different copies of Whipple’s report has been reproduced by different lithographers. This is particularly true of T. Sinclair and Sarony, Major and Knapp. For example, one copy of the report which I have examined has Möllhausen’s view, "Canadian River Near Camp 38" (Part I, facing p. 30), lithographed by Sarony, Major and Knapp and another copy has the same view lithographed by T. Sinclair. As a result, the tinting in the two views is different and the detail and outlines vary somewhat. For that matter, the tinting of the colored views varies somewhat from copy to copy even when by the same lithographer, depending presumably upon the number of copies that were made in a run and how frequently the stone was inked. [32]
One or two other irregularities in the illustrations may be noted while we have them under discussion. "View of the Black Forest," after A. H. Campbell’s sketch, does not appear in the index of illustrations of Part II. In some volumes it appears in Part II, facing p. 32, lithographed by Sarony, Major and Knapp. In another copy, this illustration appears facing p. 33 of Part II, lithographed by Sarony and Co., and in one copy I examined it possesses as lovely a color as I have ever seen in a two-color impression (black and brown).
To cite still another irregularity, the illustration, "Bivouac, Jan. 26," is listed in the index of illustrations to Part I as facing p. 95 and in some copies appears in this position; in other copies it appears as facing p. 90. The most striking irregularity is the fact that in some copies this illustration is credited to J. C. Tidball and in others to Möllhausen. There are differences in detail and it may be that the difference in crediting is proper, but I am inclined to think the double credit is an error and that it would be difficult to decide who should be given credit for the illustration. Both views were lithographed by T. Sinclair.
The initials of Möllhausen are also cited irregularly in the caption to the illustrations. One such case has already been given in Footnote 31, but the most curious one occurs in the case of the frontispiece illustration in Part II, "Rio Colorado Near the Mojave Villages, View No. 2." In two copies this is credited to "R.R. Möllhausen," in another to "H. R. Möllhausen" and in a fourth (correctly) to "H. B. Möllhausen." The lithography in all four cases is credited to Sarony, Major and Knapp.
Many of the woodcuts, as already remarked, are uncredited, although in Part IV ("The Geology of the Route"), all woodcuts are credited to the respective artists in the index to the illustrations. One woodcut in Part I (p. 85) can be credited to Lieutenant Tidball, from a statement appearing in the text itself (p. 84). Other woodcuts in Part I may possibly be those of Möllhausen if comparison of the illustrations in the report with those in the Diary are made. Included in this group are:
1. "Petrified Tree Near Lithodendron Creek," p.74. This view is somewhat similar to the frontispiece of volume 2 of the Diary. A. H. Campbell was present, however, and it possibly could have been drawn by him, but Lieutenant Tidball appears to have been absent when the party crossed the petrified forest area.
2. "Cereus Giganteus, on Bill Williams’ Fork," p. 101. In the Diary, v. 2, facing p. 219, is the full-page woodcut "Cereus Giganteus." Here the two views are dissimilar--the chief similarity being in the titles.
As contributing to the authenticity and understanding of Möllhausen’s sketches, instances of his mention in Whipple’s official daily record can be selected. [33] Under date of September 29, 1853, while in present New Mexico, Möllhausen is recorded as one of the party making side excursions to the north of the main line of. the survey while the rest of the group proceeded with the main survey directly to Albuquerque. [34] Several weeks later, while approaching the pueblo of Laguna and although not specifically mentioning Möllhausen, Whipple writes "As we approached the town, the Germans of the party almost imagined themselves in ‘Fatherland.’" [35]
In February, 1854, while approaching the Colorado river near the mouth of Bill Williams’ fork (present Arizona), Whipple makes mention of the fact that Möllhausen sketched "several singular trees and shrubs.…" A little later, Indian inscriptions and figures were observed on the cliff walls of a rugged canyon. "Some of the most interesting among them were sketched by the artist," reports Whipple. [36]
In the same month, while the expedition was engaged in crossing the Colorado river, Möllhausen had a chance to play the hero’s role. A barge capsized and William White, one of the surveyors, and a small Mexican boy were nearly drowned, but "the exertions of Mr. Möllhausen succeeded in extricating them from beneath the boat." [37] Möllhausen himself records the incident but modestly says that when the boat in which he and White were riding overturned in mid-stream, "I was the only one of the party who could swim, and I had to make great exertions to get Mr. White to where he could lay hold of the tow rope." [38] Möllhausen does describe the crossing of the river by the expedition in great detail, especially the interest shown by an audience of hundreds of Mohaves who were out for a gala day.
The last reference made to Möllhausen in the official report occurs on March 12, 1854. Möllhausen accompanied a party sent out to search for a lost Mexican herder who was a member of the expedition. They were either in or near the Mohave desert and in that desolate country found only the bloody clothes of the missing Mexican riddled with arrows; the body of the Mexican, murdered by Pai-Utes, was not found. [39]
Third American Trip
The members of the Whipple expedition, after renewing their outfits of clothing in Los Angeles, a town which "varies between two and three thousand" in population, pressed on to the Pacific coast port of San Pedro. On their overland journey from Fort Smith on the Arkansas to San Pedro on the Pacific, they had traveled 1,892 miles, according to their viameter--a necessary instrument for a surveying expedition. On March 24, 1854, they boarded the coast steamer Fremont for San Francisco "the most important place on the western coast of the American continent.…" [40]
A few days later, six members of the party including Möllhausen took passage on the steamer Oregon for Panama, bound for New York. After a troublesome crossing of the Isthmus, the remainder of the ocean voyage on the steamer Illinois was uneventful and New York was reached on April 28, 1854, almost exactly a year having elapsed since Möllhausen had left there. [41]
After several months spent in New York and Washington, presumably in completing his sketches for the official report, Möllhausen returned to Berlin in August of 1854. Humboldt was again greatly interested in the account of Möllhausen’s travels and in the new sketches which the young German brought back with him from his far-flung journey through the American Southwest. He arranged an interview for Möllhausen with King Frederick William IV of Prussia, who was himself greatly interested in art. As the result of this interview, King Frederick appointed Möllhausen custodian of the libraries in the royal residences in Potsdam, a title which Möllhausen held until his death in 1905. [42] This position in effect was a subsidy for there were almost no duties and Möllhausen was free to follow his own inclinations. During his stay in Berlin between the second and third trip to America he was married to the daughter of Humboldt’s secretary and, in addition, devoted a considerable part of his time to the preparation of the Diary (see Footnote 6 for full title) which apparently was ready for the press by the summer of 1857. At this time he received a letter of appointment from Lt. J. C. Ives, a member of the Whipple expedition, offering him a position as assistant on a government expedition to be sent out for the exploration and survey of the Colorado river of the West. [43] Möllhausen needed no urging to join Ives and left Berlin on August 12, 1857, for his third set of adventures in the New World.
The Colorado river of the West (now simply the Colorado river) is "the largest stream with one exception, that flows from our territory into the Pacific," Ives wrote. It drains an area then estimated at more than 300,000 square miles. Very little was known about the river in 1857 and the government was especially desirous of securing information on the navigability of the stream from its mouth as far inland as possible. The practicability of supplying frontier army posts in New Mexico and Utah territories by this route were to be particularly studied, as it was hoped that the long stretches of land transportation, then the only method in use, could be avoided, or at least lessened. [44] The Mormon war of 1857-1858 was under way at the time the expedition was organized and the need for supplying the Southwestern posts of Fort Defiance and Fort Buchanan more efficiently was of major concern to the army.
Möllhausen landed in New York on September 1, 1857, went to Washington, and then returned to New York where he embarked for San Francisco by way of Panama with Dr. J. S. Newberry and F. W. von Egloffstein, a Bavarian topographer, also members of the expedition. On October 22, they joined Lieutenant Ives, the leader of the expedition, in San Francisco. [45] Here the expedition was divided into several parties. Möllhausen and Egloffstein, under P. H. Taylor, the astronomer of the expedition, left for San Pedro and Fort Tejon (California) and then crossed the desert to Fort Yuma on the Colorado river. Another party, under Newberry, went to San Diego to collect mules to be used for transportation, and they then crossed the desert to Fort Yuma. Ives, himself, with a small steamer to be assembled on the Colorado, left San Francisco by water, rounded the Lower California peninsula and sailed up the Gulf of California to the mouth of the Colorado.
The parties were assembled at Fort Yuma, near the Mexico-U.S. border and some 150 miles by river above the mouth of the Colorado, on January 9, 1858. A delay of the Ives party near the mouth of the Colorado had occurred, as it was necessary to assemble there the small steamboat, appropriately called the Explorer, to be used in the up-river trip. (A Möllhausen sketch of the Explorer is reproduced on the cover of this issue.) The Explorer was eventually made ready, and, loaded with six weeks’ provisions at Fort Yuma, departed on January 11. [46]
After two months’ travel they reached what was considered the head of navigation, some 530 miles above the mouth of the Colorado. [47] After returning down the river to Beale’s crossing, Ives reorganized his party, and, with a group of about 45, the exploration of the river was continued by land, the Explorer returning downstream to Fort Yuma. On March 23, 1858, the overland party started out and by April 3 were near the "Big Canyon," at present known as the Grand Canyon. A week later Ives reports he believed they were opposite the most stupendous portion of the canyon. The going was rough, the tortuous side canyons misleading, grass for the mules was scarce, water difficult to find and the sun oppressively warm, but still they kept on, mapping, taking observations, recording the geology, vegetation and sparse fauna of the rugged Southwestern wilderness.
On April 13, as the mules had been nearly two days without water, an attempt was made to descend into the canyon, after discovering a downward Indian trail which, viewed at some distance, looked so tortuous and steep that "a mountain goat could scarcely keep its footing…" Closer inspection showed that the path, though narrow and dizzy, had been selected with some care, so down they started. But let Lieutenant Ives tell the hair-raising story:
I rode upon it [the trail] first, and the rest of the party and the train followed--one by one--looking very much like a row of insects crawling upon the side of a building. We proceeded for nearly a mile along this singular pathway, which preserved its horizontal direction. The bottom of the canyon meanwhile had been rapidly descending, and there were two or three falls where it dropped a hundred feet at a time, thus greatly increasing the depth of the chasm. The change had taken place so gradually that I was not sensible of it, till glancing down the side of my mule I found that he was walking within three inches of the brink of a sheer gulf a thousand feet deep; on the other side, nearly touching my knee, was an almost vertical wall rising to an enormous altitude. The sight made my head swim, and I dismounted and got ahead of the mule, a difficult and delicate operation, which I was thankful to have safely performed. A part of the men became so giddy that they were obliged to creep upon their hands and knees, being unable to walk or stand. In some places there was barely room to walk, and a slight deviation in a step would have precipitated one into the frightful abyss. I was a good deal alarmed lest some obstacle should be encountered that would make it impossible to go ahead, for it was certainly impracticable to return. After an interval of uncomfortable suspense the face of the rock made an angle, and just beyond the turn was a projection from the main wall with a surface fifteen or twenty yards square that would afford a foothold. The continuation of the wall was perfectly vertical, so that the trail could no longer follow it, and we found that the path descended the steep face of the cliff to the bottom of the canyon. It was a desperate road to traverse, but located with a good deal of skill--zigzagging down the precipice, and taking advantage of every crevice and fissure that could afford a foothold. [48]
They soon found that the mules could not accomplish the descent and there was nothing to be done but to retrace their dizzy and weary way to the top where the packs and saddles were removed from the mules and they were started for the nearest water--thirty miles distant. Nothing daunted, the next morning Ives, Lieutenant Tipton, Egloffstein, Peacock and a dozen of the men explored the bottom of the canyon on foot.
Further progress along the Colorado river was soon barred by the extent and magnitude of side canyons and further reconnaissance and lack of water led the party to turn south away from the canyon toward the welcoming pine shade and cooler weather of the San Francisco mountains. Farther east, as supplies ran short, a division of the party was made. Lieutenant Tipton, Möllhausen and the larger number of the soldiers and the pack-train headed east toward Fort Defiance. [49] Lieutenant Ives, Newberry, Egloffstein and ten men again turned north in the hope that they could make further surveys. [50] The two parties separated on May 6, 1858, and on May 14, Lieutenant Tipton and his party arrived at Fort Defiance. About a week later they were joined by Lieutenant Ives and his command and the expedition came officially to an end. [51]
Möllhausen, Newberry, Peacock and von Egloffstein decided to return east by the overland route; Lieutenant Ives, however, returned to Fort Yuma. The eastbound party was in Albuquerque by June 1 and in Santa Fe on June 12, 1858. [52] From Santa Fe, the famous Santa Fe trail was followed through northeastern New Mexico, and then through Kansas to Fort Leavenworth, which was reached on July 24, 1858. Möllhausen and Newberry, in haste to be back home, took the river boat to St. Louis, and then traveled by train to New York and Washington, and completed their trans-continental trip across the United States. After finishing his work in Washington, Möllhausen sailed for Berlin on September 1, 1858, never to return to the United States. [53]
Pictorial Records of the Third Trip
In addition to the original Möllhausen sketches listed on p. 231, illustrations by Möllhausen appear in his Reisen (see Footnote 45) and in the official report of Ives. The full-page illustrations in the Reisen are tinted woodcuts (plus one map) and measure approximately 5 x 7 3/4 inches. The illustrations, all credited, of course, to Möllhausen, are:
Volume 1
1. "Ruinen von Pecos" Frontispiece
"Ruins on the Pecos"
2. "Vegetation der Kiesebene und des Colorado-Thales" facing p. 112
"Vegetation of the Rocky Desert and the Colorado Valley"
3. "Schornsteinfelsen oder Chimney Peak" facing p. 174
"Chimney Rock or Chimney Peak"
4. ‘Telsformation in der Nalie der Mundung von Bill Williams Fork" facing p. 238
"Rock Formation at the Mouth of Bill Williams Fork"
5 "Die Nadelfelsen oder Needles (von Norden Gesehen)" facing p. 238
"The Needle Rocks or Needles (Seen From the North)"
6. "Ende der Schiffbarkeit des Rio Colorado--Aussicht aus dem Black-Canyon" facing p. 374
"End of Navigation on the Colorado River--Seen from the Black Canyon"
Volume 2
1. "Eingeborene des Nordlichen Neu-Mexiko" Frontispiece
Moquis Navahoes Zunis Wallpoys
"Natives of Northern New Mexico"
Moqui Navaho Zuni Walapai
2. "Eingeborene in Thales des Colorado" p. 1 [54]
Wallpoys Mohaves Uma Chimehuebes Apache
"Natives of the Colorado Valley"
Walapai Mohave Yuma Chemehuevi Apache
3. "Der Diamant-Bach (Diamond Creek)" facing p. 48
"Diamond Back (Diamond Creek)"
4. "Der Rio Colorado, Nahe der Mundung des Diamant Baches" facing p. 54
"Colorado River Near the Mouth of Diamond Creek"
5. "Schlucten in Hoch Plateau und Aussicht auf das Colorado-Canon" (Reproduced with this article, facing p. 241) facing p. 100
"Gorge in the High Plateau and View of the Colorado Canyon"
6. "Vegetation des Hoch-Plateaus" facing p. 222
"Vegetation of the High Plateau"
The illustrations in the Ives official report are credited chiefly to Möllhausen and von Egloffstein and are of four types: full-page lithographic reproductions in single color (nine in number) ; five full-page steel engravings; seven full-page lithographic illustrations in color; and 69 woodcuts (41 in Part I and 28 in Part III) in text. In addition, there are three pages of paleontological engravings, maps, and eight excellent lithographic outline lithographs folded in (about four pages in width).
The volume is of quarto size so the illustrations are of generous dimensions. The seven lithographic illustrations in color are all credited to Möllhausen and are of the Indians encountered along the path of the expedition. The remaining full-page illustrations are credited, with two exceptions, to either Möllhausen or von Egloffstein, although several have been redrawn by J. J. Young, probably an artist employed by the firm publishing the illustrations. (The lithographs are credited to Sarony, Major and Knapp; the steel engravings are not credited in the three copies of the report I have examined.)
The two exceptions are a photograph taken by Ives and a sketch by Ives which was redrawn by von Egloffstein. One of the steel engravings is credited to Möllhausen, the rest to von Egloffstein. Of the remaining full-page lithographic illustrations, six are credited to Möllhausen, one to von Egloffstein. All of the panoramic views are by von Egloffstein and the woodcuts are the work of both these two illustrators although the individual illustrations are not credited. [55]
One significant feature of the illustrations in the reports of the Ives expedition is that they doubtless include the first pictorial records of the Grand Canyon. Von Egloffstein’s panoramic views are especially notable in this connection, but several of the steel engravings in the official report are excellent records and are beautifully engraved. The Möllhausen view in the Reisen, "Schlucten in Hoch Plateau und Aussicht auf des Colorado-Canon," although rather crudely reproduced (woodcut), belongs also in the "first" class and appeared in print at the same time as the official Ives report. [56] (See the pictures accompanying this article.)
Comment on Möllhausen in the official Ives report will be found in Part I on p. 6 (statement that Möllhausen "prepared the greater portion of the views and illustrations taken during the trip"), p. 21 (appointment of Möllhausen as artist and collector in natural history), pp. 43, 52, 62 (Möllhausen’s activities in natural history collections), pp. 82, 91, 98 (incidental references), p. 100 (Möllhausen takes sketch of canyon at Diamond river--which may be uncredited woodcut, Fig. 31 on p. 99). On p. 5 of Part V, Möllhausen is spoken of as the "zoölogist of the expedition," the zoölogical collections being principally birds.
Möllhausen’s Remaining Years
As already pointed out, Möllhausen’s Western experiences formed the basis of his career as a writer. After writing an account of his travels with Ives (the Reisen), there appeared from his pen a series of short stories and sketches in 1860. In 1861, a four-volume novel, Der Halbindianer (The Half-Breed), and Der Flüchtling (a sequel to Der Halbindianer), also in four volumes, were published. The scene of action in the first novel ranged all the way from Missouri overland to California and in the second an even greater scope of Western territory was encompassed. From the time of these two novels until his death in 1905, an almost ceaseless flow of narratives by Möllhausen took place. Even at the end of a long life, his memories of the American West remained a powerful and pervading influence. In 1904, at the age of 79, he could write with effusive exuberance and self enchantment:
The Prairie--There has always been a strange, mysterious charm about this word.…Even in extreme old age these recollections make the blood run faster and with renewed enthusiasm through the veins, for they bring to mind the days when one recognized no other master but Him who created the beauty of the prairie and the creatures and things that live on it--days when he light-heartedly braved the numbing blizzard and, with equal defiance, the cunning, red-skinned foe, and the prairie fire, that rages on with the speed of the wind, or faced the mountain-bear descending into the valleys. When one thinks of those days, one wishes to be up in the clouds or beyond them, even higher, so that one could embrace with a single glance the old familiar hunting-grounds from the icy North down to the blue Gulf of Mexico, from the lazily moving Mississippi to the long range of the Rockies; one would like to push back the inevitable onward march of civilization, before which the shaggy buffalo and the brown hunter disappeared, and, with them, the last of the romance of the "Far West." [57]
Notes
Dr. Robert Taft, of Lawrence, is professor of chemistry at the University of Kansas and editor of the Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science. He is author of Photography And the American Scene (New York, 1938), and Across the Years on Mount Oread (Lawrence, 1941).
Previous articles in this pictorial series appeared in the February, May, August and November, 1946, and May, 1948, issues of The Kansas Historical Quarterly with the general introduction in the February, 1946, number.
1. The publications of many of the individuals mentioned above are listed in Henry R. Wagner’s The Plains and the Rockies, rev. and ext. by Charles L. Camp (San Francisco, 1937). For Kurz, see "Journal of Rudolph Friederich Kurz," Myrtis Jarrell, tr., and J. N. B. Hewitt, ed., in Smithsonian Institution, Bureau of American Ethnology, Bulletin 115 (Washington, 1937); for Gerstäcker (1816—1872), see Der Grosse Brockhaus (Leipzig, 1930), v. 7, p. 230, and for Strubberg, see The Life and Works of Friedrich Arnmand Strubberg, by Preston A. Barba (Philadelphia, 1913).
2. The closest approach to such a study with which the writer is familiar will be found in the introductory chapter, "America in German Fiction," of Preston A. Barba’s Balduin Möllhausen, the German Cooper (Philadelphia, 1914), cited hereafter as Barba.
3. In addition to Möllhausen, I am referring to Kurz (see his journal, cited in Footnote 1, which contains reproductions of a number of his western sketches), and to the work of Charles (or Karl) Bodmer who accompanied Maximilian. A discussion of Bodmer has been recently made by Bernard Devoto; see his Across the Wide Missouri (Boston, 1947), "The First IIlustrators of the West," pp. 391-415.
4. Barba, op. cit., discusses Möllhausen’s literary career at some length. How much Möllhausen’s purely literary efforts (as contrasted to his own personal narratives of his western experiences) would contribute to the history of the west is problematic. Barba is quite obviously unfamiliar with western history, and the literary work of Möllhausen is difficult to secure in this country. It should be studied, however. There are, for example, several short stories and novels with territorial Kansas as a background written by Möllhausen during his long career. Whip-poor-Will (novelette, 1865); "Die Tochter des Squatters" (short story, 1881); "Der Ritt ums Leben" (short story, 1896); Der Vaquero (novel, 1905). These all may be based in part on personal experiences. In the same category is the short story, "Die Gräber in der Steppe" (1863), a description of farm life in the early 1850s near St. Charles, Mo.
5. Barba, op. cit., p.37.
6. This date is given in a brief biographical sketch of Möllhausen by his friend Alexander von Humboldt, the celebrated geographer, in a preface to Möllhausen’s book, Diary of a Journey From the Mississippi to the Coasts of the Pacific, Mrs. Percy Sinnett, tr. (London, 1855), v. 1, p. xxi; cited hereafter as Diary.
7. Barba, op. cit.. p.35.
8. Möllhausen makes this statement in the Diary, v. 1, p.119, although the expedition of Prince Paul is not specifically mentioned. A fragmentary account of Prince Paul’s expedition of 1851 by Prince Paul himself appears in the New Mexico Historical Review, Santa Fe, v. 17 (1942), pp. 181-225, 294-344, and is edited by Louis C. Butscher. Supposedly this account is a translation of an original manuscript by Prince Paul which was preserved in the Royal State Library of Stuttgart although nowhere in the published version is such a claim specifically made. The account is interspersed by Möllhausen’s (spelled Moellhausen in the Butscher article) story of the 1851 expedition. Parts of the Möllhausen tale appear to be but variations in translation from Möllhausen’s own story in the Diary cited in Footnote 6 (see especially pp. 323-344 of the Butscher account and pp. 119-130, 142-152 of the Diary). It is regrettable that the Butscher article was printed with so little documentation.
In the Butscher account, Prince Paul states that it "was near the middle of August, 1851" when he and Möllhausen set out from St. Louis on their Western expedition (Butscher, loc. cit., p. 193).
9. Möllhausen, Diary, v. 1, p. 120. The location of the camp would place it probably in present Gage county, Nebraska. There is no Sandy Hill creek listed in modern gazetteers.
Whether Möllhausen and Prince Paul went much farther west than Fort Laramie is uncertain. According to Prince Paul (Butscher, loc. cit., p. 209), Fort Laramie was reached on October 5, and a few pages later (p. 213) Prince Paul states that he concluded his westward journey "about the beginning of October;" one of the reasons being Möllhausen’s ill health, a fact that Möllhausen does not state. Prince Paul expressed concern in several places for Möllhausen’s health but his concern was apparently not so deep as to prevent him from abandoning Möllhausen at the camp on Sandy Hill creek.
Möllhausen (Diary, v. 1, p. 120; v. 2, p. 37) states that he "crossed the Rocky Mountains" in 1851. Possibly a side trip of a few days was made from Fort Laramie beyond the Front Range but if Prince Paul’s account can be relied upon, the two travelers certainly couldn’t have been much farther west than Fort Laramie.
10. Möllhausen described his harrowing experiences on the plains at some length as campfire and travel tales in an account of a subsequent expedition. See his Diary. v. 1, pp. 119-130, 142-152, 171-181, 198-212, 243-258, 287-304, for the complete account. He also made reference to his Nebraska trip in the Reisen in die Felsenbebirge Nord-Amerikas (1861) cited in Footnote 45. Möllhausen’s experiences on the return trip are also a part of the Butscher account cited in Footnote 8. Stories of some of these experiences are for the most part, as has already been stated, a variation in wordage of those appearing in the Diary. There are included in the Butscher account, however, two additional stories attributed to Möllhausen that do not appear in the Diary --an encounter with the Cheyennes on the South Platte (Butscher, loc. cit., pp. 220-225) and one with the Sioux a few days later (ibid., pp. 296-302). Contemporary mention of Möllhausen’s experiences during the fall of 1851 are made in the "Journal" of Friederich Kurz (see Footnote 1) under date of May 11, 1852. Kurz writes. "Not long since, I am told, some Oto found, on the Platte, a Prussian named Mullhausen [sic] in a hopeless situation, having with him a wagon but no team. He is said to be an attendant of Duke Paul of Württemberg who was banished from Court, and, so they say, he was protecting his Grace’s silverware (?). Meantime, where was the Duke?" The arrival of the Duke in Independence, Mo., is reported in The Frontier Guardian, Council Bluffs, January 9, 1852, p. 4. The item is dated "Independence, Dec. 5," and reads "Paul William, Prince of Württemberg was picked [up] by Salt Lake stage about 235 miles from here. Four of his mules were frozen to death a few days before the stage came along." The item also reports heavy snows on the plains. Dr. Charles L. Camp of the University of California is preparing an account of Prince Paul and doubtless will include Prince Paul’s diary of this trip which is cited in Henry R. Wagner’s The Plains and the Rockies (p. 49) as having been published in the Allgemeine Zeitung, of Stuttgart, on February 20-22, 24, 1852; whether this account of the expedition of 1851 is different from that given in the Butscher account (Footnote 8) remains to be seen. See, also, the letter of Prince Paul to Möllhausen dated "New Orleans, March 10, 1852" and published in Barba, op. cit., p.158.
11. Bethlehem was on the Iowa side of the Missouri river. The Bellevue Nebraska Palladium, October 25, 1854, in an item about Otoe City just established three miles below the mouth of the Platte river, added further "it is ten miles south of this place, (Bellevue) opposite Bethlehem, Iowa." I am indebted to Supt. James C. Olson of the Nebraska State Historical Society for this information. Mr. Olson also called my attention to a statement in the Iowa Journal of History and Politics, Iowa City, v. 38, p. 212, which reads "Morgan Parr founded Bethlehem, Iowa, in 1852.…" If the Iowa Journal statement is correct, Möllhausen was almost in on the birth of the settlement for, according to his account, he was in Bethlehem in February, 1852.
12. Möllhausen, Diary, v. 1, p. 211.
13. Belle Vue, or more exactly Bellevue, is now a village in Sarpy county, Nebraska, about ten miles south of present Omaha. It was established as a fur-trading post about 1823. The Indian agency at this location was officially titled "Council Bluffs at Bellevue. "--R.G. Thwaites, Early Western Travels (Cleveland, 1906), v. 22, p. 267.
14. Sarpy, called "Colonel Peter," was Pierre Labbadie Sarpy (1805-1865) who ruled autocratically at the American Fur Company post at Bellevue for many years. For a brief biographical sketch see ibid., v. 29, p. 372.
15. Möllhausen, Diary, v. 1, pp. 301-303.
16. Letter to the writer from the director of the American department of the museum, Prof. Dr. W. Krickeberg, dated April 29, 1939. The Möllhausen collection included landscapes, animal pictures, Indian types and scenes, and records of frontier life. The Water-colors were for the most part 25 x 30 cm. to 25 x 35 cm. in size.
17. Letter from the director of Staatliches Museum, Dr. Walter Krickeberg, dated September 23, 1946, to the writer. Six of the Möllhausen paintings escaped destruction as they were hung separately in a museum room spared by the fire. The paintings remaining in the museum are:
1. Buffaloes, signed 1851.
2. Grizzly bears, 1859.
3. Earth lodge of the Mohave with Indians playing ring-and-pin game (Plate facing p. 396 of Möllhausen’s Tagebuch einer Reise etc., 1854).
4. Group of Mohave, 1857-1858.
5. Group of Navaho, 1853.
6. Group of Walapai, 1857-1858.
18. Information from Dr. F. M. Setzler, head curator, Department of Anthropology, U.S. National Museum, Washington.
19. This information also comes from Dr. Setzler.
20. Titles as given by the Staatliches Museum für Völkerkunde in letter accompanying photographs, August 5, 1939.
21. I presume that Dr. Camp’s photographs were made before 1939. He is planning to reproduce several of them in the Prince Paul account mentioned in Footnote 10.
22. The conclusion that these items are work resulting from Möllhausen’s first trip is based on the dates included on the sketches and the character of the subjects of the sketches as compared to Möllhausen’s personal narrative of his travels. Note that sketch No. 19 of the Hudson list suggests that Möllhausen had traveled to the region of the upper Mississippi before his experiences on the plains.
23. These chromolithographs (and others in the Diary), 45Ú8 in. x 71Ú8 in. by "Hanhart," and signed ‘Möllhausen, Del," are not particularly well done. The same two illustrations appear in the German edition of the Möllhausen diary Tagebuch einer Reise vom Mississippi nach den Küsten der Südsee (Leipzig, 1858). Unlike the English translation, it was published as a single volume. The chromolithography was usually by Storch and Kramer of Berlin and is not superior to that of Hanhart. The illustrations in color measure approximately 6 x 9 inches. The first illustration listed above is also used as a frontispiece for the German edition; the second illustration appears facing p. 158. Barba, op. cit., p. 158, lists a second German edition of this book which appeared under the title Wanderungen durch die Prairen und Wüsten des Westlichen Nordamerika vom Mississippi Nach den Küsten der Südsee im Gefolge der von der Regierung der Vereinigten Staaten unter Lieutenant Whipple Ausgesandten Expedition (Leipzig, 1860). This edition, according to Barba, has one lithograph. As I have not seen this volume, I do not know the subject of the lithograph.
24. Barba, op. cit., pp. 44, 45; von Humboldt "Preface" in Möllhausen’s Diary, pp. xxii and xxiii.
25. Ibid., p. vii.
26. Ibid., p. ix; Reports of Explorations and Surveys to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economic Route for a Railroad From the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean (Washington, 1856), 33 Cong., 2 Sess., Sen. Exec. Doc. 78, v. 3, Part 1, p. 3. This, the official report, lists H. B. Möllhausen as "topographer and artist." The official report is hereafter cited as Whipple. Whipple’s diary of the 1853-1854 expedition was reprinted recently as A Pathfinder in the Southwest (Norman, Okla., 1941); it is edited and annotated by Grant Foreman. Mr. Foreman includes in this version of the Whipple expedition an original photograph of Möllhausen (facing p. 16) and about which Mr. Foreman wrote me that he could not remember "to save my life where I got the picture." As Mr. Foreman had worked in the National Archives, it is possible that the Möllhausen photograph was among the Pacific railroad survey materials in the archives. Although Möllhausen’s pose in Mr. Foreman’s photograph is different from that in the photograph reproduced by Barba, facing p. 87 (and reproduced with this article), the frontier costume worn by Möllhausen is apparently the same in both photographs. Barba dates his photograph, "1854."
27. Whipple, op. cit., pp. 5-135.
28. Lt. Joseph C. Ives, Report Upon the Colorado River of the West (Washington, 1861), 36 Cong., 1 Sess., House Exec. Doc. 90, p. 21. Hereafter referred to as Ives.
29. Note that, in addition to these lithographs, there were two others in the Diary, those listed on p. 231.
30. The index of illustrations in Part III of Whipple, "Report Upon the Indian Tribes," lists 42 illustrations and then states: "The above named views, portraits, and inscriptions, are careful representations of the originals. They were drawn by H. B. Möllhausen, artist to the expedition."
31. In fact, in two of the four copies of the Whipple report that I have examined it is credited to "H.E. Möllhausen del."
32. The colored plates are by multiple impressions as can be clearly seen on a number of the plates; the color was not washed in on a black and white lithograph as some authorities suggest. A number of the plates are two color; one a black impression and the other a brown one. On a few plates, a third impression of blue has been made. That chromolithography, printing from different color plates in register, was practiced in this country by the time the Whipple report was published, is evident from the following note published in Sartains Union Magazine, Philadelphia, v. 6 (1850), p. 100: "Two specimens of chromolithography by Mr. Ackerman of New York [are published?] in our present issue. The print (The serenade) in our number for August last Mr. Devereaux claims as the first successful attempt in this country to obtain a finished effect in color by means of successive printings from a series of engraved blocks; but in Europe this art (although rude enough until the last ten years) is ancient." In the June, 1849, issue of the Bulletin of the American Art-Union, p. 27, the claim is made that J. Duval of Philadelphia was using the process and that Childs and the firm of Leslie and Traver were just beginning printing from tinted wood blocks to produce illustrations in color.
33. These instances are in addition to those found elsewhere in Whipple, such as the index to tn~ illustrations of Part III, cited on page 234.
34. Whipple, op. cit., Part I, p. 42.
35. Ibid., November 18, 1858, p. 5.
36. Ibid., February 15, 1854, pp. 106, 107. The inscriptions were probably those described in Part III, p. 42, as "Plate 35" but "Plate 35" is missing from both copies of the official report which I have examined.
37. Ibid., February 27, 1854, p. 117.
38. Möllhausen, Diary, v. 2, p. 271.
39. Whipple, op. cit., Part I, p. 127. Möllhausen also describes the murder of the Mexican in his Diary, v. 2, p. 300 ff.
40. Ibid., chs. 19 and 20, from which both the brief quotations given above were taken.
41. Ibid., ch. 21.
42. Barba, op. cit., pp. 50, 51.
43. Möllhausen, Diary, v. 2, p. 359; Barba, op cit., p. 52.
44. Lt. Joseph C. Ives, Report Upon the Colorado River of the West, pp. 5, 19 and 21.
45. Ives, op. cit., pp. 21, 22 ; Möllhausen, Reisen in die Felsengebirge Nord-Amerikas bis zum Hoch-Plateau von Neu-Mexico, Unter-nommen als Mitglied der im Auftrage der Regierung der Vereinigten Staaten Ausgesandten Colorado-Expedition (Leipzig, Herman Costenoble, pub., 1861), v. 1, pp. 9-20. This two-volume work, unlike the Diary of Möllhausen, has never been translated. Prof. S. A. Burzle of the department of German, University of Kansas, however, has become interested and is now in the process of translating this important item of western Americana.
Dr. J. S. Newberry was physician, geologist and in charge of natural history collections on the expedition; for a biographical sketch concerning him see Dictionary of American Biography, v. 18, pp. 445, 446. Egloffstein was a member of several western expeditions. He was with Frémont in 1853 and with the Pacific railroad survey of Lieutenant Beckwith along the 41st parallel in 1854. Ives, op. cit., p. 6, particularly commends him. "The privation and exposure to which Mr. Egloffstein freely subjected himself, in order to acquire topographical information, has resulted in an accurate delineation of every portion of the region traversed." I would greatly appreciate receiving further biographical information concerning Egloffstein from any of my readers.
46. Ives, op. cit., pp. 25, 45. A pack train left Fort Yuma going by an overland route to resupply the party upstream.
47. See ibid., Appendix B and Map No. 1.
48. Ibid., p. 106.
49. Fort Defiance, a frontier military fort, about 190 miles west of Albuquerque (and a little north); See A.B. Bender, "Frontier Defense in the Territory of New Mexico," New Mexico Historical Review, v. 9 (July, 1934), p.366.
50. Ives, op. cit., p. 116.
51. Möllhausen, Diary, v. 2, chs. 29 and 80; Ives, op. cit., pp. 116, 117~, 130, 131.
52. Möllhausen, Reisen, pp. 263, 286; Barba, op. cit., p. 55.
53. Möllhausen, Reisen, pp. 390, 392; Barba, op. cit., p. 56.
54. Listed in the index as the frontispiece to v. 1.
55. In Ives, op. cit., Part I, p. 18, is an index of the woodcuts. A note states that they were "Drawn by Mr. J. J. Young from sketches by Messrs. Möllhausen and Egloffstein." The 28 woodcuts of Part III are not, however, similarly credited in the "List of Illustrations on p. 8 of Part III. Presumably, however, the same credit as given in Part I applies.
Mention should also be made of Möllhausen’s contribution to the botanical reports of the expedition.--Whipple, op. cit. (33 Cong., 2 Sess., Senate Exec. Doc. 78), v. 4, Part V. On p. 58 of this, report it states "The drawings made on the spot by Mr. H. B. Möllhausen, the artist of the expedition, greatly aided the work and were made use of, and even partly copied, especially in the plates exhibiting cylindric Opuntiae."
56. A letter received from H. C. Bryant, superintendent of the Grand Canyon National Park (February 10, 1947), states that the earliest pictorial records of the Grand Canyon known to them are those of von Egloffstein of the 1857-1858 Ives expedition and I have not encountered in my studies any other records than those of von Egloffstein and Möllhausen. It is difficult to believe, however, that there are not extant earlier views of the Grand Canyon than those made by these two men in the spring of 1858.
57. Barba, op. cit., pp. 135, 136.
