Smith Brothers 1874

Spring
Will Steel graduates from high school in Portland and apprentices to the Smith Brothers, iron manufactures, to learn the pattern making trade. He leaves this positron after three years to begin working on a newspaper.

August 9
Members of the Peter Britt photographic party, (including O.C. Applegate, Samuel Hall and his twelve-year old son, Emil), reaches the Rogue River Falls (Mill Creek) and Britt photographs them.

August 11
Britt arrives at Crater Lake. Apparently the wagon is left not far from the roadside while packing 200 pounds of photo equipment and camping supplies up to the Rim of the Lake. The sky is overcast and it begins to rain intermittently for the next several days. Snow patches still partially cover the ground. For two days the party shivers in the chilly weather, examining a Lake lacking its famous blue.

August 13
The Britt party has been camping at the Rim for three days. Britt is ready to give up and leave without a photograph when suddenly the clouds part, the sun shines through and the first photograph ever of Crater Lake is taken. During the cold and windy stay on the Rim, Emil, Peter’s 10 year-old son comes down with a cough. The party stays on for two more days, takes more photos, and hikes and explores the area.

August 14
Using some 200 pounds of photographic equipment, Peter Britt takes a total of 7 glass negative photos. The plates are made up in a black, darkroom tent, and exposed before they dry. Peter Britt is mainly a studio photographer, so natural photography was a challenge for him.

August 16
The Britt party leaves Crater Lake and heads for Fort Klamath. A total of ten days were spent traveling from and to Jacksonville.