Cinnabar Mountain, Devil's Slide

Frank Jay Haynes was among the second generation of photographers who worked for the railroads and on government surveys of the West during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. He was appointed the official photographer of Yellowstone in 1884 and opened a concession there to supply landscape views to the growing numbers of tourists to the park. Named for its distinctive dark red color, Cinnabar Mountain had been painted by artists such as Thomas Moran, who admired its dramatic shape and proximity to the scenic Yellowstone River. Haynes's image, in contrast, does not include any such picturesque elements, focusing instead on the railway tracks in the foreground and the eerie desolation of the site.