Bowcher, M A (Illustrated by Mae Smith)Biblio.com
FRENCH GUIANA, SURINAME - GOLD MININGBiblio.com
Historically Significant Collection of Fifty-Nine Original Field Photographs Documenting an American Gold Mining Expedition to Colonial Dutch Present-day Suriname & French Guiana Showing Syndicate Open-Cut Diggings at Revanche Camp Maroon Crews Poling Canoes on the Lawa River Native Cargo Laborers Indigenous "Indians of the Tumuc-Humac Mountains " Smoking and Street Views of San Fernando Trinidad; as well as an Accompanying Manuscript Index with Captions. Ca. 1924-1925.
Best.-Nr. PB4359 loose original gelatin silver photographs five photos identical from ca. 88x144 cm 3 ½ x 5 ¾ in to ca. 87x125 cm 3 ¼ x 5 in. Three photos with period pencil captions in English on the verso. Most photos with stamped negative numbers and/or the “Velox” manufacturer’s mark on the verso; with accompanying manuscript index indicating captions to the photographs 1-82; 101-163. 5 pp. of text. Ca. 316x20 cm 12 ¼ x 8 in. Black ink on yellowish lined paper. Three photos lack small fragments at the corners accompanying index with fold marks one page with small tears at the lower left corner but otherwise a very good collection. Historically important collection of 59 original photographs taken by an American field technician during a six-month resource survey expedition for a New York mining syndicate in the Guianas in 1925. By the 1920s gold mining along the Lawa River borderlands between French and Dutch Guiana present-day Suriname had shifted from the gold rushes of the late nineteenth century to more organized syndicate-financed exploration. As easily accessible surface deposits along tributaries such as Crique Eau Claire were exhausted foreign mining companies introduced systematic survey methods to assess deeper placer deposits. Many of these ventures however proved short-lived because of harsh rainforest conditions and high logistical costs. As follows from the accompanying index the expedition lasted from December 1924 to June 1925. The party first traveled through Grenada and Trinidad before proceeding into the interior of Dutch Guiana and crossing into neighboring French Guiana in January. Its members operated mainly along the Lawa River and its tributary creeks carrying out test drilling timber cutting and placer gold mining. The principal mining activity appears to have been concentrated on the French Guiana side of the border namely along Crique Eau Claire and Crique Rufin while smaller outposts along the Lawa River managed transport and supplies. Among the identified members of the expedition is Fred C. Runckel a driller from Dutch Flat who according to both the index and a 1925 article in the Union sailed for home in April. The compiler appears to have been among the last members of the expedition to remain in the Guianas staying there at least until June and visiting among other places the French penal settlement at Saint-Jean. The collection contains fifty-nine original gelatin silver photographs taken during the expedition between December 1924 and June 1925. Although the accompanying master log lists 163 indexed photographs from the journey only part of the series appears to have been printed or preserved. Furthermore matching individual prints to specific index entries remains difficult due to unnumbered photos. About fifteen lively vernacular photographs likely depict Maroon inhabitants of the Guiana interior most probably Youcas poling long canoes navigating river rapids hunting along the Lawa River etc. At least five candid scenes portray native laborers unloading cargo from boats on the Lawa River while expedition members stand on the shore amid wooden crates hampers and heavy field equipment. Especially interesting are more than fifteen well-executed photos of the New York Syndicate’s gold mining operations likely taken near Rufin Creek and Eau Claire Creek at Revanche Camp in French Guiana. The images show local workers digging open-cut trenches erecting timber flume lines and managing placer mining equipment under the supervision of the syndicate's field engineers. The rest of the photos mostly portray San Fernando in Trinidad Port of Spain; Queen St. with signs “W. S. Robertson & Co.” and “Colonial Bank” “Indians of the Tumuc-Humac Mountains in Brazilian Guiana” landscapes and unidentified street views buildings trams and pedestrians. The collection also contains one photograph apparently taken after the expedition. The image shows open-cut nitrate mining in Chile and an electric mine locomotive operated by the Anglo-Chilean Consolidated Nitrate Corporation for which the compiler appears to have later worked. Overall historically important collection of 59 original gelatin silver photographs taken by an American field technician during a six-month resource survey expedition for a New York mining syndicate in the Guianas in 1925. unknown
Globus Rare Books & Archives · Vereinigte Staaten2.500,00 $≈ 2.237,74 €
