WOOL & WAX

I picked up this old photograph album at a flea market in California about 8 years ago. It documents a journey made by a gentlemen from Mansfield Ohio, who travels from the mid west across the United States, to visit some of the most spectacular sights of the west between February 1924 and August 1925. 

The places visited up and down the coast from San Diego to Washington, and the frequency of the events depicted in the images, by his very specific labeling of all photographs, suggests a life being well lived. Perhaps a man of means and leisure, or simply the trip of a lifetime. 

But the most telling information about the man given away by the images, is his capacity for mountaineering. A variety of hikes and climbs in the national parks culminates in the ascent of Mt Rainier, to the true summit of Columbia Crest at an elevation of 14,411 ft. The highlights of which are documented in a series of photos that give us an inspiring insight into the fashions of mountaineerings golden age.

It’s an amazing item to have in my possession, but it’s sad to think that this chronicle of a man’s adventure of a lifetime has been lost to those who may be connected to him.