View of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, with Railroad

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Artist

Karl Bodmer

Birth and death dates

1809 - 1893

Artist Nationality

Swiss

Title

View of Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania, with Railroad

Date

August 30, 1832

Dimensions

11 7/8 × 17 1/16 in. (30.2 × 43.3 cm)

Medium

Watercolor on paper

Institution

Joslyn Art Museum

Credit Line

Gift of the Enron Art Foundation

Accession Number

1986.49.42

Rights (i.e. copyright information)

Joslyn Art Museum

Photographer credit

Photograph © Bruce M. White, 2019

Commentary

The travelers reached Mauch Chunk on the evening of August 30. The next morning, with a company of friends from the local tavern, Maximilian set out to discover the objects of interest in the area, including the colliery located nine miles from town and connected to it by a railway built to transport coal down the mountain. Maximilian expressed interest in the railroad as well as in the possibility of fossil finds in the anthracite coal beds of the region. Bodmer's view of the colliery at Mauch Chunk appeared as Vignette V in the subsequent atlas of plates produced to accompany Maximilian's publication of his travels in North America.

References in Journal

August 30, 1832

Approximate Depicted Location:

Mauch Chunk, Pennsylvania