WILLIAM BELL (1830-1910)
Mount Nebo (3,637 m - 11,933 ft)
United States of America (Utah)
In Mount Nebo taken in a hurricane of dust and wind, in 1872, NARA, College Park
The mountain
Mount Nebo (3,637 m - 11,933 ft) is the southernmost and highest mountain in the Wasatch Range of Utah (United States of America). Named after the biblical Mount Nebo situated in Jordan and overlooking Israel, which is said to be the place of Moses' death, it is the centerpiece of the Mount Nebo Wilderness, inside the Uinta National Forest. Mount Nebo has two summits, with the North summit reaching 11,933 feet (3,637 m). The southern summit reaches 11,882 feet (3,622 m) Original surveys placed the southern peak as the highest. The mountain was resurveyed in the 1970s and the North peak was found to be the highest. The mountain is partially or completely covered in snow from mid-October until July. Nearby towns include Payson, Nephi and Provo.
A substantial trail leads to the south summit, accessible from starting points on the East or West of the mountain. Another trail accesses the North peak, starting Northeast of the mountain. A 'bench trail' runs along the east side of the mountain from North to South at roughly 9,000' feet elevation. All of these trails are popular, although strenuous, destinations for hikers; and many are dangerous places for horseback riders. One old-time local rider warns: "There's dead horses in every canyon on that mountain!"
The Mount Nebo Scenic Byway, a National Scenic Byway, departs I-15 at Payson and climbs to over 9,000 feet before rejoining the interstate at Nephi. The route features panoramic views of Mount Nebo and the Utah Valley and Utah Lake far below. There are numerous trailheads along the route for the hiking enthusiast including a short walk to the "Devil's Kitchen", an area which has been described as a "mini Bryce Canyon".
The photographer
William H. Bell was an English-born American photographer, active primarily in the latter half of the 19th century. He is best remembered for his photographs documenting war-time diseases and combat injuries, many of which were published in the medical book, Medical and Surgical History of the War of the Rebellion, as well as for his photographs of western landscapes taken as part of the Wheeler expedition in 1872. In his later years, he wrote articles on the dry plate process and other techniques for various photography journals.
His career spanning six decades, Bell worked in nearly every major early photographic process, including daguerreotype, collodion processes, albumen prints, stereo cards, and early film. He was considered a pioneer of the dry plate and lantern slide processes, and experimented with night photography, using magnesium wire for lighting. He wrote technical articles on topics such as gelatine emulsions, the use of pyrogallic acid to recover gold from waste solutions, and the development of isochromatic plates.
For his Wheeler Survey photographs, Bell used two cameras– an 11-inch (280 mm) x 8-inch (200 mm) for large prints, and an 8-inch (200 mm) x 5-inch (130 mm) for stereo cards. He used both wet and dry collodion processes on this expedition, and his photographs are characterized by dark foregrounds with elements becoming increasingly lighter in tone as distance increases.
Landmarks photographed by Bell include the Grand Canyon, the Marble Canyon, the Paria River, Mount Nebo (above) , and the early Mormon settlement of Mona, Utah.
Bell's work was exhibited at the Vienna Universal Exposition and the Louisville Industrial Exposition in 1873, and at the Centennial Exposition in 1876. His photographs are now included in the collections of the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Museum of Health and Medicine, the Library of Congress' Prints and Photographs Division, and the George Eastman House.
