In 1870, it was nothing but woods and wildlife on the north shore of Michigan’s biggest and coldest Great Lake. Photographer Brainard Fremont “B. F.” Childs went there with a guide, an unnamed companion, and 100 pounds of camera gear, in a tiny open sailboat.
There were no settlements, rest stops or fast-food joints. Just wild woods. Childs, who ran a photo studio in Marquette, Michigan, was not a tourist; this was a business enterprise. He sold his stereographic images of the untamed north woods to a fascinated audience out East, by mail order, and made good money doing it.
Child’s boat was called The Wanderer. Stereoscopic image by B.F. Childs, Wikimedia Commons.
Photography was in its infancy, and the technical challenges were immense
Childs and his helper dragged a camera, tripod and glass plate negatives up high cliffs and rocky outcroppings to make spectacular images of the Lake Superior shoreline.
He ended up with a 500-card series of stereoscopic views that he marketed for years as “The Gems of Lake Superior.”
The cards offered the purchaser amazing detail, considerable artistic merit, and an important visual record of the lake and the people who lived around it, according to Central Michigan University’s Clarke Historical Library, which has a collection of B.F. Childs' original photographs.
Point Lookout, 50 miles north of Duluth, Minnesota. Stereoscope image by B.F. Childs, Wikimedia Commons.
Many of Child’s glass-plate negatives are now owned by Jack Deo, who runs Superior View Studio in Marquette, Michigan, and sells prints from the Childs collection online. Deo occasionally gives lectures about B. F. Childs and his exploits.
“The Gems of Lake Superior, captured the beauty, and history of the Lake Superior Region. For three generations, [Childs’] historic studio captured every aspect of life in the North country,” Deo writes on his Superior View website.
Childs’ legacy of adventure and grit endures for all to see
A 28-foot Mackinaw boat powered by sail and oars. Dead reckoning for navigation. Whatever supplies you could carry in a small open boat. A 25-pound camera setup. Unforgiving elements and ubiquitous, savage mosquitoes. Brainard Fremont Childs’ way of exploring the outback was not for the faint of heart. You had to be a strong and resourceful bushcrafter to experience the glorious Lake Superior wilderness of his day.
Fortunately, he left a comprehensive photographic record behind.
Research for this post was supported by Google Gemini Pro.
A rude campsite from the Lake Superior expedition. Stereoscope image by B.F. Childs, Wikimedia Commons.
