St. Anthony Falls 1857 - 1870

Curator: There’s a remarkable image before us: Benjamin Franklin Upton's “St. Anthony Falls,” a gelatin silver print, believed to have been taken between 1857 and 1870. What are your immediate thoughts? Editor: Chaos, almost violent. The eye jumps from broken rock to churning water, then finally settles on the skyline as if seeking refuge. There’s a palpable sense of upheaval here. Curator: Yes, precisely. This image acts as a potent symbol, not just of physical landscape but also the rapid transformations of America during that era. Note the jumbled rocks – remnants of both natural force and the nascent industry harnessed on that water. Editor: So you’re saying this reflects the disruption of nature, in service to growing urbanization, in a sense a cultural sacrifice being played out? The mills and buildings along the river seem to represent that aspiration towards progress. Curator: Absolutely. St. Anthony Falls was central to the flour milling industry. Look at how Upton has arranged the scene. The cityscape, while present, is secondary to the raw energy of the falls. It makes you consider how this site was actively changing and its representation was already charged with socio-political undertones. Editor: The composition, the sheer disorder of the rocks, does lend a brutal honesty. Today, we are presented polished nature but it really calls into question the narrative that progress always is for the betterment. This image really is calling that into question. Curator: In a way, it offers a crucial counterpoint to more idealized landscapes, don't you think? It's also a document showing both the power and the vulnerability of that burgeoning cityscape. Editor: It's more complex than just a snapshot, that's true. You see the layers – environmental transformation, industrial promise, and perhaps even a warning – all bound together by the symbolic power of the falls themselves. Quite something. Curator: Indeed. Upton captured a moment pregnant with the tensions of progress and disruption, leaving us to consider our relationship with both nature and our constructed world.