Most of the photos on this site were extracted from reference images (high-resolution tiffs, 20 to 200 megabytes in size) from the Library of Congress research archive. (To query the database click here.) Many were digitized by LOC contractors using a Sinar studio back. They are adjusted by your webmaster for contrast and color in Photoshop before being downsized and turned into the jpegs you see here.
This is lumber mill in Glendale Humboldt County, Calif. Someone had written on the picture "first picture of the mill, 1883," this is about the time it was built. In the foreground you can see the logs coming out of the log pond. This photo had a lot of damage on the top third, I cleaned it up the best I could. Photographer is unknown.
Today's Top 5