The picturesque Wet Mountain Valley, 150 miles southwest of Denver, attracted thousands of miners in the mid-1870s. The first photographers arrived to the area in the 1880s.
Here are a couple of views photo studios during the 1880s. The prints found in public libraries are not vintage prints, and the photographers remain unidentified.
This studio has a fabric sign promoting the photographer’s work.
Unknown maker. View of two teams of mules and riders in front of a photo studio, Wetmore, Custer County, Colorado, 1885-1890, Denver Public Library, X-14101.
The above studio appears to the left of the white tent in the street scene below. As you can see in the detail, the cloth sign is the same in both photographs.
Two photographers worked in Wetmore in the mid-1880s. James C. Stoneman (b. 1858) arrived in Wetmore in 1884. Emmett Little (b.c. 1851-1907) was also in Wetmore in 1884.
Please let me know if you have information about who took these photographs.
