The McCardell Mystery
Many people think that prior to photo-editing software like Photoshop it was impossible to manipulate photos. However, photographers have been experimenting with photo manipulation since the 19th century. An example of this was found in our Archives by staff looking into an inquiry from a researcher.
The image is a lantern slide from the Mary Schaffer fonds, and was part of her collection of slides used to lecture on various topics related to the mountains and their history. The image (see below) is that of a man standing in front of a small wooden shack. The image was taken in 1883, and has been identified as William "Billy" McCardell at the Cave and Basin site.
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| McCardell with the first "hotel" at the Cave and Basin, 1883 (V527 / PS 1 - 230) |
"Our enthusiastic interest at this discovery was beyond the description of words. Our joyousness and the invigorating thrill we experienced in thus locating this strange phenomena, and hidden secret of the wilderness knew no bounds..."
After exploring the area around Sulphur Mountain and discovering the Middle and Upper Hot Springs, McCardell "built a crude shack a few metres from the cave vent that winter, where they could stay on their visits to the place." (A Grand and Fabulous Notion, Sid Marty, p.35) Unfortunately for the McCardell's and Franklin McCabe they had trouble securing enough money to properly claim rights to the hot springs, and while they tried to scrounge up enough cash more men heard about the springs and added their names to the list of those laying claim.
Eventually, a land agent and Conservative M.P. were sent out from Calgary and reported to Prime Minister Macdonald on the springs and their potential. Following in the footsteps of our southern neighbours, and after much confusion involving prospectors, railroad workers, the Canadian government, and even William Cornelius Van Horne himself , Macdonald eventually declared that the springs would be "reserved from sale or settlement or squatting." (A Grand and Fabulous Notion, Sid Marty, p.42) It was this decision that instigated Canada's first ever National Park.
Obviously, the story surrounding the springs was never cut and dry. Multiple men claimed that they were the true discoverers, and many tried to bribe others for rights to the "million dollar" idea. Similarly, the image of McCardell at the shack wasn't cut and dry either...
Upon closer scrutiny of the image, it was remarked that the man looks as if he is floating above the ground. This was the first sign to suggest that the photo may have been manipulated. Although the poor quality of this particular lantern slide could account for the strange appearance of the man's feet over the ground, two other factors arose that strengthened the manipulation hypothesis.
The second piece of evidence that might suggest manipulation of the photo is the fact that in the Glenbow Archives there exists the exact same image without the human figure:
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| Shack built by McCabe and McCardell, Banff, Alberta, 1883 (NA-637-6) |
The above image was from a photographic negative rather than a lantern slide and obviously provides a clearer image. This, however, was not conclusive evidence of photo manipulation. It was, and still sometimes is, common practice to take photographs of the same buildings and other scenes both with and without human figures in them, as explained by staff members at the Whyte Museum who work in the Archives as well as in the Photography department.
The third and final piece of evidence that appears to drive the nail into the shack (so to speak) comes from the happenstance discovery of a third photograph in our Archives...
Found while looking through the Peter and Catharine Whyte fonds, our Reference Librarian found the image below on a postcard that Catharine had written on: "Billy McCardell who discovered Cave and Basin and also cut the timbers of Mine at Bankhead and Anthracite and his brother Ritchard."
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| Billy McCardell who discovered Cave and Basin and also cut the timbers of Mine at Bankhead and Anthracite and his brother Ritchard (V683/V/B/PA-16) |
Take a look at the images side by side:
What do you think? Was the photograph manipulated? And if so, why and by whom?
Let us know what you think in the comments section below!
Check out the Cave and Basin National Historic Site for yourself!
Interesting... But where did the feet come from? The lower legs of the figure are cropped out of the closer image of Billy, so anyone manipulating the shack photo would have had to have drawn in the shins and feet somehow.
ReplyDeleteGood question! The closer image of Billy that we have here is actually from a postcard that used a cropped version of the image. We assume that whoever manipulated the photo would have had access to the original negative or a copy negative of that photo in which Billy has shins and feet.
ReplyDelete