Search William M. McCarthy Photograph Collection

Caption: "An Abandoned Hydraulic Mine near Camptonville Calif.," c. 1920. Hillside ravaged by hydraulic mining, in which a pressurized jet of water washes sediment and gravel into a series of sluices, allowing the heavier gold and gold-carrying sediment to sink to the bottom for removal. California banned this environmentally destructive practice in 1884.

Date: 1920

Caption: "Yosemite Zip," c. 1935. This is possibly a postcard that shows a comical creature made with parts of pine cones, acorns, feathers, and nuts.

Date: 1935

Caption: "Sloat Monument. Monument, Cal," c. 1915, shows the Commodore John Drake Sloat monument in Monterey, California. The monument was constructed in 1910 and commemorates the taking possession of California from Mexico in 1846 by Sloat and his men at Monterey, which was the capital city of Alta California during the Mexican era.

Date: 1915

No caption. Clipping from an unidentified newspaper or pamphlet regarding the history of the Statue of Liberty in New York Harbor.

Date: 8/4/1934

Caption: "A natural palm grove on the highway near Villa Juarez, Mexico."

Date: 1938

Caption: "New Westminster Bridge.," c. 1908-1912. View of the New Westminster Bridge (also known as the New Westminster Rail Bridge or the Fraser River Swing Bridge), which opened to traffic in 1904. The lower deck carried trains, while the upper deck (which was removed in 1937) was accessible to both foot and vehicle traffic.

Date: 1908

Caption: "Washington State Capitol -- Olympia.," c. 1920. Also known as The Castle, this building served as Washington's state capitol building from 1905 to 1928, when the Legislature moved into the current building. The central tower of The Castle was lost in a 1928 fire, while numerous other towers fell to the 1949 Olympia earthquake. Some of those towers have been restored.

Date: 1920

Caption: "Tree in Center Planted with Shovel Full of Earth From Each State in U.S. -- Fraternity Park -- Havana, July 4, 34." This photograph captures a view of Havana's Fraternity Park. The area originally served the city as a military parade and training ground (called Campo de Marte). In 1928, the park was renovated and a ceiba (or kapok) tree was planted in one of the central parcels. This tree, seen in the center of this photograph, was planted as the Tree of American Fraternity. When Havana hosted the sixth International American Conference later in 1928 (also known as one of the Pan-American Conferences), each of the twenty-one visiting dignitaries brought earth from their native counties in which to plant the tree (William McCarthy mistakenly identified the earth as coming from each state in the U.S.).

Date: 7/4/1934

Caption: "Court of Palms," with reflecting pool, at the Panama-Pacific International Exposition.

Date: 1915

Caption: "State Capitol, Salt Lake City, Utah. Oct. 3, 1934." View of Utah's State Capitol Building, designed by Richard K.A. Kletting and built between 1912 and 1916.

Date: 10/3/1934