California by Stereograph

A stereograph, for those who don't know, is two images (usually photographs, but not always) taken and printed a certain distance apart so that, when viewed though a proper viewer, they combine to create one, 3-D-looking image (a demonstration here). These were insanely popular throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, with hundreds of thousands of views created. 

These particular stereos are by Carleton Watkins, who travelled west with railroad companies to create a visual record and share images of the still-new (to white Americans) country. These images c. 1879. 

By the way, if you don't have a stereo viewer on you, it is possible to get the effect without one, by unfocusing and refocusing your eyes in the same way as a Magic Eye. Though I'm  not to blame for any headaches created in this attempt!

From the Library of Congress. 

Library of Congress

El Capitan mirror view, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

The Yosemite Falls. Source

Library of Congress

Cathedral spires, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

Mirror Lake, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

The Yosemite Falls from Glacier Point. Source

Library of Congress

Remains of the Father of the Forest, Mariposa Grove. Source

Library of Congress

The Tenaya Canyon, Yosemite. Source

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Register Rock, Yosemite. Source

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The Palace and Grand, New Montgomery Street, San Francisco. Source

Library of Congress

The Cliff House, San Francisco. Source

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Cathedral Rock, Yosemite. Source

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Geysers, Sonoma County. Source

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The Mariposa Grove. Source

Library of Congress

El Capitan, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

The Nevada Falls, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

El Capitan, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

View down the Yosemite valley from Union Point. Source

Library of Congress

View down the Canyon from Casa Nevada, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

In the Mariposa grove. Source

Library of Congress

The Three Brothers, Yosemite. Source

Library of Congress

The Yosemite Valley from the old Mariposa Trail. Source