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Most people know better than to believe everything they see. This is especially true today when alterations to photos can easily be done on computers and electronic devices. Who would have thought that Joseph Bevier Sturtevant, one of Boulder's most prolific photographers more than a century ago, appears to have made changes to some of his own images?
From 1884 to 1910, Sturtevant, also known as "Rocky Mountain Joe," took photos of nearly everything and everyone in the Boulder area. Years ago, a librarian at the Carnegie Branch Library for Local History, in Boulder, revealed a startling discovery involving two of Sturtevant's photos. Both images, still archived at the Carnegie Library, at 1125 Pine St., date from the early 1900s and are exactly the same, except for one addition. The first photo is of a farm northeast of Boulder with a small oil derrick in the background. The other photo is of the same farm and has the same small derrick, but it also has a much larger derrick on the left side of the farmhouse. Also added is the inscription "Bonanza Oil & Land Co."
Was the large derrick installed before Sturtevant took the other photo? It's not likely.
Beginning in 1902, Boulder County experienced an oil boom. The Camera followed its progress on a daily basis and explained developments in great detail in a regular column titled "Drippings of the Oil Flow." Production was at its peak, but the industry was not as successful as Sturtevant's photos, at the time, implied.
Sturtevant was a colorful character known for telling tall tales. They included him fighting under George Armstrong Custer, killing Indians, and escaping from a stake on which he was about to be burned. Could he have stretched the truth in his photography, as well?
There's no doubt that Sturtevant was an accomplished photographer. He lugged around 75 pounds of equipment (including a tripod and glass-plate negatives), then developed and sold his own images. They included portraits as well as photos of Boulder County scenes, each mounted on 4 1/4-by-6 1/2-inch cabinet cards that he sold for ten cents apiece.
The larger derrick in the photo shown here appears to be superimposed on the image of the original photo. Everything else is exactly the same. Even the patches of snow in the foregrounds are identical. It's interesting to note that at least one other photo taken by Sturtevant in the same locale, and during the same oil boom, also includes a questionable derrick or two.
How did he do it? Did he draw in the derrick, or did he cut, paste and re-photograph his doctored photo? No one's around to tell us, but news reports indicate that property owners were anxious to show investors they had operating wells. It appears as if Sturtevant obliged.
Researchers and historians are fortunate today to have access to Sturtevant's images, as they provide valuable visual links to the county's past. Like a time machine, they show us the landscape of a bygone era. The only exceptions that have been found, so far, are in photos with oil derricks. They need to be viewed with a little bit of skepticism.
Carol Taylor and Silvia Pettem write about history for the Daily Camera. Email Carol at boulderhistorylibrarian@gmail.com, Silvia at pettem@earthlink.net or write to the Daily Camera, 2500 55th St., Suite 210, Boulder, 80301.
