2O PICTURING MIRACLES 



and built it, but did not apply for a patent: the first 

 revolving lens panorama camera, one taking a pic- 

 ture 10x36 inches, embracing almost a half circle. 

 On the strength of the pictures made with this 

 camera, I was appointed Official Government Pho- 

 tographer with the Census Bureau in Alaska during 

 the gold rush in '98 and '99; then three years on the 

 San Francisco Examiner, after which I entered into 

 business for myself, making the only set of pictures 

 of the actual burning of San Francisco, then balloon 

 pictures of the ruins of our beloved city by the 

 Golden Gate, and the only successful pictures among 

 hundreds of competitors, of the arrival of the Fleet. 

 Building up a great business in scenic pictures as 

 official photographer in Yosemite National Park, at 

 this time, I designed, made and had a patent granted 

 on an automatic photo printing machine that re- 

 duced costs of photographic work over three fourths 

 and improved the quality greatly. From 1906 to 

 1927 I held a government photographic concession 

 in Yosemite National Park, where in 1912 I started 

 taking motion pictures of the wild flowers of the 

 Sierra. I had bought an old, almost worthless cam- 

 era, remodeled it and began getting scenic pictures. 

 Those of the waterfalls were wonderful, full of ac- 

 tion, but the grand old cliffs were not as good, having 

 no movement except that shown by the jerky move- 



