Timothy O'Sullivan's darkroom wagon, pulled by four mules,
entered the frame at the right side of the photograph, reached
the center of the image, and abruptly U-turned, heading back out
of the frame. Footprints leading from the wagon toward the
camera reveal the photographer's path. Made at the Carson Sink
in Nevada, this image of shifting sand dunes reveals the
patterns of tracks recently reconfigured by the wind. The
wagon's striking presence in this otherwise barren scene
dramatizes the pioneering experience of exploration and
discovery in the wide, uncharted landscapes of the American
West. O'Sullivan's photographs from the 1867 Geological
Exploration of the Fortieth Parallel expedition were intended to
provide information for the purpose of expanding railroads and
industry, yet they demonstrate his eye for poetic beauty.