Wixsom Photographic Archive

By Geoffrey McCafferty (2009)

While conducting the cultural resource survey of historic Alpine, I met members of the Wixsom family who had lived in the area for generations. They offered us a set of historic photographs of the town taken in 1897, according to notiation on the back of the pictures. These show the main street of town (Fig. 1), and also buildings associated with the Swan Hill Creek bridge.

Figure 1: View south down main street, with Wager store and post office on left

Figure 2: View of Alpine, with Swan Hill Creek and bridge in foreground.

Figure 3: Detail of Swan Hill Creek bridge, note structure from Locus 1 at far left

Figure 4: Panorama of Alpine across mill pond, showing mills

Figure 5: View east from main street intersection toward Swan Hill Creek bridge, showing blacksmith shop and other businesses in foreground, and possibly H. Wood house (Locus 12) in background.  Also note the Greenback poles with political propaganda in foreground.

The combination of the historical maps, the archaeological investigations, and the Wixsom photographic archive provide a nice balance to a multi-dimensional perspective on historic Alpine.