Watkins was a pioneering 19th century American photographer who created large format albumen prints documenting the western United States landscape, particularly sweeping geological formations and wilderness terrain with the same survey era aesthetic and documentary precision seen in this Apache Lake photograph.

Jackson served as the official photographer for the Hayden Geological Survey, producing albumen print documentation of western American landscapes during the same era and under nearly identical government survey conditions as this Wheeler Survey photograph of the Sierra Blanca Range.

Russell created albumen prints documenting vast western American landscapes and geological features in the 1860s and 1870s, sharing the same spirit of scientific and geographic documentation through large format photography that defines this Wheeler Survey expedition image of Arizona desert terrain.