Get Down Canvas Print

Entrance to Ash Hollow in Nebraska was by way of Windlass Hill, where the Oregon Trail dropped from the high tableland between the rivers into the ravine which formed Ash Hollow. This 25° slope of 300 feet length was the first really steep grade encountered on the Oregon Trail, and the impression made upon emigrants was particularly vivid. The hill was usually negotiated by rough-locking the wagon wheels and using ropes to carefully lower the wagons. An 1849 emigrant complained that it took three hours to safely descend the hill. The name of Windlass Hill post-dates the emigration period, and there is no evidence that a windlass was ever used to lower wagons down the grade.

Some digital effects were applied to the original image after the photograph was made. No electrons were harmed during the transition. Your finished photograph will not contain the Fine Art America watermark.

Image copyright 2021 Jon Burch Photography.

Photography is all about using light to capture the emotion and beauty of a fleeting moment. For me, this adventure began with a single spring image using a small Kodak film camera of a freshly watered central Kansas ditch and has come full circle using modern digital techniques. My first camera was acquired by trading an ancient Royal typewriter to a fellow college student who was desperate to finish a term paper. It was a long time ago and that camera was my passport to an art that has fascinated me ever since. I owned and operated a professional studio in central Kansas for 20 years and moved to Colorado in 1994. Part of the studio's early success came from creating outdoor portraiture using controlled lighting...