Rock Cuts (Edward Burtynsky / William Henry Jackson)

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Railcuts #1, C.N. Track, Skihist Provincial Park, British Columbia: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 1985 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Mine is the strength to break down
tall mountains, to reduce
great peaks to marbles played at by children
to throw down the stones of the
summits into the plain and the sea,
for I am lord and master of all these
things, and shall be
the power that will dispose them

Thus spake the dwarf grand
project manager, between lunch
and the press conference

Ogden Canyon 3 miles above its mouth. A narrow gorge cut through the rocks, with walls 1,500 to 2,000 feet in height, the roadway being built up from the bed of the creek. In the center of the view, a cone-like mass of quartzites, most distinctly and beautifully stratified, stands up at an angle of 55 degrees and 100 feet high. A very interesting geological picture. Weber County, Utah: photo by William Henry Jackson, 1871 (U. S. Geological Survey)




Railcuts #3, C.N. Track, Fraser River, British Columbia: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 1985 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Hydraulic mining near Virginia City. Madison County, Montana: photo by William Henry Jackson, 1871 (U. S. Geological Survey)

Railcuts #4, C.N. Track, Thompson River, British Columbia: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 1985 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Hydraulic mining in Alder Gulch. Madison County, Montana: photo by William Henry Jackson, 1872 (U. S. Geological Survey)

Railcuts #5, C.N. Track, Thompson River, British Columbia: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 1985 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Petrified Fish Cut, near Green River Station. Union Pacific Railroad on west side of Green River. Sweetwater County, Wyoming: photo by William Henry Jackson, 1869 (U. S. Geological Survey)

Railcuts #6, Railcut near Highway 8, (Spences Bridge), British Columbia: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 1985 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Burning Rock Cut, near Green River Station. Sweetwater County, Wyoming: photo by William Henry Jackson, 1869 (U. S. Geological Survey)

Railcuts #8 (Red Hill, C.N. train), C.N. Track, Thompson River. British Columbia: photo by Edward Burtynsky, 1985 (Edward Burtynsky Photographic Works)

Glimpses along the west bank of Green River between Green River Station and Burning Rock Cut, showing to good advantage the wall-like and castellated forms on the opposite side of the river. Sweetwater County, Wyoming: photo by William Henry Jackson, 1869 (U. S. Geological Survey)