Mark Klett

"Much of Mark Klett's (born 1952) work as a photographer has centered on a conversation with historical images. For this project, Klett worked only with the account of a young mining engineer named Raphael Pumpelly who wrote of his journey through Arizona and Mexico in 1861 on the Camino del Diablo or "the road of the devil." Pumpelly found the territory lawless and filled with danger. The authorities were virtually non-existent. Mexican laborers working in the silver mines south of Tucson were perpetually killing their Anglo bosses. The Apache Indians led constant raids and ambushes. By Pumpelly's account "murder was the order of the day-committed by Americans upon Americans, Mexicans and Indians; by Mexicans upon Americans; and the hand of the Apache was, not without much reason, against both of the intruding races." He escaped death several times, often by a matter of minutes.^ Traveling 130 miles of open desert, Pumpelly proceeded with both apprehension of the dangers at hand, and appreciation of the natural beauty that surrounded him. 152 years later, Klett traversed the same route, making photographs in response to Pumpelly's words. Unable to trace the engineer's exact steps,