Background
Frank Jay Haynes was born in Saline, Michigan on October 28, 1853 to Levi H. Haynes, a merchant and Caroline Oliphant. When he was a small boy, the family moved east to Detroit, Michigan.
189
Haynes Studio, Mammoth Hot Springs
1876
First Haynes Studio, Moorhead, MN
1878
Lily Snyder and F. Jay
1883
President Chester A. Arthur and party at Old Faithful
1884
Original Haynes Studio, Mammoth Hot Springs
1886
Interior of Haynes Palace Studio Car
1887
F.J. Haynes during 1887 Winter tour
1901
Haynes Palace Studio Car
Mount Haynes, Yellowstone National Park
(Illustrated from photos by F. Jay Haynes)
Illustrated from photos by F. Jay Haynes
https://www.amazon.com/ramble-wonderland-description-marvelous-traversed/dp/B00BAID2VA/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=Albert+B.+Guptill+A+Ramble+in+Wonderland-A+Description+of+the+Marvelous+Region+Traversed+by+the+Northern+Pacific+Railroad.+Illustrated+from+photos+by+F.+Jay+Haynes&qid=1579768092&sr=8-1-fkmr0
1891
(Illustrated by F. Jay Haynes)
Illustrated by F. Jay Haynes
https://www.amazon.com/Yellowstone-Park-Guide-Descriptions-Illustrated/dp/1332214096/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_1?keywords=Guptill%2C+A.+B.+%281894%29.+Yellowstone+Park+Guide-A+Practical+Handbook&qid=1579768130&sr=8-1-fkmr0
1894
(Photographs by F. Jay Haynes)
Photographs by F. Jay Haynes
https://www.amazon.com/Geysers-Yellowstone-national-Walter-Harvey-ebook/dp/B00GEIXV3A/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?keywords=Weed%2C+Walter+Harvey+%281921%29.+Geysers+of+Yellowstone+National+Park.+Photographs+by+F.+Jay+Haynes&qid=1579768196&sr=8-1-fkmr1
1921
Frank Jay Haynes was born in Saline, Michigan on October 28, 1853 to Levi H. Haynes, a merchant and Caroline Oliphant. When he was a small boy, the family moved east to Detroit, Michigan.
Frank Jay Haynes worked in his father's store and took various other odd jobs. As a boy, he had visited the photographic studios of Mrs. Gillette in Detroit and became interested in photography. After several traveling salesman jobs, he ended up in Ripon, Wisconsin and secured a position as an apprentice in the Doctor William H. Lockwood's Temple of Photography. He worked for Lockwood for 16 months, learned the photography trade and met his future wife, a co-worker, Lily Snyder.
In September, 1876 Frank Haynes left the Lockwood Studio to start his own photographic business in Moorhead, Minnesota with the backing of his brother-in-law, Gus Henderson.
The first Haynes Studio was established in Moorhead, Minnesota in December 1876. From this studio, Frank Haynes was able to build on his railroad business with the sales of local cabinet portraits, views and stereoviews of his railroad photographs. By early 1879, he had relocated his Moorhead studio to a much larger facility. However, in the fall of 1879, Frank Haynes closed his Moorhead studio and moved west across the Red River to Fargo, North Dakota. Lived here until he moved in 1889.
In 1885, he bought a Pullman Car from the Northern Pacific Railroad and had it refitted as a photographic studio. Whenever the Palace Studio Car would visit a town, Frank Haynes or his employees would take photos for local customers and provide them with prints on later visits. He operated the car successfully between 1885 and 1905.
Shortly after his move to Moorhead, Minnesota in 1876 Frank Haynes began doing photographic work for elements of the Northern Pacific Railway as the railway expanded operations west. By October 1876, he had a contract with the railway for work in the 1877 season. His job was to supply publicity photos and stereoscopic views of rolling stock, depots, sights along the railway and construction activities from St. Paul, Minnesota to Bismarck, North Dakota. He was a good businessman and had arranged with the railroad to supply a fixed number of prints (or views) from each negative while he retained the rights to the negatives from which he could print and sell views for his own benefit. The railroad provided Frank Haynes with a free pass on all the railway trains from St. Paul to Bismarck. This allowed Frank Haynes access to all the railroad's territory from which he could photograph anything he wanted to. From his Moorhead studio, he could hardly keep up with the demand for his Northern Pacific Views and local portrait work.
In 1879, Frank Haynes met Charles S. Fee, the private secretary to the railroad's General Manager, H.E. Sargent. In 1883, Fee became the railroad's general passenger and ticket agent responsible for marketing the railroad. It was a position Fee held until 1904. Fee became F. Jay's biggest supporter within the railroad and they became lifelong friends.
In 1877, Frank Haynes made the acquaintance of Philetus Norris, then superintendent of Yellowstone National Park. At the time, Norris encouraged Frank Haynes to visit the park with him and photograph its wonders. Because of his railroad work, he was unable to make the trip until 1881. By 1881, Northern Pacific Railroad tracks had reached Glendive, Montana. Even before visiting the park, F. Jay's knack for business prompted him in early 1881 to apply to the Secretary of the Interior for the position of Official Photographer of Yellowstone National Park. The Secretary was unable to confer that position, but did, with Norris's backing, grant Frank Haynes a lease for a small photographic studio within the park along that was not made official until 1884. In September, 1881, traveling overland from Glendive, and with explicit support from Charles Fee, Frank Haynes made his first visit to Yellowstone National Park. In close to two months in the park, he was able to visit all the major attractions and take over 200 photographs. Frank Haynes returned to Yellowstone every year after that first visit until his death in 1921.
In May 1883, President Chester A. Arthur - under stress from the first years of his unexpected presidency - was encouraged to take a good rest by his advisors. One of those advisors, Senator George Vest of Missouri, suggested a trip to the new national park - Yellowstone. By early summer, the unusual trip was being arranged. President Arthur would visit the park for two weeks in August, unaccompanied by any journalists. Through his notoriety with the Northern Pacific Railroad and early trips to Yellowstone, Frank Haynes was selected as the official photographer for the trip.
In December 1886, Frank Haynes was selected to accompany arctic explorer, Frederick Schwatka on a winter tour through the park. The expedition was sponsored by the New York World newspaper and The Century Magazine. The expedition started at Mammoth on January 5, 1887. On skis and shoeshoes, pulling sleds laden with gear Schwatka, Frank Haynes and eleven other guides made their way from Mammoth to Norris in two days. By the time the group got to Norris, the cold and altitude had gotten to Schwatka and he had to abandon the tour. Frank Haynes, and three other guides he knew and could depend on, decided to continue the expedition, visiting the lower and upper geyser basins and Yellowstone Falls before trouble struck. In an attempt to get to Yancey's from Canyon, the party got stranded for 72 hours on the slopes of Mount Washburn in a frigid and blinding snowstorm with little or no food or shelter. They almost perished. Once the weather cleared they made their way to Yancey's to recuperate before returning to Mammoth. The 29-day tour of the park covered nearly 200 miles through a wintry environment, with temperatures varying from −10 °F (−23 °C) to −52 °F (−47 °C). Despite the problems on Mount Washburn, Frank Haynes returned with 42 photographs of Yellowstone in the middle of winter, the first ever taken during that time of year.
(Illustrated from photos by F. Jay Haynes)
1891(Illustrated by F. Jay Haynes)
1894(Photographs by F. Jay Haynes)
1921Excelsior Geyser
(Only known photo of this geyser erupting)
1888Lower Yellowstone Falls
1887Castle Geyser
1887Haynes and party at Yanceys Pleasant Valley Hotel
1887image of Chief Joseph at Bismarck
1877Cascades of Columbia
1880Great Falls of the Yellowstone
photography
Running Deer, Crow,
1883