Today’s feature photograph was taken by John Hanson, who operated a photography studio in Lassen County during the early 1880s. An interesting footnote one could purchase this print for $2.00.
Hanson, a native of Denmark, first came to Lassen County in 1881, where he set up shop at Bieber. Previous to that he was in San Francisco. His brother, whose first name remains unknown came to Bieber and set up a photography studio there, while John moved to Susanville. Like so many photographers in the rural west, they rode the circuit to surrounding communities in search of business. Hanson, like his colleagues, never remained in one place long enough, that we know very little personal information about them. Hanson did find romance in Susanville and married Miss Fannie F. Streshly there on October 31, 1883. Thankfully due to newspaper excerpts we know that Hanson took photographs of the Juniper Mine at Hayden Hill, as well as an assorted views of the many other places in the region. Most of that type of work has never surfaced. In 1885, he departed to Inyo County and never returned back to Lassen.
One of the lingering questions is whatever became Hanson’s negatives? This also applies to others in his profession, such as Herman Brince who did exceptional work here in the late 1870s. Brince died in 1882 in New Zealand, and it would have been rather doubtful that he would have hauled his work there, considering it would have been glass plate negatives.