Orley and Murry Dunham were photographers in the region during the 1880s and 1890s. They both started in Plumas County. Orley married Maggie Ford, a member of a Indian Valley pioneer family. In 1886, Orley opened his studio in Susanville. During that year, he took a number of photographs of the Lassen County Schools. He left Susanville in 1891,to work for a large photography studio in San Francisco.

In 1896, Murry Dunham located in Susanville. The following year he was commissioned by William E. Smythe of the Honey Lake Valley Colonial Club to take photographic views of all points of interest, over fifty that we know of. The Colonial Club was in the process of founding the utopia community the Standish Colony. Sometime around 1898, Dunham departed from the area to points unknown.

The Colony Dam, Susan River, 1897 is a Murry Dunham photograph.

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