The Kilburn Bros. and the Art of the Cog
A priceless record of the earliest days of the Cog Railway
By the time Sylvester Marsh began devising his railway to the summit of Mount Washington in the 1860s, the new art and science of photography had already irrevocably altered the way people saw themselves and the world’s wonders and tragedies. Luckily, two of its earliest practitioners lived and worked in nearby Littleton, NH.
Benjamin Kilburn was a passionate photographer, Civil War veteran and mountaineer who, along with his brother Edward, operated a successful publishing firm in Littleton specializing in stereographic views of the natural and man-made environment. Using a dual lens camera that mimicked human binocular vision, the brothers produced beautifully detailed images that took on a three-dimensional effect when viewed thru a device such as the Holmes Stereoscope.
Fortunately for historians and fans of the Cog Railway, Benjamin and Edward were fascinated by Marsh and his creation. They produced hundreds of stereographic views of the railway in its early years and sold them to tourists and armchair travelers all over the world. Benjamin also patented the Kilburn Gun Camera, which allowed wilderness photographers to make their pictures without needing to carry a heavy tripod. Many of Kilburn’s Cog Railway stereographs were made with a modified version of this contraption.
The Kilburn’s success and notoriety grew largely from their reputation as the preeminent photographers of the Cog Railway, one of the technological wonders of its age. The building that once housed their workshop and factory still stands on Cottage Street in Littleton, and is commemorated by a state historical marker.
