33 Vintage Photos From The Grand Canyon S Historic Kolb Studio

For over 70 years, the Kolb brothers owned and operated a photography studio perched at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Here are some of their most breathtaking shots.

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1 of 34The brothers were frequently photographed in this pose — it became their hallmark.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

2 of 34Taken from the Kolb studio window, 1908.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
3 of 34An interior shot of the brothers’ studio in its later years, 1930-40.Northern Arizona University Library 4 of 34Pictured on the far left is the Kolb brothers’ first studio, a humble tent, pitched beside the Cameron Hotel. 1903.Northern Arizona University Library 5 of 34Ellsworth and Emery Kolb, 1910-1920.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University Library 6 of 34NFS ranger Patrick Fenton and two women on horses on the Bright Angel Trail. Circa 1907. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
7 of 34Kolb studio with the Bright Angel Trail toll gate. Emery is standing, Ellsworth is in the doorway, circa 1904. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr 8 of 34Rust’s aerial tramway crosses the Colorado River, carrying two women and a man. 1908. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
9 of 34Kolb Studio after the 1911 river trip. Their boat is on display and there is a billboard on the house. Circa 1912. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
10 of 34One woman sits on a mule while the second tries to push them up the Bright Angel Trail. Circa 1910.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
11 of 34Artist Thomas Moran standing on the Bright Angel Trail. Circa 1909.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
12 of 34Blanche and Emery Kolb in an alcove in the Grand Canyon, 1905-1910. Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

13 of 34Notice Ellsworth Kolb’s boat, ’the Defiance’ on display outside their studio. 1915.Northern Arizona University Library 14 of 34Two young women — likely posed by Ellsworth Kolb — on the edge of a cliff overlooking Indian Garden and Plateau Point. Trails are visible below.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
15 of 34A mule party heads down the canyon on Bright Angel Trail, 1909. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr 16 of 34Captain John Hance stands on the Bright Angel Trail beside his two mules. Snow covers the ground. Circa 1910.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
17 of 34Kolb expedition member, Burt Lauzon, sleeps in a camp on a rock ledge above the Colorado River. 1911. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
18 of 34Gold dredge mining operation at lees ferry as photographed by Kolb expedition. Oct 1911. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
19 of 34Man walking on wall of rock, 400 feet above the mine on Hummingbird Trail, Mt. Sheep. 1913.Library of Congress

20 of 34View of Grand Canyon through the picture window of the living room of Kolb’s studio and house.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
21 of 34Shriners convention group #10, pose on upper switchback of bright angel trail, 1914. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
22 of 34Havasupai chief, Big Jim, wears Emery Kolb’s father’s preacher’s coat and poses for Emery in his studio. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
23 of 34The first airplane to land in the Grand Canyon, Aug. 8, 1922, piloted by R. V. Thomas. Library of Congress

24 of 34Emery crosses the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon on a ladder. 1925-1940. 25 of 34Emery and Ellsworth Kolb on the Hyde rescue expedition. Glen and Bessie Hyde were newlyweds who disappeared while attempting to run the rapids of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in 1928. They were never found.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

26 of 34Emery Kolb with movie camera, Colorado River, 1921.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University 27 of 34Emery and Blanche with daughter Edith and grandson Emery ‘Sonny’ Kolb at the Edge of the Grand Canyon, 1927-1937. Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

28 of 34Emery Kolb works on the roof of the studio which overlooks the south rim of the Grand Canyon, 1930.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

29 of 34The Clear Creek Trail was built in 1934 and 1935 by the Civilian Conservation Corporation as a mule trail so visitors at Phantom Ranch could gain access to a scenic side canyon. It was stocked with trout so that visitors could do a bit of fishing, too. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
30 of 34Riders pay the toll on the Bright Angel Trail. 1910. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
31 of 34Portrait of Havasupai Mary Wescogame, known as “Supai Mary,” by the canyon rim. 1940. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr
32 of 34A park ranger leads a couple mules saddled with trout to stock clear creek, 1940. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

33 of 34The Kolb Studio as it stands against the painted canyon today. Michael Quinn/NPS/Wikimedia Commons

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33 Vintage Photographs From The Grand Canyon’s Historic Kolb Studio View Gallery

When the Kolb brothers officially opened their small photography studio perched on the rim of a monstrous canyon in 1906, they perhaps did not know just how pioneering their stunt was.

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25 Grand Canyon Facts That Reveal America’s 6 Million-Year-Old Natural Wonder

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1 of 34The brothers were frequently photographed in this pose — it became their hallmark.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

28 of 34Emery Kolb works on the roof of the studio which overlooks the south rim of the Grand Canyon, 1930.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

33 of 34The Kolb Studio as it stands against the painted canyon today. Michael Quinn/NPS/Wikimedia Commons

34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:

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Like this gallery?Share it:

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And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:

25 Grand Canyon Facts That Reveal America’s 6 Million-Year-Old Natural Wonder

Relive The Decadence Of Studio 54 With These Vintage Photos

23 Powerful Photographs of Vintage San Francisco

1 of 34The brothers were frequently photographed in this pose — it became their hallmark.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

28 of 34Emery Kolb works on the roof of the studio which overlooks the south rim of the Grand Canyon, 1930.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

33 of 34The Kolb Studio as it stands against the painted canyon today. Michael Quinn/NPS/Wikimedia Commons

34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:

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Like this gallery?Share it:

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And if you liked this post, be sure to check out these popular posts:

25 Grand Canyon Facts That Reveal America’s 6 Million-Year-Old Natural Wonder

Relive The Decadence Of Studio 54 With These Vintage Photos

23 Powerful Photographs of Vintage San Francisco

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1 of 34The brothers were frequently photographed in this pose — it became their hallmark.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

28 of 34Emery Kolb works on the roof of the studio which overlooks the south rim of the Grand Canyon, 1930.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

33 of 34The Kolb Studio as it stands against the painted canyon today. Michael Quinn/NPS/Wikimedia Commons

34 of 34Like this gallery?Share it:

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1 of 34The brothers were frequently photographed in this pose — it became their hallmark.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

2 of 34Taken from the Kolb studio window, 1908.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

3 of 34An interior shot of the brothers’ studio in its later years, 1930-40.Northern Arizona University Library

4 of 34Pictured on the far left is the Kolb brothers’ first studio, a humble tent, pitched beside the Cameron Hotel. 1903.Northern Arizona University Library

5 of 34Ellsworth and Emery Kolb, 1910-1920.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University Library

6 of 34NFS ranger Patrick Fenton and two women on horses on the Bright Angel Trail. Circa 1907. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

7 of 34Kolb studio with the Bright Angel Trail toll gate. Emery is standing, Ellsworth is in the doorway, circa 1904. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

8 of 34Rust’s aerial tramway crosses the Colorado River, carrying two women and a man. 1908. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

9 of 34Kolb Studio after the 1911 river trip. Their boat is on display and there is a billboard on the house. Circa 1912. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

10 of 34One woman sits on a mule while the second tries to push them up the Bright Angel Trail. Circa 1910.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

11 of 34Artist Thomas Moran standing on the Bright Angel Trail. Circa 1909.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

12 of 34Blanche and Emery Kolb in an alcove in the Grand Canyon, 1905-1910. Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

13 of 34Notice Ellsworth Kolb’s boat, ’the Defiance’ on display outside their studio. 1915.Northern Arizona University Library

14 of 34Two young women — likely posed by Ellsworth Kolb — on the edge of a cliff overlooking Indian Garden and Plateau Point. Trails are visible below.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

15 of 34A mule party heads down the canyon on Bright Angel Trail, 1909. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

16 of 34Captain John Hance stands on the Bright Angel Trail beside his two mules. Snow covers the ground. Circa 1910.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

17 of 34Kolb expedition member, Burt Lauzon, sleeps in a camp on a rock ledge above the Colorado River. 1911. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

18 of 34Gold dredge mining operation at lees ferry as photographed by Kolb expedition. Oct 1911. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

19 of 34Man walking on wall of rock, 400 feet above the mine on Hummingbird Trail, Mt. Sheep. 1913.Library of Congress

20 of 34View of Grand Canyon through the picture window of the living room of Kolb’s studio and house.grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

21 of 34Shriners convention group #10, pose on upper switchback of bright angel trail, 1914. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

22 of 34Havasupai chief, Big Jim, wears Emery Kolb’s father’s preacher’s coat and poses for Emery in his studio. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

23 of 34The first airplane to land in the Grand Canyon, Aug. 8, 1922, piloted by R. V. Thomas. Library of Congress

24 of 34Emery crosses the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon on a ladder. 1925-1940.

25 of 34Emery and Ellsworth Kolb on the Hyde rescue expedition. Glen and Bessie Hyde were newlyweds who disappeared while attempting to run the rapids of the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon in 1928. They were never found.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

26 of 34Emery Kolb with movie camera, Colorado River, 1921.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

27 of 34Emery and Blanche with daughter Edith and grandson Emery ‘Sonny’ Kolb at the Edge of the Grand Canyon, 1927-1937. Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

28 of 34Emery Kolb works on the roof of the studio which overlooks the south rim of the Grand Canyon, 1930.Cline Library/Northern Arizona University

30 of 34Riders pay the toll on the Bright Angel Trail. 1910. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

31 of 34Portrait of Havasupai Mary Wescogame, known as “Supai Mary,” by the canyon rim. 1940. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

32 of 34A park ranger leads a couple mules saddled with trout to stock clear creek, 1940. grand_canyon_nps/Flickr

33 of 34The Kolb Studio as it stands against the painted canyon today. Michael Quinn/NPS/Wikimedia Commons

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33 Vintage Photographs From The Grand Canyon’s Historic Kolb Studio View Gallery

33 Vintage Photographs From The Grand Canyon’s Historic Kolb Studio

View Gallery

This was not just any canyon, it was the Grand Canyon, and for the next 70 years, the photographers Ellsworth and Emery Kolb would document the landmark as it gradually became one of the country’s greatest natural attractions.

The Kolbs captured almost every incident of any importance in the area — and they loved it. As the author of The Amazing Kolb Brothers of Grand Canyon, Roger Naylor, said:

Everything about the Kolbs’ venture was novel: photography was still an emerging art form and the brothers had no electricity or running water.

But it was from these humble beginnings that the Kolb brothers developed techniques specifically for the canyon’s unique challenges and curated some of the most iconic images of the national landmark that persist today.

For this, they are a revered part of Grand Canyon’s — and photographic — history.

The Founding Of Kolb Studio

Ellsworth, Emery, and Blanche Kolb outside the Kolb Studio in 1904.

The adventurous spirit of Ellsworth Kolb saw him out of his Pennsylvania hometown and on a train westward-bound at 20 years old. For five years Kolb would wander the west until 1901 when he stepped off a train near the Grand Canyon — and found his fate.

Ellsworth Kolb first found work as a lumberjack and a porter at The Bright Angel Hotel, one of the few lodges in the area.

A year later, he persuaded his more cautious younger brother Emery to join him at the canyon. Emery arrived in October of 1902 with a guitar and his photography equipment.

At first, Kolb Studio was nothing more than a tent pitched next to the hotel. The brothers took photos of tourists on mule rides, heading down onto the canyon trails. The brothers built a wooden dark room in an abandoned mine shaft nearby, and every day after snapping the tourists’ photos, Emery ran down the five-mile gorge where he quickly developed the photos and ran back up the five miles to try and sell the tourists the images as they returned.

The brothers hiked deep into canyon chasms that tourists couldn’t reach to snap photos for sale. They also befriended the Havasupai Native Americans that lived inside and around the canyon — photographing them as well.

Cline Library/Northern Arizona UniversityEmery, Blanche, and Edith Kolb with a telescope in the studio, 1911.

Between 1905 and 1906, the Kolb brothers expanded their enterprise. They built a small, wood-framed cabin on the canyon rim — at the head of the Bright Angel Toll Road. That year proved to be a busy one for Emery, who married Blanche Bender and moved her into the cabin he shared with his brother.

Bender immersed herself in the business, bookkeeping and operating their small gift shop. She and Emery Kolb had one daughter, Edith, who at the time was the only Anglo child that lived in or around the canyon. All the other children were Havasupai.

Inside The Studio From 1911 Onwards

During the winter of 1911-1912, the Kolb brothers took an adventurous 1,200-mile boat trip down the Colorado River that winds through the canyon.

Ellsworth Kolb wanted to film the venture and make it into a movie. So the two brothers set out on their own, rowing and operating a new motion-picture camera that filmed on celluloid reels.

The venture wouldn’t be easy and the river had some dangerous rapids, but Ellsworth Kolb assured his brother that, “If I capsize, I’ll film it first.”

The brothers did actually capsize a few times, in fact, and they had to dry out all the equipment before they could resume filming. But by the end of the trip, they had about a half-hour of usable content.

Northern Arizona University LibraryThe Kolb brothers aboard their dinghy in 1928.

When they took the footage on a country-wide tour, the brothers became famous. In Boston, the brothers met Alexander Graham Bell, who introduced them to the President of the National Geographic Society and the August 1914 issue of the magazine featured a large spread on the Kolb brothers’ trip.

Just like that, they were transformed into national heroes.

But not long after this, the brothers’ personalities began to clash so much so that they disagreed on how to continue to operate the business. A coin toss, of sorts, saw that Ellsworth left the entire business to Emery.

Ellsworth left the Grand Canyon and received a stipend of $150 per month from his brother until his death. The brothers remained on good terms, though.

In 1915, Emery Kolb added a room on to the studio in which to continuously play their film. He played the film every day until his death in 1976. That reel remains the longest continually running movie in United States history.

Today, the Kolb studio is still open, operational, and owned by the National Park Service. The Grand Canyon Association renovated the studio during the 1990’s — and it now contains an art gallery, bookstore, and museum.

Next, check out these 25 Grand Canyon facts that you may not know. Then, for more breathtaking natural wonders, check out Scotland’s magical Fairy Glen on the Isle of Skye.

For over 70 years, the Kolb brothers owned and operated a photography studio perched at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Here are some of their most breathtaking shots.#

The Founding Of Kolb Studio#

Inside The Studio From 1911 Onwards#

For over 70 years, the Kolb brothers owned and operated a photography studio perched at the edge of the Grand Canyon. Here are some of their most breathtaking shots.

The Founding Of Kolb Studio

Inside The Studio From 1911 Onwards