In This Land - Issue 9

This is the final issue of In This Land!

This time, it's b&w and color and 52 pages.

You'll also get a 4x5 print and a postcard with two additional photos from Carbon that I accidentally didn't develop until after the zine went to print. Oops! Also, a new Juniper sticker!

This is from the intro:

The only living thing in Carbon, Wyoming is the cemetery.

The town of Carbon, Wyoming saw its peak in 1890 with over 1,100 residents. It was a mining town and a hard place to live. There were fights and murders and lynchings all through its short history.

Founded in 1868, before Wyoming was even a state, the town was on the new Union Pacific line. Coal mines were opened and soon a town grew up around them. There were stores, saloons, hotels, schools and maybe even a church.

At its peak, a fire accidentally started by a drunk townsman destroyed most of the downtown. That same year, Union Pacific bypassed Carbon for the new mines opening up to the north. Within a dozen years, Carbon was choked out.

Today there is not much left. The roads are barely traces, and the foundations are covered by a century of blowing desert sands. It's all lost to time - except the cemetery.

The Carbon Cemetery began with the founding, growing with its numbers and filling plots on the hills behind the town. When Carbon became a ghost town, the cemetery continued on. Former residents were buried there long after the building was torn down. Even now, descendants continue to take care of the graves of their ancestors.

For several hours on a cool July morning, I photographed this cemetery. Mostly I used the RB67 and HP5 pushed to 1600. I also shot with expired color. I used the 4x5 and an old brass lens coupled with x-ray film cut down to size, as well.

There were swarms of ants, and thankfully they didn't bite.