MORFAR'S VIEW OF THE WINDS
Directed by Mark Pedri | Produced by Carrie McCarthy 3-year PBS broadcast 2021-2024
In 1842 the first published image of the Rocky Mountains was drawn by Charles Preuss, perched atop a rock in the Wind River Range of Wyoming. This image, combined with John C. Frémont's report from the expedition, paved the way for the Great Western Expansion of 1850 including the California Gold Rush, the Oregon Trail, and the Mormon migration to Salt Lake City. The rest is history. Well, it's all technically history.
Morfar's View of the Winds tells the story of an 80-year-old photographer, Dr. Conrad Smith (Morfar), who has spent nearly a decade trying to locate the exact rock within the Rocky Mountains where Charles Preuss sat in 1842 to sketch the first published image from within the Rocky Mountains. This film follows Dr. Smith together with his daughter and granddaughter as they navigate an unexpected turn of events on the final expedition to verify the location where this influential drawing was created in order to reproduce the image in photographic form 177 years later. |