Mattie Gunterman
Pioneer Female Photographer
Mattie (Ida Madeline Warner) Gunterman was born in La Crosse, Wisconsin in 1865. Learning photography at an early age, from an uncle who had a photography studio in town, Mattie then moved to Seattle for the boom in 1889. Here she met her husband Will, with whom she would have a son, Henry. Although she took photos at this time, it was her trek to Thomson's Landing, BC (later known as Beaton) that would make her into the pioneer photographer she became.
Why Mattie Moved to Thomson's Landing and What Happened When She Got There
Mattie had experienced bouts of tuberculosis as a child, and her lungs hadn't entirely recovered when she moved to Seattle. The pollution worsened her condition. She thus walked the 600 miles to the small BC town with her husband, son, dog Nero and horse Nellie. Trained to cook and clean in hotels, Mattie became a cook in the Nettie-L mine where her husband also worked.
The height of the mining and logging boom in the Lardeau district, as it was known, had its peak in 1902. After this, unfortunate incidents such as a poisonous gas outbreak that killed five men, an avalanche and a 1904 fire led to the gradual weakening and eventual loss of the industry.
Apart from a trip to Washington and one to San Francisco, the Guntermans stayed in what was now Beaton until around 1912 when both had to move around everywhere from Sheep's Creek to Montana looking for work. Their son Henry did too, until his marriage to Petranella Quackenbush in 1916, when he settled in Beaton, raised his children, lost a daughter and eventually divorced.
In 1927, a rancorous neighbour burned Mattie's house, causing her to lose all her photographs, apart from the ones in Henry's keeping. She lived on, past Will's death in 1937, until the end of the war (in which her grandson, Avery, was serving), dying suddenly at the age of 73 in 1945.
What Cameras Mattie Owned, What She Took Photographs of and What Techniques She Used
Mattie had a Bull's Eye camera when she first started taking pictures. It made 12 exposures on a 3.5 inch wide roll of film with a built-in mask that offered the option of taking round or square photos. She later obtained a 4 x 5 plate camera with a multispeed shutter. It required a tripod, unlike the simple push button camera she'd previously used. To take self portraits, Mattie attached a piece of rubber tubing to the shutter with a bulb at the end she could squeeze with her hand or foot. This in itself was an unusual and innovative technique.
She also used to make double exposure prints using an opaque card inserted in the back of the camera, as well as occasionally, trick photos in which a cut-away cover was placed over the lens to create the illusion of twin subjects. By 1912, the 5 x 7 camera was wearing out, developing light leaks and in 1927, Mattie finally lost it in the fire. Later on, she had an A-130 camera and a Kodak that took 120 film.
Mattie was unique in the interest she took in the self-portrait. She snapped many photos of herself on her horse, in the cookhouse, on the trail or trapline or in her garden, using her special bulb technique. She was also a chronicler of the boom time in Seattle and BC, taking photos of men working in the mines or logging, hunting, fishing or walking about the town. Some of her photos are staged shots of her and her coworkers being silly, dressing up, skating or sledding. Her panoramas and pictures of natural wonders are truly remarkable reminders of a lost time in history.
A self portrait of Mattie as a Hobo
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