First known photograph of Niagara Falls taken by Hugh Lee Pattinson

Background. Hugh Lee Pattinson was an English industrial chemist known for his 1833 patent regarding silver separation. Although he was an entrepreneur involved in major industrial developments, he is best remembered today for his daguerreotype photographs taken in 1840. Among these is the earliest known photograph of Niagara Falls.

The Photographic Act. Pattinson traveled to Canada in about 1840 with the hope of setting up a mining business. He stopped at Niagara Falls long enough to make the earliest known photograph of the falls, a daguerreotype. This specific image is notable not only as the first photograph of Niagara Falls but also as the earliest known surviving photograph of any part of Canada.

Legacy and Preservation. The daguerreotype taken by Pattinson survives in the collection of Newcastle University. Pattinson made other photographs of the Horseshoe Falls, which were later transferred to engravings to illustrate Noël Marie Paymal Lerebours' Excursions Daguerriennes. These works contributed to the visual documentation of the falls during the mid-19th century.