Railroad Wreck in Snow, Winona & St. Peter Railroad

A steam locomotive with a broad flared stack and large headlamp stands upright on a timber trestle, with overturned rolling stock below and beyond it. Men stand along the elevated track and gather beside the wreckage. Snow covers the foreground and the sparsely wooded hillside behind; the trestle’s cross-braced timbers are clearly recorded in both views.

The mount bears the photographer’s imprint, “Photographed by Hoard & Tenney, Winona, Minn.,” together with “Minnesota Scenery.” and the series heading “Views on the Winona & St. Peter R. R.” These inscriptions establish the attribution and railroad identification, but do not name the precise location, date, or circumstances of the wreck. The people remain unidentified.

The small number on the locomotive’s circular front plate appears to read “16,” although the numerals are not fully resolved in the scans. The reverse has handwritten annotations but no printed catalogue or numbered caption against which to check that reading. None of the reverse markings securely identifies the event.

Two arched-top photographs are mounted side by side on a green card. A small patch of surface loss with adjacent brown discoloration is visible near the left edge of the reverse; the photographs are otherwise generally clean and the card appears sound.