When pioneer photographer William Henry Jackson took this
photograph around 1890, he was likely thinking about the commercial
potential it offered through sales to tourists.
Looking at the picture a century later, nature photographer John
Fielder was immediately drawn to it. ``It is probably the most artistic
photograph in his collection,'' Fielder said. ``The aesthetics of it are just
superb.''
But when Fielder set out to duplicate Jackson's photograph, he couldn't
find the lake. ``No one had even heard of Lake Brennan,'' he said.
By a stroke of luck, while he was reviewing photographs to duplicate,
a friend recognized the lake shot. Only it wasn't Lake Brennan, he told
Fielder. It was Lake Irwin.
At some point, the lake that sits above Crested Butte, somewhere off
Kebler Pass Road, was renamed. And sure enough, when Fielder
made his way to the lake in August, he found a Forest Service sign
with the old and new names.
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