On July 29, 1878, a rare total eclipse of the sun captured the imagination of the American public. Trouvelot traveled with his son, George, to the Wyoming Territory, the prime geographic viewing position for the event. There, he sketched from direct observation, later using these images to make finished drawings.

A diary entry from a shepherd in Colorado who witnessed the eclipse described the eclipse's beauty: "There was a luminous ring round where the sun ought to have been and the horizon miles away was bright all around...Then a bright ray shot down and the dark shadow glided swiftly off to the southeast...It looked like a black carpet sliding over the plains."