Ellsworth Kolb first traveled to the Grand Canyon area in 1901. By 1904, his brother Emery, who worked in Pittsburg as a commercial photographer, joined him. Their first commercial photographs were of sightseers riding mules into the Grand Canyon. The photographs were taken at the highest elevation of the Canyon, before the ride began. During the course of the trail ride, the Kolb's rushed down 3,000 feet to the closest available water source, processed the film, then rushed back to the top of the Canyon to sell the work to the departing travelers.

The Kolb Collection of manuscripts and photographs was bequeathed to the Special Collections department of the Cline Library at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona by Emery Kolb upon his death in 1976.