Brigham Young, second president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the dominant figure in the settlement of Utah Territory, is portrayed in this albumen stereoview published by Savage & Ottinger's Pioneer Fine Art Gallery, Salt Lake City, Utah, dated 1870 on the front mount. The card carries a manuscript identification on the recto reading "Brigham Young" and "T.R.C. 1870," and the series number "No. 197" is inscribed in ink along the left edge.

Young faces three-quarters left in a close bust composition, wearing a dark frock coat, white shirt, and wide black cravat tied in a soft bow. His full, trimmed beard is pale and full across the jaw, his hair swept back from the temples, and his expression is composed and direct.

Brigham Young led the LDS pioneer migration to the Salt Lake Valley in 1847 and served as the first governor of Utah Territory. The reverse carries an extensive manuscript inscription recording that the purchaser bought this photograph in Salt Lake City during a visit from 29 September to 10 October 1870, called upon Young at his own house on 30 September, and noted that Young died in 1877. A second notation records the image was copied for a lantern slide on 15 December 1898.