Clouds or Smog?

Are Those Clouds or Is It Smog? I can remember going up to Crystal Lake for a family day outing on a very hot summer day. When we were coming back down, we stopped at a viewpoint to see a panorama of the San Gabriel Valley. What we saw was a sea of grey with islands popping up here and there through the mist. We could even see Catalina Island from where we were on the mountain. This was in the 1960s.

Today’s post cards reminded me of this family outing. Both post cards share the same picture. As one looks at them, one’s eyes are first drawn to the rail lines cutting their path through the side of the mountain. Following the lines, one can see that there is a trolley car making its way up. It does not say so on the cards, but I am guessing that this is at, or near, horseshoe curve. AS one looks at the rest of the cards, one can see that there is a horizon, an island, so to speak, and something between the trolley car and the “island”. Those are clouds, according to the post cards. And they might well be. The top card has a caption at the bottom that reads: Mt. Lowe Ry., Above the Clouds. This card is from before March 1, 1907. The automobile and industry have not had enough time to wreak havoc on the atmosphere. Thy probably are clouds. This post card has a note on the back that states clearly that “THIS SIDE IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE ADDRESS.” It was published by M. Rieder in Los Angeles, even though it was printed in Germany. The post card number is also on the back: No. 135.

The bottom post card was also published by M. Rieder in Los Angeles. However, it is a couple years younger than the top post card. This card was mailed from San Bernardino at 5:00 AM on March 30, 1909. It went from there all the way to St. Paul, Minnesota. It was sent to a Miss Edna Good at 753 Cypress St. This is about 2 miles northeast of downtown and where the river takes a turn to head back south again. It is 3 blocks south of Phalen Boulevard and some train tracks. It is from the “divided back” era. The back isn’t very divided, though. There is only a thin rectangle on the left side of which one third is taken up telling you who printed the card, where it was printed (Germany), the number (no. 3146) of the card, and the fact that that little space can only be used to write the Name and Address of the sender “(NO OTHER WRITING)” That soon changed. The M. Rieder Company didn’t last very long (1901-1915). They printed and published view-cards of the West and of Native Americans. His cards were printed in Germany except those contracted out to Edward H. Mitchell in the United States. Both of these cards were printed in Germany.

Scouting Around

Here are two more post cards from between Echo Mountain and the Alpine Tavern.

The post card at the top has red ink printed across the top of its face. It says, “1500- SCENE ALONG PACIFIC ELECTRIC RAILWAY, MT. LOWE, CALIFORNIA IN WINTER”. It is beautiful proof that Southern California can get snow – at least, up in the mountains surrounding the basin. It is the older of the two cards. As you can see, it is from the divided back era. The picture goes right to the edge of the post card. The bottom card is from the “white border” era. Across the bottom white border one can read the caption: “CLIMBING TO CLOUDLAND, MT. LOWE, CALIFORNIA”. It looks to be springtime on the mountain. The red flowers are in full bloom along the tracks. The top card is the product of Edward H. Mitchell. Mitchell was born in 1867 in San Francisco, California. This is the city in which he based his printing/publishing company. In fact, he was printing cards in a building that was destroyed by the great earthquake. He was a very prolific producer. He travelled all over the United States gathering subject matter for his post cards. Mitchell also owned or was a partner in the Pacific Novelty Co. and the Souvenir Publishing Co. I have some great cards he printed of produce being shipped to market on flat cars and in gondolas. I will save them for a future series of postings. There is no date on the card but we know that it was printed between about 1907 and 1915.

The bottom card is another E.C. Kropp Company product. We can date this card a bit easier, because there is a postmark on the back. It was mailed from:” Mount Lowe California Aug 23 P.M. 1930” The Mt. Lowe trademark that we saw in the last posting is also on this post card. The message is from Janet to Florence. Janet says, “Like all the high toned people, I’m spending my time here. One more day of this and then I’m winding my way to the office.” Florence lives in Los Angeles and works at the Hall of Records. I think Janet probably worked there, too. I wonder which got back to the office first, the post card or Janet.

Enjoying the Trip on Mt. Lowe!

Once one got to the top of Echo Mountain a person could enjoy a wonderful view of the San Gabriel Valley. Also, while up there, the tourist could enjoy a bit of a zoo, the Echo Mountain House, a casino, some gardens and an observatory. Combined, these were called the “White City on the Mountain”. On the other hand, the tourist could continue on the journey and go even higher up the set of mountains toward Mt. Lowe. Echo Mountain was about 3,200 feet above sea level; the Alpine Tavern – the destination on the rest of the journey – was at 4,420 feet above sea level. This thousand foot rise was accomplished through another trolley ride.

These post cards are pictures of the continuing trip. I have chosen these post cards because they are all from the same (divided back) era. The top card is of “Horseshoe Curve”. You can imagine how it got its name!! If you look carefully, you can see the track they were just on crossing a canyon. This trolley has just passed through the Cape of Good Hope and is headed toward the famous circular bridge (post cards to come). The middle post card is not specific about where on the line the picture was taken. You can see that there was a bit of engineering involved to keep the trolley on the side of the mountain and the electrical poles in position. The bottom post card shows one of the many bridges built to take the trolleys to the Alpine Tavern. This particular one is called the High Bridge. The backs of the post cards are interesting, too. They tell their own history.

The top two post cards were published by the Newman Post Card Company (NPC). They had office in Los Angeles and San Francisco. The top card alone was printed in Los Angeles by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company. They existed in Los Angeles between 1908 and 1921. Most of their work was printing scenes of Southern California. I bring up this point because the middle card was also published by the Newman Post Card Company. But, it was not printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company. It was printed in Germany. The number of the top post card (found on the back) is C8. The number of the middle card is C 26. In just a few print runs, the NPC discovered, like many publishers of post cards, that they could send their orders over to Germany and get them back – with good quality – for less than an American company would charge. This led to a glut of post cards on the market and a huge drop in prices (think tulip craze from Holland) with the resulting boon to consumers. We do not know who printed or published the bottom post card. But, we do see that the Mt. Lowe “corporation” has developed a trade mark that will appear on many, many, many post cards in the future. For more information about Mt. Lowe, check out this webite: www.mountlowe.org It is a site that belongs to an organization dedicated to keeping the legacy of Mt. Lowe and Thaddeus Lowe alive.

Back at the Beginning

Sometimes I can be a little slow. I do have my post cards arranged in albums by certain themes. And, within each album, there is a sub-theme. For example, the Mt. Lowe cards are in Album Number Two. It has the themes of California, Utah and New Hampshire. Within California I have sub-themes like Mt. Tamalpais, Knott’s Berry Farm, Angels Flight and California in general. But, within each sub-theme, like Mt. Lowe, they are only organized by similar looking cards. There is no real order to the cards. Today, we get to experience the result of this lack of order. I started the Mt. Lowe exhibition by being at the bottom of the incline that took people to the top of Echo Mountain. On those cards, one can see that there is a trolley at the bottom left. People had to take that trolley up the hill in order to get to the bottom of the incline. These two cards today are pictures of those trolleys. I should have started this exhibit with these two cards. Oh, well. At least you get to see them.

They are both from the “white border” era, which is approximately from 1915 to 1930. The card on the right seems to be the older of the two, in my estimation. The picture is an actual photograph. It was then printed and colorized. The card on the left is a “reproduction” of the original. It looks like they projected the photograph onto a plate and drew the key features onto it. It is like they changed just enough detail so as not to infringe on the copyright of the first. They are published by two different companies.

The one on the bottom, the photograph on the right (above), is by the C. T. American Art company. The C.T. stands for Curt Teich. Curt immigrated to the United States from Lobenstein, Germany, in 1896 at the ripe old age of 19. He started his printing company two years later and it operated until 1978. He was on the leading edge of printing techniques several times. There is a number at the top of the card: R-53765. When one compares this to the “Guide to Dating Curt Teich Postcards” one can conclude that it was printed around 1914. This also makes sense because this card is from the white border era which began around 1915. The top card was printed by the E. C. Kropp Company out of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. This company published and printed chromolithographic souvenir cards and private mailing cards in 1898 under the name Kropp. These cards were of much higher quality than those that were printed under the E.C. Kropp name. They became the E.C. Kropp Company in 1907 and produced large numbers of national view-cards and other subjects. Their post cards from the “Linen Era” had a noticeably fine grain. IN 1956, the company was sold to the L.L. Cook Company the last I heard they are now part of the GAF Corp.

Ten Years of Going UP HILL!

We are going to pick up where we left off – Echo Mountain, California. In the last postings you were seeing the incline up Echo Mountain from the bottom. You have seen the cars at the bottom of the incline with the people smiling for the photographer. Now we have climbed up the incline a bit to take of picture of the people in the car as they head up to half way up Mt. Lowe where the Alpine Tavern awaits them. Here are four post card views of the cars on the way up with their excited and happy passengers.

This card first was mailed on October 1, 1909. It shows a bright red car. This matches the color of most of the cars in the post cards taken at the base of the incline. The post card was published by the Newman Post Card Company which existed from 1907 to the 1960s. So this card was published in the first two years of the company’s existence. It began in Los Angeles, CA as a publisher and printer of lithographic postcards, mostly views of southern California, with some cards of Hawaii and Nevada and the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition. In the 1960s they didn’t just disappear, they were purchased by H.S. Crocker.

The top post card is the oldest of these three. It is from the “divided back era”; this is from approximately 1907 to 1915. This card falls right on the edge of the era. Part of the message on the back reads, “…It is sure a great trip and very warm…” It was mailed on July 26, 1915. The middle card is really a reproduction of the first card. But, now we are in the “white border era” – from 1915 to 1930, more or less. It saved the printer a bit of ink by putting a white border around the picture. It was mailed on June 3, 1920. The bottom post card is also from the “white border era”. But, as we look at the picture, we can see how the brush on the side of the mountain has grown. It also seems that the safety committee has visited and suggested that the sides of the car be enclosed!! It was published by the E. C. Kropp Company. In 1898 the E. C. Kropp Company started in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by publishing high quality cards. It became the E. C. Kropp Company in 1907 and produced cards from scenes right across the United States. They did some pioneer and experimental techniques. In 1956 the company was sold to the GAF Corporation. In order to make his dream come true, Mr. Lowe had to invent the equipment to take people up this hill – 3000 feet long journey. It was a set of tracks with two cars on them. The cars met at exactly the middle point and followed the tracks as they bent out enough for the cars to pass without bumping each other. The safety equipment, especially the braking, was unusual for the time. But, he had no accidents that I am aware of.