I don't know much, but you are welcome to what I do...

I have learned a few things about postcards since my entry in 2009. It is amazing how much information and history can be gleaned from a postcard – when looking at it with an educated eye. I have been educating myself about the postcards in my collection and now I am ready to share what I think I know with the rest of the world – or at least you!


I am, however, starting out by humbling myself. There isn’t a lot I know about this particular postcard. I can’t even read the handwriting enough to know what the message is about. But, it is card number one in volume number one… so here I go.

I know that it belongs to the group of postcards known as those from “the divided back” era. Beginning on March 1, 1907 postcards were able to be sent through the US Mail with an actual message on the same side as the address. Prior to that date, only the address was allowed on the “back” of the card. (There are some of these to come in the future in this blog.) People were not used to this so the postcard printers added the words: “THIS SPACE CAN BE USED FOR A WRITTEN MESSAGE USING A ONE-CENT STAMP”.

This postcard demonstrates exactly that: a message on the left and the address on the right. It was sent by someone named Henry from Denver, Colorado to Marie Reinecke of Los Angeles, California in 1913. It is postmarked on June 26th at 5:30 PM. The handwriting script is beautifully elegant, but I cannot make out enough to know what the message is.

I do not even know either who the printer or the publisher were. By looking at the scrollwork around the words Post Card, I would think that I can identify at least who the printer was. But, I do not have any postcards with similar scrollwork that give away any clues. I will continue my quest.

I do know about the front of the card. It is a picture of The Royal Gorge in Colorado. This canyon is also known as the Grand Canyon (sometimes canon with out the accent over the first n) of the Arkansas River. It is 10 miles long, 50 feet wide at the bottom and about 1,250 wide at the top.

On April 19, 1878 construction, and a turf war, began as the construction crew from the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad started to work on the grade for a rail line through the canyon. This began a lengthy legal battle between the D&RG and the Santa Fe – both wanting the right of way through the gorge. The Supreme Court of the US finally decided in favor of the D&RG on April 21, 1879. The first train went through the canyon on May 7, 1879.

Today, you can still ride the scenic rails through the canyon. This is the website that links you to quite the adventure. http://www.royalgorgeroute.com/ You can even pay for a ticket that allows you to be up in the cab with the engineer.

The next very many posts will be about my postcards with the theme: “The Royal Gorge”. There is a lot of history there and I hope to share some of it with you in the coming weeks.