More about the Circular Bridge

These two post cards are, again, pictures of The Circular Bridge.

The top card has the primitive type of trolley that was first used on the Mt. Lowe Railway to take passengers from the top of the Mt. Lowe incline to the Alpine Tavern. The caption under the picture says, “Car on Circular Bridge, Alpine Section, Mount Lowe R. R., Cal.” I lived in southern California for at least 15 years. I don’t recall the tops of these mountains being very alpine. By definition “Alpine” means similar to the Alps. I have seen the Alps a couple of times and they do not remind me of southern California. I believe this nomenclature was a bit of a tourist attraction liberty. What I like about this first picture is the view below them to our left. It is the “settlement” that was built at the top of the incline. Once can clearly see Echo Mountain House and the observatory. The brown scar on the side of the hill is the rail line on which the trolley has just come. I also notice that the person sitting in the front seat closest to the drop-off is a woman wearing a fur coat and a fancy hat. I am not sure if she is carrying a large, white purse or has a dog on her lap. The bottom post card does not actually have a train on it. This is probably the first post card in my blog that does not. However, I could not resist showing the picture that shows the valley, the settlement on top of Echo Mountain, the train tracks and the circular bridge. These two men could be surveyors making sure that the construction is correct. It does look like the one in the background is carrying a roll of blueprints. Now to the backs of the post cards

The top card was used as a promotional item. I have heard of companies purchasing post cards and sending them out as cheap advertising. This is the only example of that in my collection! And look at the price of the canned fruit… 24 cans of fruit for $4.75 AND they pay the freight. The card was published by M. Rieder of Los Angeles. We have seen his cards before. The company only lasted from 1901 to 1915. So, that means that this post card was printed sometime between 1901 and March 1, 1907. The words “Post Card” at the top middle of the card are superimposed on top of an eagle. Where the eagle’s feet normally are, there are two letters. They are a C and a K on top of each other. I am thinking that this is logo of the printer of the card from Germany. I do not have any proof of such yet. The bottom card was also printed by M. Reider. This post card, too, was printed before March 1, 1907 so it is of a similar age to the one above.

The Circular Bridge

These three post cards are pictures of what Thaddeus Lowe called “The Circular Bridge”, and for a very good reason. According to the Mt. Lowe Preservation Society this bridge is “a circle of 400 feet with a diameter of 150 feet, built on a grade of 4 ½%”. It was one of many points of interest on the Mount Lowe Railway. In my previous posts you can see the Mt. Lowe Incline and the Granite Gate.

The top card is the oldest. It was postmarked 1909. You can see that the trolley car is very open in this view (sunny California) and perhaps a bit primitive. But, there is nothing primitive about the construction of the bridge. You can see the timbers and pilings quite clearly. It looks very sturdy. I like looking at the valley below. This railway was just above Pasadena. When you look at the San Gabriel Valley in this post card, it looks like it is neatly laid out in agricultural sections. Well, this is from over 100 years ago. The middle card is from 1912. You can see that they have changed the design on the trolley car. You can also see clearly the slope that the bridge encompasses. The purpose of the bridge was not just to turn you around to go back in the direction you just came from, it was to get you higher up the mountain, too. This view certain demonstrates that. The bottom post card is from 1913. The first thing I notice is how the valley has changed. Those agricultural squares in the first card now show housing development up against the mountains. On the left side of this view one can see the path that leads to where the Echo Mountain House and the Observatory was located. This is where the incline took people; then, they transferred to these trolley cars and went farther up to the Alpine Tavern.

The backs of the post cards are all postmarked. They cover the timeline from September 2, 1909 to April 7, 1913. The first card contains a message correcting a mistake made in a previous letter. It says that the writer thought that the person they were staying with had not been to Columbus, Ohio (the destination of the card) for 20 years. It turns out that a Mr. Stewart had not lived in Columbus for 20 years but had visited there 3 years ago and cooked dinner with a mutual friend. It also declares that they intend to go up Mount Lowe before they head home, but that they are going to Long Beach tomorrow. The post card is going to what they call today, Old Towne East. It is east of Interstate 71 and about 1 and a half miles from where the river bends to the south. It was published by Edward H. Mitchell. He was a very prolific post card publisher. The second post card is dated September 7, 1912. It is going to Seattle, Washington. This is near Green Lake and a few blocks north of Woodland Park Zoo. The message tells us that this writer actually took the trip up Mount Lowe. “It’s beautiful up here. B. has mentioned so many times ‘Belle was with us’ We are sure having a dandy trip with Tom.” Then the writer declares that they took an auto trip that went 165 miles. That must have been amazing in 1912. The first Model T Ford was produced in August of 1908!! Again, we have no clue as to who published this post card. It does, however, sport the logo for Mt. Lowe California on the back. The last post card is written in beautiful penmanship. It was sent from Los Angeles to Mapleton, Minnesota. It is southwest of St. Paul, Minneapolis by just over 50 miles “as the crow flies”. On the map, it looks like a farming community. The message on this post card tells us that is was 99 years ago. “Hello George: How are you getting along by this time. I suppose you are busy on the farm now. Have you driven your bay colt yet? He must be a dandy by this time. I am getting along fine.” We will never know if this writer ever went up the mountain or not. This post card was also published by Edward H. Mitchell. The postal cancelation says, “WORLD’S PANAMA PACIFIC EXPOSITION IN SAN FRANCISCO 1915” If you have ever been to San Francisco, you have probably seen the remnants from this exposition.

Granite Gate from the Other Side

This view of the Granite Gate is from the other side with the trolley car going back to Echo Mountain from the Alpine Tavern. It contains a very clear view of what a trolley on the line looked like. This is car number 57 of the Pacific Electric Railway which was begun in 1901 by the real estate tycoon Henry Huntington; his is related to the Huntington of Southern Pacific fame (a nephew, I believe). He bought up several smaller lines and renamed them. A bit of trivia for you: the Pacific Electric Railway invented the grade crossing safety warning device: the “wig-wag”. It is the automatic grade crossing signal that wags back and forth with a flashing light in the middle at a grade crossing when a train is both approaching and crossing. I haven’t seen one of these for years!! After some financial difficulties, the Mt. Lowe Railway became part of Henry Huntington’s web of railways in 1902. Back to the trolley car: there is a lovely red and white cloth fringe around the wooden roof. One can see the bell on the top, middle, front of the roof, too. The red ink on the top, left of the post card tells is that this is the “Granite Gate. Mt. Lowe Division, Pacific Electric Railway, Los Angeles, Cal.”. The photograph is so clear that one could swear that the male passenger has a moustache.

This card is from the “divided back” era. It is pre-World War I. The post card was printed in Germany and published by the Newman Post Card Company (NPC) of Los Angeles. It is card “No. C. 16”. This is one of the earlier printings published by the NPC. Later, they will develop a logo in a circle and place it in the upper, left of their post cards. See the blog post of December 10th for more details about this.

More Views of the Granite Gate

These are three more views of the Granite Gate. The top two post cards are the exact same picture. All three views give us an idea of just how narrow the gate was.

A person on each side of the trolley car can reach out and touch the sides of the mountain pass. In fact, when one looks very carefully at the third post card, one can conclude that it is actually a corruption of the first two. The trees in the picture have not changed. The trolley is at the exact same location, stopped for the camera. The two people touching the sides of the mountain are in the exact same pose. The only real difference is that the trolley now has some printing across the front of it, the fringed top is now solid wood and one person on the left side of the trolley is missing. All of these could easily have been done to the picture at the time of the printing of the third card. The words on the first post card are: “Granite Gate, Mt. Lowe, California Elevation 4200 Feet”. We can see that it is printed across the sky in red ink. There must have been a very severe earthquake in the years between the printing of this card and the second post card. The Granite Gate has gained 600 feet of elevation! The words on the first post card are: “Granite Gate, Mt. Lowe, California Elevation 4800 Feet”. The third post card avoids trying to correct the error. It simply says: “GRANITE GATE, MT. LOWE, CALIFORNIA”. The first two post cards are from the “divided back” era. While it is obvious on the front that they are both using the same picture, it is not obvious on the back that they are from the same publisher.

The first post card was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company. They were in Los Angeles, California from 1908 to 1921. They printed post cards mostly of the Southern California scenery. So, we can determine that this post card is, at the youngest, 91 years old if it had been the last card printed by them. The oldest that is can be is 104 years old, if it had been the first card printed by them. It was published by the M. Kashower Company. This company existed in Los Angeles from 1914 to 1934. They published mostly comic cards, holiday greetings, and view-cards of southern California. With this in mind, the oldest the card can now be is 98 years old. At the bottom of the card is the number 570. I would imagine that this is the number of the print job. Unfortunately, we don’t know how many print jobs per year were run so it doesn’t help us to age the card. The second post card tells us absolutely nothing about the printer or the publisher. It does show that the Mt. Lowe promoters had settled on their logo: a bear (also found on the California state flag) overlooking the San Gabriel Valley. WE do know that it is from some time between 1907 and about 1915, which is the approximate date range of the “divided back” era. The third post card is from the “white border” era. This era lasted from about 1915 to 1930. As you can see, it, too, has the Mt. Lowe logo on it. On the left side of the card is the name of the publishing company: E. C. Kropp. We have seen this company involved in publishing Mt. Lowe post cards in the past blog postings. What I would like to point out here, which I have not done in the past few postings, is for you to look at the rectangle where the postage stamp is to be placed. In the top, left corner is the letter E; in the top, right the letter C; in the bottom, left is the letter K; and, in the bottom right are the letters Co. This post card is print job number 28645 as indicated by the numbers in the top center of the post card.

Twins, but not Identical – AGAIN!!

These two post cards have the exact same picture on their fronts. This isn’t a matter of copyright infringement; they were both published by the same company. This time the company is the Newman Post Card Company. It existed from 1907 until it was acquired by H.S. Crocker in the 1960s. They are somehow linked to the Oscar Newman Company, but I am not sure how. Like almost all the post card companies, the Newman Post Card Company (NPC) had their post cards printed in Germany. Germany had the technology, the experts and the experience to be able to print colored post cards very inexpensively. NPC followed the pattern and shipped their images over there with the instructions for colorization and got them back for less than what was possible in the United States – and received a better quality product. Most of the cards of NPC were of Southern California, although there were other topics.

The reason I brought these two into the blog is not because the fronts are the same, as much as for the difference of the backs. Both post cards come from the “divided back” era. The card on the left is younger than the one on the right. It was printed in Germany. The line up the left side of the card contains the card number (No. C. 11.), the fact that it was published by NPC of Los Angeles and that it was made in Germany. Below, in the bottom left corner is says, “Write here.” Unlike other cards of this era, it does not say either, this side is exclusively for the address, or this side for correspondence. It seems that the Newman Post Card Company is so young that they have not even had time to develop their logo. The post card on the right is older. By this time, they have developed the logo (top left corner). They expanded from Los Angeles into San Francisco, where the Oscar Newman Company formed a partnership with Edward H Mitchell (EHM), the prolific post card publisher. Just the look of the back of the card shows to me that EHM had some influence on the design. Plus, what I think is his own invention of saying, “On the Road of a thousand wonders” is on the bottom left of the card. It keeps connection to the first post card because it reminds us that this is still post card No. C. 11.

The image is that of the Granite Gate on the Mt. Lowe Railway. You can see that the image is the same. Only the titles are different locations. The one on the left is so much easier to read – this is the card that was printed in Germany. In the white box are the words: Granite Gate, Mt. Lowe Division, Pacific Electric Ry. Cal. These exact same words appear on the card on the right. But, they are hidden by the tree. They are at the top center in red ink. (This, too, I believe, demonstrates the influence of EHM).

Twins, but not Identical

These two post cards have the exact same picture on their fronts. This isn’t a matter of copyright infringement; they were both published by the same company. On the way from Echo Mountain to the Alpine Tavern the trolley had to make a turn around the top of a smaller mountain top. As the builders rounded the corner, they ran into a very large vein of granite. There was only one way to get to the other side. They blasted the granite with dynamite. To help put this work into perspective, it took the team eight months to get through to the other side. See:

What you are looking at in these two pictures is the successful result. It is known as the “Granite Gate”. Both cards label it as such and tell us that it is part of the “Alpine Extension”, what Thaddeus Lowe called the trolley line that ran from his settlement at Echo Mountain to the new Alpine Tavern. The post card on the left tells us that it was published by M. Rieder of Los Angeles, it is card No. 3042, and it was made in Germany. Someone has written on it “Ostrich Farm Nov. 1904”. The post card on the right only tells us that it is a picture of the “Granite Gate, Alpine Extension, Mt. Lowe Rd.” I have to admit that this card seems to have a sharper picture than the first. Printing techniques seem to have improved through the eight years between printings.

The back of the top card, which is the left card above, shows us that this comes from before March 1, 1907. The back has the clear message, “THIS SIDE IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE ADDRESS.” It also has the fact that it was made in Germany printed on the left side. We can believe that the date written on the front is a legitimate date of the card’s existence because it was printed before 1907. The right-hand card is from the “divided back” era. It tells us that the right half of the card is for the address only and the left side is for correspondence. The left also tells us the M. Reider of Los Angeles was the publisher who had it printed in Germany. This card is also numbered No. 3042. At the bottom someone has used a rubber stamp with the rotating dates to stamp “MAR 27 1912” in burgundy ink. An interesting observation about this card is that in the box for the stamp, there is, not only the postage rates, but upside on the top is the number “No. 14568”. I have no idea what that could be. If any of you know, please share the information with us.

On the way to the Tavern

Happy Birthday to you! Today is my sister Mary’s birthday. This information will become significant later in this post. We are still in Southern California. We are still on Mt. Lowe. Today’s two post cards contain pictures of the trip from Echo Mountain to the Alpine Tavern.

The card on the left is the older of the two. It is from the “divided back” era. It has a title in red ink in the top, right-hand corner of the post card. It reads: “On the Road to Alpine Tavern, Mt. Lowe Division, Pacific Electric Ry. Los Angeles, Cal.” You can see that part of the mountain was very covered in tall trees. They look like pine, spruce and live oaks. At the bottom of the card is a curve. It is probably horseshoe curve. It was located toward the top of Los Flores Canyon and was on the trolley line to the Alpine Tavern. The post card on the right is of later vintage. It is from the “white border” era. The title at the bottom of the card in the white border (a very good reason to have a white border) reads: “CLIMBING LOS FLORES CANYON, MT. LOWE, CALIFORNIA.” It shows the trolley going through a more rugged part of the trail to the Alpine Tavern. After the horseshoe curve and the circular bridge (coming soon to this blog) the trolley climbed, went around a rocky point and the top of this hill, then it headed back in the direction from which it came toward the tavern at the base of Mt. Lowe.

The post card at the top in this view is the one on the left in the previous view. It was published by M. Rieder, a company headquartered in Los Angeles. The card itself was printed in Germany – very famous at this time for their quality of post cards. It was also prior to World War I so trade with Germany was fine. This is card No. 3790. You can see that it has a divided back. The right side was for the stamp, the postmark and the address – ONLY. The left side was for the message, the very short message. In a posting coming up we will see a similar card but just a wee bit older than this one. No message was allowed in this space, either. The card on the left looks to like it is a post card printed by Curt Otto Teich’s company. At the top is the number R-53774. If it is a card by Curt Teich it could be from around 1915, when the first started printing the white border cards. There is no other indicator on the card (unless maybe I lift the stamp) to indicate who printed or published it. You can see that the Mt. Lowe insignia is clearly printed on the back, top left corner of the card. We know for sure that this card existed on December 2, 1922. That is the postmarked date. It was mailed from Los Angeles, California to Winnipeg, Manitoba in Canada at 12:30 PM. Now for the significance of my sister’s birthday: This card was mailed about 3 decades to the day before she was born. So, it almost like today is both my sister’s birthday and this post card’s birthday – sort of…

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.

Summer is over; I am back

I just had a great summer. You can see in the previous post from June 9th where I spent some of the summer. I also spent one month in Spain and Portugal. It was absolute heaven. My wife and I were in northern Spain for one week, then we met up with another couple and spent 3 weeks traveling down Portugal and into Andalucia. Did I mention that it was absolute heaven? Here is a picture from northern Portugal a city called Viana do Castello.

This is a passing freight train. There was also a passenger train sitting at the station waiting to begin its run to Porto. We didn't take any trains on this trip. But we walked right next to some. There is a bridge over the Duro River in Porto. It was built by the same man who built the Eiffel tower. Trains travel over the bridge as they enter and leave Porto. BUT... people can walk on the same bridge. Here is proof...

Because we didn't ride a train, my favourite part of the vacation was finding a delicacy of deep-fried pork belly with the skin on. It was heaven!! I write all of this just to let you know that I am back and ready to set a few more postcards into the netherworld of the internet. I hope you enjoy seeing them and reading about them.

Summer in Canada is here!!!

Summer in Edmonton, Alberta means that the posts on this blog will slow down. We will be going out to the lake to visit with friends, to enjoy water skiing, to relish time with friends, to barbecue, to appreciate the friends in our lives, to float on the water, and did I mention to interact with friends.

This will all take precedence over the train post cards. However, once the summer has passed, the cold and dark will drive me back inside, in front of the scanner and computer to post more about my postcard collection.

Variations on a Theme

These four post cards have similar pictures of the same view. You have even seen this scene in the previous posts of May 22nd and 31st. I have 17 different post cards with this picture, or a slight variation of it, on the front. I chose this one because it has a very sharp image on it. It is beautifully colored, too.

My understanding is that the printing of color post cards of this era were that the photographs were printed on post card stock in black and white. The publishers sent to the printers a color palate and notes to the printers telling them what colors the various parts of the photograph were supposed to be. This post card looks like it could have been printed in color directly onto the card stock. The borders between the colors are sharp and the shades are subtle. It is a tribute to the technology of the day! Of course, this is a picture of the Incline on the Mt. Lowe Railway. Just like in the picture from May 31st, this is the cable car waiting to go up the mountain. Just like in the picture from May 31st, they are waiting to have their picture taken. Unlike that post card, you can’t see the photographer, but his camera is set up at the very bottom of the picture, a wee bit to the right of center. He might be standing in front of the camera with a paper taking notes (perhaps the names of his subjects so he can post their pictures later with their names attached). At the bottom left of the card is the waiting area and the trolley car that brought the tourists up the hill.

As I turn the post card over I notice that it is from the pre-March 1, 1907 era. That is all that I can tell from the back of the card. The words “POST CARD” and a logo are in the top middle of the back, but I haven’t been able to identify the publisher from these indicators, yet. I do have several other post cards of other scenes with a similar logo on them. But, like this card, no solid information to lead me to the publisher or the printer. Holding the card in my hand, I can feel that the surface is uneven. This card has been embossed. The picture on the front has been raised so that the card is sort of three dimensional. These other three cards are pictures of the same scene. I am including them so that you can see that in the 17 cards of this scene, there are differences. On this second card you can see that it was not a very busy day. There is no one sitting in the cable car. There are two trolley cars sitting at the waiting area, but there are no tourists. Perhaps they were told to wait to the side while this picture of the Incline was being taken. Perhaps they are all at the top already.

On the back of the card, one can tell that, again, this is from the early era. The date on the front and the postmark tell us that this was written and mailed in 1905, May 25th to be exact. That makes this card 107 years and 9 days old today!! The message on the front says “Why don’t you write to your Western friends?” It is being sent to West Lynn, Mass. This city is northeast of Boston very close to Nahant Bay. If one were to drive from Boston to Lynn and keep going past Lynn about twice the distance, one would come to the town where I live for a year from September 1972 to September 1973: Ipswich.

In this third picture we are starting to gather more tourists.

There are three of them sitting in the cable car waiting to have their pictures taken and to be whisked away to the top of the Incline. It is hard to know that there is a lodge up there waiting for the tourists. But, up on the first bump to the right of where the cable car is taking these tourists, there is another little bump. This is Echo Lodge. The message on the front of the card reads, “I went up Mt. Lowe about a week ago and got back alive as you see. I’m hoping those ‘cow sheds’ will not be as full of fleas as cow-sheds usually are. If they are, I think I will camp on the lawn. I’m coming home to work (not rest) in a week – that is if I get there without drowning, etc. Edna Child…” As I turn the card over, not only do I notice that it was mailed on September 5, 1906,

I see that this is being sent to Mr. Earle L. Menker at 354 S. 10th Street in San Jose, California. When I look up that address I see that it is right next to San Jose State University. If the residents of the house sit on their front steps, they will see Campus Village B of the University. San Jose State University began San José State University was founded in 1857 as Minns' Evening Normal School, and is the oldest public school of higher education in the state. The university now offers more than 134 bachelor's and master's degrees with 110 concentrations. See this page for more information: http://www.sjsu.edu/about_sjsu/history/timeline/ This final post card for this blog post is a very good one.

It, too, is a very sharp picture (like the first one above). The 8 people in the picture are rather relaxed and are looking at a camera. But, they are looking up at the camera that took this picture, not at the one that takes the touristy pictures. Hopefully, you can see the American flag attached to the top of the car. There were 45 states because this picture was taken pre-March 1, 1907. You will see that when we turn the card over. Theodore Roosevelt was in office and he objected to the plan that Oklahoma residents had for entering the Union as two different States, a State of Sequoyah and a State of Oklahoma. Roosevelt insisted that the Oklahoma Indian Territory come in as a single unified state, or not at all. Utah had become the 45th US State on 4 January 1896 and Oklahoma finally became the 46th US State on 16 November 1907. You can read more here: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_many_US_states_were_there_in_1905#ixzz1t68X1Ns6 If you look at the top of the Incline, we can finally see the Echo Lodge. It is the point on the bump to the right of the top of the Incline. As I look at the post card with my giant magnifying glass, I can see that the powerhouse and other buildings are right at the top of the Incline.

This card was published by M. Rider (1901 to 1915) in Los Angeles but printed in Germany. Germany had developed great technology for printing color post cards and it was cheaper for the Americans to ship orders over there (not by plane, either) and get them back then it was to have them printed in the US. This situation eventually changed – just before World War One.

Smile!

Have you ever been at a tourist attraction or activity and someone from the amusement park or the company hosting the activity takes your picture? I remember being at an amusement park (although I can’t remember which one) and as we came over the top of the roller coaster type of mechanism (perhaps a log ride somewhere) they took our picture. I have also been rafting in Jasper National Park in Canada and someone on the side of the road took our picture. When we returned to the rafting company store, or when we got off the ride our pictures were there on display for us to purchase.

The people riding the cable car up The Mount Lowe Incline had this same opportunity. This post card is a picture at the bottom of The Incline. To the left in the picture you can see the trolley cars that brought passenger to the bottom of the incline from Pasadena and Los Angeles. Obviously, in the middle is the incline itself, 3000 feet of it. At the bottom of the incline is a cable car full of people. They are lined up properly, one above the other and next to each other. There is a person standing next to the car facing downhill. The passengers are facing backwards so that they can see the beautiful valley over which they are about to ascend. But, they are also looking directly into the camera that is about to take their picture. You can’t see it very well on the scan, so in this second view of the same card I have put a little arrow in orange. It is pointing to the camera and to the photographer. He is dressed in a brown suit with the professional felt hat on his head.

This next view, is from my camera. I used it to take a picture of the post card while I zoomed in on the bottom where the man stands. Here you can clearly see the man hard at work.

This card is published by M. Rieder of Los Angeles. I think that, if you have read my previous few blogs, you have heard enough about M. Rieder. What I want to point out to you today is the logo in the top, middle of the card. I have posted about it before. I want to know what it means and where it comes from. I know that the eagle is a symbol of Germany and that M. Rieder had their cards printed in Dresden, Germany. I wonder if the EKC in the middle, where the bird’s feet should be, are the initials of the printer in Germany?? Meanwhile, this card is from pre-March 1, 1907. There is only allowance for the address on the back of the card. Any message will have to be squeezed onto the front of the card, where the photographer can record it for posterity.

San Gabriel Valley

This card is a good example of why people went to Mt. Lowe’s attractions.

Echo Mountain is right in the middle of the card. It is a white blotch on this card but it represents the powerhouse, a Chalet, the Echo Mountain House, casino, the observatory, residential car barn, gardens, gas holder, zoo and water system. This is where the incline railway would take people after travelling to the foot of it in Rubio Canyon. People could go there a couple of thousand feet above sea level to see the beautiful San Gabriel Valley sprawled out before them and to escape the heat of the summer. It was opened all year round, but I am thinking that most people went there in the summer. You can see that the valley was still pretty much agricultural (all the green on the card) with a city here and there. Pasadena could be at the bottom right of the card just over the mountain scene. And, there is city on the right edge of the card halfway up the side. Notice the lack of smog or smoke trapped in the valley. This was taken in the early 1900s and probably in the spring when the air is still clear (I believe that they still have days like that today). You may notice that there are train tracks in the mountains. There are more cards to come to explain this phenomenon.

This card was also published by M. Rieder. However, it says the company is in Los Angeles and the card was made in Germany. The last card had the company in both LA and Dresden. The company was in Los Angeles from 1901 to 1915. This card is from the pre-March 1, 1907 era also. The right 3/4s of the card are for the address and the postmark only. On the left of the card the sender was allowed to write his or her address and as the card says: “(NO OTHER WRITING)”

A Piece of Southern California Train History

Los Angeles is surrounded by mountains. These mountains are part of the reason that there is so much smog in the valleys. I remember as kid driving up to Crystal Lake. On the way down we stopped at a lookout point. We were above the smog. Looking out all we could see was the top of the smog with hills popping up out of it looking like islands. We have also been up there looking out over the valleys when it was so clear that we could see Catalina Island. We were not the first people to think that going up into the mountains on a hot summer day would be a good idea. In fact, a person named Thaddeus Lowe thought it was a very good idea back in the late 1800s. His idea was to build a “tourist trap” at the top of the mountain to draw people up to enjoy themselves, each other and the view. It was called Echo Mountain and the "tourist trap" was called Echo Mountain House.What is known today as Mt. Lowe was once Oak Mountain. "Mount Lowe located above Pasadena, California is part of the San Gabriel Mountains in southern California. It was originally named Oak Mountain, but was renamed for Professor Thaddeus S.C. Lowe, who built the Mount Lowe Railway to its foot in 1896. The record of the naming was made official by Andrew McNally, the famous Chicago map printer, who promised to print "Mount Lowe" on all his maps," (see http://www.mtlowe.net/) We are going to be vising the Mt. Lowe Railway through post cards in the next few blog posts. What we will be seeing was opened on the 4th of July in 1893 and made its last run on December 5th of 1937 – a 44 and a half year run. But look at what they accomplished in that short time span! Mr. Lowe only owned the railway for a short 8 years. He had to sell it to Henry Huntington of the Pacific Electric Railway.

In 1889, David MacPherson, a former Santa Fe Railway civil engineer, planned a steam powered railroad into the mountains behind Pasadena. In 1891, MacPherson and Thaddeus Lowe, a public figure from the Civil War, incorporated the Pasadena and Mt. Wilson Railway. Land near Mt. Wilson was unavailable, so Lowe ran electic trolley cars through Altadena into Rubio Canyon. At the terminus, Lowe built a pavilion transfer station and "The Great Incline" (see: http://www.mtlowe.net/brief_history.htm) I am beginning with this post card because it shows the mountain so clearly. The title in red under the picture says that it is a view of “Mt. Lowe Div. Pacific Electric Ry., California” You won’t be able to see it on this scan, but there is a large white building on the knob to the right of the hill where this incline leads. The incline is about 3000 feet long. Echo Mountain House is where everyone is headed. Mr. Lowe and company built a powerhouse, a Chalet, the Echo Mountain House, a casino (used as a dance pavilion and dormitory), an observatory, residential car barn, gardens, gas holder, zoo and water system. "The White City on the Mountain" was world famous. [see http://www.mtlowe.net/brief_history.htm] for more details. In its later years, the Mt. Lowe Railway will add an Alpine Tavern on a wicked set of tracks farther into the mountains. The tracks and the tavern will be featured in later posts.

This post card is from the pre-March 7, 1907 era. The entire space for a message is at the bottom of the front of the card. Max has made the best of it and told his “mother and folks” that “The ride up Mt. Lowe is most beautiful and enjoyed it very much.” He wrote this card on my older brother’s birthday 45 years before he was born. It was mailed the next day, August 23rd, in 1906. This year the card turns 112 years old. The card was published by M. Rieder of Los Angeles and Dresden. Dresden is a city in Germany. In these days the postcard printers in Germany were more experienced and produced better cards than those in the United States. So, many companies relied on their German counterparts to produce the post cards that they sold. This is a black and white card and the Germans excelled at the color post card production. We will see some of those in the near future in these blogs about Mt. Lowe. M. Rieder Company existed in Los Angeles from 1901 to 1915. They mostly published post cards of scenes from the western U.S. [see http://www.metropostcard.com/publishersr1.html] for more details. They contracted their printing work out to Germany and the famous and prolific post card publisher from California, Edward H. Mitchell. An interesting little note: the words POST CARD are prominent on the top, middle of the back of the card. They have “translated” those words into POSTAL CARD and CARTE POSTALE just below in parenthesis. Max wrote this to his family who lived at 1616 East 68 Street, in Chicago, IL. I looked it up on the internet. They lived close to the Illinois-Indiana border just east of where interstates 90 and 94 come together today. If they live there today, they are a 12 block walk to the South Shore Cultural Centre.

The Tehachapi Loop

The Tehachapi Loop is a spiral loop through the Tehachapi Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains. More specifically it is located in southern California. The line connects Mojave in the Antelope Valley to Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley on the other side of the mountains. The purpose of the loop is to reduce the grade of line. Once on the loop a train loses (or gains – depending on the direction of travel) 77 feet of elevation over almost three quarters of a mile. This makes it a safe 2% grade. Construction of the line and the loop began on November 8, 1874 and finished on September 5, 1876. The first train to use the brand new loop arrived at Los Angeles from San Francisco. It has been in heavy use ever since. In the summer of 1952 an earthquake shut down the Tehachapi Loop until repairs could be made. Today, the Union Pacific does not allow passenger trains to use the Tehachapi Loop.

The fun part of the loop is that the track crosses over itself, so that if a train in long enough, about 3,900 feet, it one can see the engine and the end of the train at the same time, one on top of the other. If you would like to experience this phenomenon yourself the Tehachapi Loop is at co-ordinates Latitude: 35°12′03″N and Longitude: 118°32′13″. This is a partial quote from the commemorative plaque at a stop where you can watch the trains go round: “In front of you is the world famous Tehachapi Loop which is about halfway upgrade to the Tehachapi Pass. This steep line averages 2.2% in gradient in its 28 miles of length. This feat of civil engineering genius was the crowning achievement of civil engineer William Hood of the Southern Pacific Railway Company. It is one of the seven wonders of the railroad world.” Many post cards have been made of this event. I have this older post card and a much more modern card. This post card has a train drawn in on the loop. It is the orange streak in the middle of the card. I am not sure who printed the card, but it was published by the M. Kashower Co. of Los Angeles, CA. It is from the white border era (1915 – 1930). I blogged about a card last month: also from M. Kashower, also from southern California. It was the train passing through orange groves.

Their company logo was on the back of that card as it is on the back of this post card. BUT, the logo has changed. This is the earlier logo, because the previous card was from the linen card (1930 – 1945) era. That logo was a bear (California symbol) in a circle with an M on our left and a K on our right hand side. This is an angel (symbol of Los Angeles) in the circle facing to our left and holding something (maybe a torch) in its right hand. The words M. Kashower Company are on the top, inside of the circle and Los Angeles, Cal are on the bottom, inside of the circle.

Through the Beautiful Desert

This post card is also in California. It is a picture of the back side of a train headed into California. Did you know that from many directions you have to cross a desert to get into California, especially if you take the Southern Pacific or Santa Fe routes?

They do not tell us which railroad this is a picture of but I don’t believe that either railroad ran green passenger cars. This is probably a case of “poetic license” on the part of the printer. The post card is part of the push for tourists to California so one can notice that even the desert is a beautifully blooming paradise as you travel through it. Having grown up in Arizona and California, I can attest that the desert does indeed bloom into beautiful colors. I find it amazing that someone was able to capture it on film with all of the plants blooming at the exact same time! This is probably some more “poetic license”. The card is a linen card (1930 to 1945 approx.). It was published by the company we have mentioned several times connected to the tourist trade: the Western Publishing and Novelty Co. out of Los Angeles. However, this time they have not teamed up with Theo Sohmer as the printer. They have gone straight to the company that invented the “linen post card”, the Curt Teich Company.

There is no indication on the back that his was printed by Curt Otto Tiech, but on the front at the bottom right hand corner there is a code: 1A-H405. The 1A tells us that it was printed in 1931. The A stands for the 1930s and the 1 tells us it is 1931. 405 is the printer order for that year. This was the 405th print run in 1931. The H just after the dash is the indicator that this was printed using the copyrighted Art Colortone Method, also known as the “linen cards”.

I turn 101 years old today!!

Today we are celebrating a post card that turns 101 years old (according to its postmark) on this very date.

This card seems to be part of an advertising campaign by the Southern California Tourist Agency. It probably isn’t, but it certainly highlights the attitude that people had about Southern California. The description of the scene on the top of the card says, “Entering Southern California, through Orange groves, in mid-winter”. I love that fact that they are combining Southern California with orange groves. I have actually seen train tracks through the orange groves. We moved to Southern California in 1959 and for a family outing would drive randomly through the state near our home. The part that really impresses me is the addition of “in mid-winter”. There is no snow to be seen; the grass is green; the orange trees are full of fruit. This card was published in the divided back era (1907 – 1915). It sure would have impressed the people back east to see something like this in the middle of a winter blizzard. The post card was published by the Newman Post Card Company. The company was begun in 1907 in Los Angeles. It lasted until it was purchased by the H.S. Crocker Company in the 1960s. The focus of the pictures on their cards was the Southern California area, although they printed pictures from other western points, too. They also took advantage of the 1915 Panama Pacific Exposition (held in San Francisco) to produce post cards. The Newman Post Card Company logo is in the top left on the back of the card.

It was printed by the Van Ornum Colorprint Company also out of Los Angeles. Their logo is between the words POST and CARD on the back. They only lasted from 1908 to the 1921. They printed tinted half-tone post cards. On the very bottom, left of the back of the post card it says, “On the Road of a Thousand Wonders”. I have a few cards with this theme. The Road of a Thousand Wonders was theme that the Southern Pacific Railroad gave to the routes from Southern California to Portland, Oregon. The invested in and supported the printed of post cards that depicted the various scenes on these routes. The post cards were used by the railroad to increase passenger volume because the people who received these cards had to come out west and see for themselves. Some of them stayed once they saw how beautiful it really was.

Paradise?

We are going to continue with the Southern California orange grove/train theme. This post card is from the white border era (approximately 1915to 1930).

The front of the post card is a picture of the final part of a train passing from an arboretum-like setting into an orange grove. The plants are all in bloom and the orange trees are full of fruit. In the background one can see the coastal range with snow on the mountain tops. Yet, there sit two lovely damsels in the flower garden enjoying the daisies. The title on the card says, “In California, the Land of Sunshine, Fruits and Flowers”. It certainly looks a bit like paradise. Even the people on the train are looking at the two lucky women sitting in the grass enjoying the lovely fragrances.

The back tells us that this is published by the Western Publishing and Novelty Company of Los Angeles. Because we are going to be focusing on California for a while, we will see a few cards issued by them. This company had a decent run – from 1932 to the 1970s. This company was a great promoter of the Southern California tourist business. Their cards were mostly pictures of California and they published some tourist material. There is a code on the top middle of the back of the card (A-101318) but I cannot tell you what it means. I would assume that it means that this is the 101,318th design of post cards that this publisher issued. However, I cannot back up that theory. If you know anything, I would love to hear from you. The back doesn’t tell us who printed the card, but I know that the Western Publishing and Novelty Company had a good partnership with Theo. Sohmer until he disappeared from the business scene.