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”.