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…