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.