I Think I Can!

This post card shows one of the early trains headed up to the top of Pikes Peak. It looks like it would be a good illustration of the tale of the little train that kept saying, “I think I can; I think I can..”

The words at the bottom of the picture tell us that this is happening at Shady Springs Colorado. This quote comes directly from the people who operate the Pikes Peak Cog Railroad, "The story behind Shady Springs really is not that great. It is a set of natural springs that have pooled together under a stand of trees. So Shady Springs is essentially a set of springs under the trees. It is, however, a favorite spot for bears in the summer time." My wife and I plan on being there in September; maybe we will see some bears!!

When we turn the post card over we are overwhelmed by the amount of information that can be gleaned from the back. First, it is a post card that was printed in the Undivided Back Era. The bottom left clearly states that “THIS SIDE IS FOR THE ADDRESS ONLY.” That means that it was printed before March 1, 1907. Then, when we look at the postmark we find out that it was mailed just 4 days after the changes at the post office took effect. This card was mailed on March 5, 1907 which means it was mailed 4 days into the Divided Back Era. After March 1st the left side of the post cards were reserved for the address of the receiver but the right hand side could be used for a short message. Evidently, this new twist in the post cards was not advertised well enough for the sender to know this. Her message in still crammed onto the front, bottom of the post card: “Hope you are feeling as well as I am.”

Second (or third if you include the postmark information), his card was printed in Germany. The logo in the top left has the word Germany under it. Two cities in Germany are also mentioned after the name of the post card publisher: Leipzig and Dresden.

Fourth, the company that printed the post card was The American News Company. This information comes from the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York: “Founded by Sinclair Tousey in 1864 this firm became a major distributor of books, magazines, newspapers, comic books and postcards exclusively through their national network of more than 300 affiliated news agencies. Nearly all of their output was in view-cards and they mostly covered the New York, mid-Atlantic region. In addition to distributing postcards, they seem to have published some as well and worked as a middleman for many smaller publishers wishing to produce cards. Most of their cards were printed in Leipzig, Dresden and Berlin, Germany, but they switched to American and French printers during World War One. They often became the focus of litigation from trying to monopolize distribution of printed material in the United States. Their closure in 1957 led to great difficulties in distribution, putting many small publishers out of business as well.”

Their first post cards were black and white. Then, they added Poly-Chrome post cards to their repertoire. This is one of those types of cards – again, the logo at the top left. The following information is also taken from the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York: “A German Made card printed in photo-chromolithography with heavy retouching. Its colors are bright and so flat that they almost resemble screenprints. The poly-chrome process was almost exclusively used before 1907, and was the firmís first color printing technique. Other European publishers also used the same process but without the Poly-Chrome name.
Prefix A (1903-1907). Many of these cards were reissued.
Prefix M Cards with the Poly-chrome name were also printed in the United States during the First World War, with white borders, but these lithographic cards have a grained texture. They were not always published by the American News Company.”

Fifth, it mentions above something about Prefix A. The number of this post card is “A 6447”, to that means it was printed between 1903 and 1907. This corroborates the observation above about the age of the card.

Sixth, the publisher of the post card was The Colorado News Company of Denver, Colorado. They were a publisher and distributor for The American News Company.

Quantity Over Quality

This post card is an example of how popular post cards were in the early 1900s. They were producing them so quickly that sometimes something might slip on the production.

In this case the card stock cutter missed its mark.

The white strip at the top of the post card is supposed to be cut in half length-wise. The top half is to be the bottom of the previous card and the bottom is to be the top of this post card. Instead we get to have a “sneak peak” at the bottom of the previous post card along with this post card.

OR the bottom of this post card is showing at the top instead of at the bottom is another way of looking at the situation.

Anyway… This is a close up of the crew of one of the engines that pulls a car up to the top of Pikes Peak. There is no obvious number on the engine, but it is one of the early models.

This post card belongs to the Divided Back Era, so it was published between 1907 and 1915. There is no indication on the front or the back who the printer or the publisher were. But the fancy design around the words POST CARD on the back will reveals one or the other once we can break that code!!

Open at Night!

These three post cards illustrate for us the fact that Pikes Peak was not just a daytime attraction. We have already seen that the weather station at the top of the peak was slowly transformed as the owners added an overnight accommodation as well as other amenities.

The top two post cards are the same picture. It is taken from the top of the peak looking back down the tracks toward the direction from which the trains arrive. When I first saw this picture my imagination told me that someone had lost a nickel. The two men at the back were looking for it where it was dropped. The closest two men are going to where the light is better so they can see the ground better. I have a great imagination!!

The bottom post card is the same building as seem from the other end – what one sees as one approached it from downhill. The picture was obviously not taken in the middle of the summer. There are icicles hanging from the tower and the building.

When I flip over the two top cards, I see that one has been published by the Illustrated Postal Card Company of New York.It only existed from 1905 to 1914 at 520 West 84th Street in New York City. You can see that the post card was printed in Germany; this was prior to the beginning of World War One. We can trace that the cards of this company were printed by a certain Emil Pinkau in Leipzig in the Saxony region of Germany. They started printing their own post cards in 1909 – just in time to avoid a dearth of cards because of the war. You can notice that they had two logos; one of the eagle and the other the “scribble” before the word “Illustrated”.

The second card has not been claimed by anyone. It has a distinctive double-line down the middle and the front for the words “POST CARD” is distinctive. I hope someday to find out who this publisher or printer is. I included it because there is a date printed on the card. It is August 30, 1909. This, combined with the information of the above publisher, gives us a clear timeline for both cards. They are from the Divided Back Era which lasted from about 1907 to 1915; and now we can narrow it down to one specific year: 1909.

The bottom card, too, does not have a publisher indicated on it. But, it does have a date. It was posted in August of 1912. In the text written on the post card we are given a bit of insight into history.

The writer is telling the receiver that the price to go to the top of Pikes Peak was $5.20. $5.00 was the cost to go to the top of the peak and 20 cents was the cost to get into the Manitou Springs. Plus, it tells us that it snowed in August in Colorado in 1912.

The "Owner" of Pikes Peak

These two post cards continue the theme of looking at various aspects of Pikes Peak and the parties that were responsible for the production of the post cards that highlighted the famous mountain top. The top card is titled, “Climbing Son-of-a-Gun Hill”

and the bottom is titled, “Phantom Curve.” These two pictures were taken by someone who knew Pikes Peak well: Joseph Hiestand. It says so in the bottom right hand corner of each of these post cards. I have enlarged one of the credits for you to see.

Joseph G. Hiestand was heavily involved in the promotion and the early success of Pikes Peak as a tourist attraction. He owned both the Ute Iron Springs hotel at the bottom of the peak and the Summit House at the top of the peak.

The following information was taken from these two websites:
http://www.minrec.org/labels.asp?colid=1109
https://www.georgeglazer.com/prints/vista/colorado.html

Joseph Gonder Hiestand was born in Strasburg, Pennsylvania on August 15, 1860. He grew up in Lewiston, Pennsylvania, and already on the 1880 Philadelphia census, at the age of 20, he was listing himself as a “mineralogist.” Later he also studied with George F. Kunz of Tiffany's in New York, who encouraged him to go west.

Hiestand spent the latter years of his life living part of the time in New York, where his wife and three daughters lived year-round, but after divorcing around 1900 he moved to Manitou Springs, where he had been spending his summers. There he acquired ownership of the Ute Iron Springs, adjoining the station of the cog road up Pikes Peak. He built a pavilion and hotel at the springs which became a popular tourist attraction, and he was also owner of the Summit House on Pikes Peak.

In an anecdote recorded in The Pike’s Peak Cog Road (1972) by Morris W. Abbott, Hiestand would take a toboggan down the rails of the cog road at the end of his workday, and is credited with having made the entire trip in 11 minutes at the astonishing rate of speed of 50 mph.

He was well known for his photography of the Pikes Peak area, was the official photographer for the Manitou and Pikes Peak Railway. He even published a book: SUMMIT OF PIKE'S PEAK Via the Cog Road in 1903.

Hiestand was also a prominent local collector and dealer in mineral specimens. He made early discoveries of topaz and phenacite in Colorado which he brought to the attention of the scientific community. In 1896 he issued a 24-page booklet called Colorado minerals. It was given out "compliments of J. G. Hiestand, collector and dealer in fine mineral specimens."

Heistand had a mineral shop on Fairview Avenue in Manitou Springs, Colorado. Hiestand exhibited his collection at the 1887 Exposition, as reported in the Manitou Springs Journal (September 3, 1887). The collection was also displayed at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago. The Manitou Springs Journal for May 28, 1898 reported on the sale of Heistand's mineral collection as follows: “No one will deny that the most beautiful thing in Manitou is the case of mineral specimens at the Iron Springs pavilion, collected and arranged by Mr. J.G. Hiestand. It is well worth the hundred miles travel to see the collection. "The specimens are the handsomest and are such as are not found in any other collection. The cave formations are particularly gorgeous. The crystallization is perfect. There are twelve or fifteen hundred specimens in the cabinet ranging all the way from a venus hairstone to gold nuggets that run $200,000 to the ton.”

On January 1, 1916 he accidentally shot himself dead while cleaning his guns.

The backs of the cards show that they were designed to be souvenirs of the trip up the mountain. There is a box in the top left of the card where an official stamp can be impressed to prove that the traveller had made it to the top!!