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.