Three Related Post Cards (2 of 3)

This is the second of three post cards sent to Miss Reba Vass in Cincinnati, Ohio. My last post had the first one and the next post will contain the third.

The front of this post card shows a steam locomotive passing Croydon, Utah while on the Union Pacific right of way. The train is called the Eastern Express. Unfortunately, I cannot find anywhere that there actually was a train on the Union Pacific called the Eastern Express. It really doesn't seem to matter, though, because the writer of the post card is headed west anyway!!

This is from Wikipedia: "Croydon is a small unincorporated community in northeastern Morgan County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. Accessible from Interstate 84, it is home to Holcim's Devil's Slide Cement Plant and several hundred residents. Lost Creek runs through this small unincorporated town, just northeast of the Devil's Slide rock formation. Cattle and sheep ranches can be found throughout the valley and in the surrounding mountains. Croydon was also home to the annual Widowmaker snowmobile and motorcycle hillclimbing events for several years. Croydon was originally called Lost Creek, and under the latter name was founded in 1862. The present name is after Croydon, in England, the native land of a large share of the first settlers."

This is from http://utahrails.net/up/up-in-ut-1900-1996.phpMarch 1906
Union Portland Cement announced that it would build a plant at Croydon. (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1906, p. 30) Production began in June 1907. (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 30, 1907, p. 31) (Croydon was called Devil's Slide by the Union Pacific)

The post card was published by the Barkalow Brothers. The Barkalow Brothers, Sidney D. Barkalow and Derrick V. Barkalow, arrived in Omaha from Ohio in 1856. BARKALOW BROS., news agents U. P. R. R., firm composed of D. V. and S. D. Barkalow, commenced business in 1865.

D. V. B. of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, February, 1843. In 1856 he removed with his parents to Omaha, Neb. Learned printing and telegraphy, and about 1862 was engaged as operator on the overland telegraph line. He married in Cheyenne, W. T., May 24, 1876, to Miss Kate Whitehead. They have two children, Weltha M. and Robert V. Mr. B. is a member of the Pleasant Hours Club. S. D. Barkalow of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1844; removed to Omaha Neb., with his parents in 1856. At the age of fifteen years he commenced clerking, and at seventeen started in business for himself in book and stationery firm of Barkalow Bros. They became the exclusive distributors of printed materials, including postcards, for the Union Pacific Railroad. They won won their contract with the U.P. in 1865 and became the exclusive news agents on the trains and in the stations along the line. The Barkalow Brothers also published non railroad oriented view-cards that were often printed by Tom Jones. They eventually became suppliers of hotel gift shops and moved their business to Fort Myers, Florida. They have been known to cooperate with Williamson-Haffner Company in their publishing efforts.

Three Related Post Cards (1 of 3)

Preface: I am still cataloging the post cards that came in the mail while I was blogging about my Pikes Peak post cards. I looked at this card and thought that, for some reason, I should look at the next one, too. I realized immediately that the pictures seemed to be related. When I turned them over I saw that they were both from the Barkalow Brothers Publishing Company. (It is nice to know I am learning something as I blog about these post cards.) But, I also noticed that the writing on the back looked very similar. Sure enough, both post cards are being sent to Miss Reba Van. I let my curiosity get the best of me and I picked up the third card on the stack. It, too, was written on the same journey, by the same author, to the same person. These next three blogs will show you the three cards. This is the first of the series. It was mailed while they were traveling through Wyoming.

This post card shows the "San Francisco Overland Limited" leaving Cheyenne, Wyoming; it doesn't specify in which direction the train is headed. Overland is the title given to the first wagon train trails that headed west. When the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads built the first transcontinental railroad, it only seemed natural that the name would also refer to the train tracks. There have been several variations on the name: Overland Limited, San Francisco Overland Limited, the Overland Flyer, the Overland Route being the most common. If it is leaving Wyoming with only one locomotive at the head, it must be headed to the flat plains of Nebraska.

Looking at the back of the card, I notice that it is from the Divided Back Era and the post mark confirms this. It was mailed on January 6, 1911. This is interesting because it was the first card written to Reba. The name of the location at the top left says Wyoming. On the next card it will say Nevada and the third card says they are in Sacramento, California. These post cards are also related to each other because they were all published by the Barkalow Brothers Publishing Co. I will write a bit about the company in the final of these three blog posts. The number of the card, found at the bottom middle of this back, is A-9092. You can wait to see what the other two cards are numbered. I will keep you hanging in anticipation.

The Little Sister

I have blogged about a railroad barge (Feb 15, 2014) that took trains across the Mississippi River: The Mastodon.

This ferry boat took trains from one side of the Carquinez Straight, east of San Franciso, to other side; from Benicia to Martinez, California and back in less that 10 minutes. "The Solano" was named after one of the counties in California where it operated, the side of the straight in which Benicia sits. It worked toward the very end of the Transcontinental Railroad route; after the crossing it was a short trip to Oakland. At its building, it was the largest railroad barge in the world.

It was built in 1879 by the Central Pacific Railroad to get the trains across a water barrier that stood between Council Bluffs, Iowa and the end of the line. The axis of the slip on each side of the straits coincided nearly with the direction of the current, pointing on the Port Costa side up, and on the Benicia side down stream, so as to facilitate entering the slips. The distance across was one mile; the whole time consumed in transit was nine minutes, including starting and stopping.

It was a very large ship: Deck Length = 424 feet; Beam at center = 116 feet; Height at center = 18 feet 5 inches. The draft when empty was only five and a half feet; when loaded it was a whole six and half feet. The tonnage was listed at just over 3500 tonnes. The engines that worked the paddle wheels had a 5 ft diameter bore with a stroke of 11 feet. The paddle wheels themselves were 30 feet in diameter, 30 inches wide and they had 24 buckets each. There were 8 boilers on board. They were 7 feet in diameter by 28 feet long; they each contained 143 4 inch tubes so that there was almost 20,000 square feet of heating surface within the boilers. The whole combination generated 2,000 horse power.

By the time this picture was taken, the Southern Pacific had purchased the Central Pacific RR so the title on the card says that it is "S.P. Co.'s Ferryboat 'Solano'". It was the largest ferry boat in the world until its sister, the "Contra Costa" was built in 1914. Both ferries operated until 1930.

This card belongs to the Divided Back Era. It was published by the Pacific Novelty Co. of San Francisco and Los Angles. They printed many post cards that were duplicates of post cards published by Edward H. Mitchell. Mitchell was a partner with other photographers in this publishing company; then, at some point he bought the others out. A major publisher and printer of view-cards depicting California in halftone lithography. They produced cards in different styles, most of which were printed in Germany. They eventually sold off their own printing department to Herman Vogel who renamed it Quadricolor Press. Pacific Novelty went on to produce photochromes that were manufactured in the United States. The above paragraph was mostly taken from the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City's website.

Not just Canadian Rockies, “The Big Hill”

This week we are going to Canada. The title on the post card says, “C.P.R. Passenger Train, Canadian Rockies”.

Well, my experience tells me that this is not just the Canadian Rockies; this is a picture taken on “The Big Hill” just west of Calgary, Alberta on the CPR main line. This is part of the Canadian transcontinental railway. If you look in the bottom left corner of the post card you can see a rail that goes up hill to nowhere. This was one of several that the Canadian Pacific Railway built to stop runaway trains on “The Big Hill”.

In order to convince British Columbia that being a part of the newly formed Canada was a great idea, the politicians promised the citizens of British Columbia that a railroad would be built across the continent to connect them to the rest of Canada within 10 years if they joined. They voted to become the 6th province of Canada on July 20, 1871. On November 7, 1885, the last spike of the Canadian Pacific Railway was driven at Craigellachie, British Columbia. It was a little late, but the promise was fulfilled.

Part of the reason the train tracks were finished by 1881 is to be found in the Rocky Mountains of British Columbia. Kicking Horse Pass was the best the surveyors could find in which to lay tracks through the Rockies at a latitude close enough to the American border that they could send a message to the Americans that Canada is not for annexation.

The following paragraph is from the website:
http://www.pc.gc.ca/eng/pn-np/bc/yoho/natcul/spirale-spiral.aspx

The steep grade in Kicking Horse Pass posed a serious challenge. Under government pressure to complete the railway, and given the engineering challenges that came along with the geography, Canadian Pacific was not in a position to carve a gradual descent. A solution was reached, which temporarily allowed a grade of 4.5%. The first train to attempt the hill in 1884 derailed, tragically killing three workers. In an effort to improve safety, three spur lines were created to divert such runaway trains on what became known as the “Big Hill”. Switches were left set for the spurs and were not reset to the main line until switchmen knew the oncoming train was in control. Descending the Big Hill was challenging, but uphill trains had their problems too. Extra locomotives were needed to push the trains up the hill, causing delays and requiring extra workers. Although the mountains were a complication for CP, they were an inspiration to the many tourists who started to arrive by train. In an effort to preserve the landscape and encourage tourism, CP prompted the creation of Mount Stephen Dominion Reserve in 1886. The park was renamed Yoho in 1901.

The post card is from the Divided Back Era (1907 – 1915).

It was printed and published by The Valentine & Sons Publishing Co. Ltd. This particular company was the Canadian office for Valentine’s of Dundee, Scotland. They published souvenir books, greeting cards and view-cards of Canadian scenery in sets numbered with a three digit prefix and a three digit suffix. This particular post card is numbered 107239; it is in the bottom right hand corner of the post card. These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

Where Are We?

This week we are going to a part of the United States that I don’t think I have blogged about yet. We are going to the very southwest tip of the state of Virginia. We are going into the Appalachian Mountains near the town of Duffield in Scott County. This post card is a picture of a train coming out of a tunnel. “Not unusual,” you say. “There are lots of tunnels on railroads in the United States.” You are correct; but, this tunnel was made by natural forces. No one had to use a blasting cap, dynamite, nitroglycerine or other explosives. No one had to risk a life to make this tunnel.

It was first written about by a Lt. Col. Stephen H. Long who explored the area and the tunnel in 1831. He later published an article in a geology journal in 1832.

The tunnel is more than 850 feet long and as tall as 100 feet high. It was carved through a limestone ridge over thousands of years. William Jennings Bryan, one of the lawyers involved in the “Scopes Monkey Trial”, a great orator, and the forty-first Secretary of State (under Woodrow Wilson) called it the "Eighth Wonder of the World."

A railroad was constructed through the natural tunnel in 1893. The first train, operated by the Virginia & Southwestern Railway Company, passed through the tunnel in the following year. In 1899, the tunnel line was purchased by the Tennessee & Carolina & Iron and Steel Company. In 1906 Southern Railway acquired the tracks and created a passenger line, the Natural Tunnel Line, which took the passengers through the tunnel. Today, the line is still in use but it is now run by Norfolk Southern and CSX and is only used to transport coal.

The size of the picture on the front of the post card should give you a hint about the age of the card. See last week's blog for a bigger hint. As I zoom in on the picture on the front of the card, you can see that the railroad built a platform onto which passengers could disembark and gawk at the natural wonder and beauty that surrounded them. This is similar to what the Union Pacific did on the trestle that crossed over the Great Salt Lake in Utah. I wrote about this a couple of weeks ago.

I don't know anything about the photographer, the printer or the publisher of this post card. I believe that it is probably related to this Drug Store:
Bunting’s, its past and present owners said, launched in the wake of the Civil War in 1869. A city directory from 1896 lists a “Bunting & Son” drugstore at 420 Main St. – which became State Street in the early 20th century. By this time, the business was already a local institution, as suggested by an ad that ran in 1903: J.H. Winston, a lawyer, was advertising his firm with no more specific address than “over Bunting’s Drug Store.”

The post card is from before March 1, 1907, known as the Undivided Back Era.

It is a very clear example of why they would name it the UNDIVIDED BACK era. There is no line down the middle of this post card!