Boy Away from Home 94 Years Ago

"Trains entering California and Florida through Orange Groves" is a theme that repeats again and again in my post card collection. I posted earlier this year about two post cards with the same scene, one claiming it was in California and the other Florida. This post card is sticking with the California concept. It is certainly a real possibility. When I lived in California there were train tracks that passed next to and through orange groves. I remember one that went through an avocado grove! In the bottom left of the post card, starting the title, is the combination: H-2290. This immediately tells me that this post card was printed so the the Fred Harvey Company could sell it.

In 1878 Fred Harvey was the first to established a chain of restaurants then hotels across the Southwest that provided quality service. Much was done to market the region including publishing large series of postcards depicting Native Americans and local scenery. In 1897 Harvey took over the news stands for the A.T.&S.F. Railroad and began distributing postcards. The Santa Fe Railroad also did a great deal to publicize its Route to the Grand Canyon. A large amount of postcards were produced depicting the canyon and the Railroad’s hotel interests within the National Park.

Fred Harvey himself provided some of the images for these cards until his death in 1901. Between 1901 and 1932 the Company contracted all their cards with the Detroit Publishing Company (that is who printed this post card). These cards have an H prefix before their identification number, but in addition Detroit published many of Harvey’s images on their own. After Detroit closed, many of Harvey’s cards were contracted out to Curt Teich among others.

The message on the back is a son telling his mother that he is okay and in North Bend, Oregon. She lives in Hilltop, Kansas. My short research indicates to me that Hilltop's post office was discontinued in August of 1951. I am not sure if it disappeared altogether, or if it was absorbed into Wichita. There is an area in Kansas that is remembered in Wikipedia as Hilltop, but there is also a district in Wichita named Hilltop.

Lonely 109 Years Ago

The publisher's title for this post card is "Three Elevations of Track on F. & C. C. Ry., Colo." If you look very, extremely carefully at the very top of the hill in the middle, you can see a dark line with a very slight puff of smoke heading skyward. That is the first level. The second level is obvious with the engine and three passenger cars. The third level of tracks stars in the lower left and crosses a wee bridge to the right. The railway is the Florence and Cripple Creek, a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railway. It went Northwest out of Florence, Colorado where it met with the Denver and Rio Grande. It included Cañon City (from where this post card was mailed) on the banks of the Arkansas River. The C & CC Railway traveled up the steep and narrow Phantom Canyon to the Cripple Creek Mining District, west of Pikes Peak. It was founded in 1893 and went out of business in 1915. (from Wikipedia)

I love the kinds of messages this post card contains: Why haven't you written to me!! I find humorous because the author is complaining that he hasn't hear from his cousin, but he certainly hasn't told her much in the way of news with this post card.

See America First 104 Years Ago

The back of this post card promotes that Americans should see their own country first. It is very politely worded, "SEE EUROPE IF YOU WILL BUT SEE AMERICA FIRST". It is very cute that they have a dark outline of all of North America (with white border line above and below the States) but they don't really mention Mexico and Canada as options. The giveaway to me is that HUGE American flag. I am pretty sure that they meant for Americans to visit the 48 states (there were only 48 in 1914) first, then, if there is time left in the visitor's life, he or she can go to see Europe.

Of course, the front of the card hints at the absolutely very best way to "See America first".... take the train. This is a picture of a steam train crossing the Great Salt Lake in Utah on the Lucin Cut-off. The train is leaving the Midlake Station on its way to the other shore. The Lucin Cut-off is a railroad line which included a railroad trestle which crossed the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February 1902 and March 1904 across Promontory Point, it bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory Summit where the Golden Spike was driven in 1869. By going west across the lake from Ogden, Utah to Lucin, Utah, it cut off 43 miles and avoided curvatures and unpleasant grades. The trestle was eventually replaced in the late 1950s with a parallel causeway built under contract by the Morrison Knudsen construction company. Today the wood from the old trestle is being re-used by the Trestlewood Company. I have a piece of the original trestle to go along with my train post card collection. Thank you, Trestlewood.

The message on the back is reassuring if not disconcerting. "Everything is just right in this city. Will depart 21st." If everything in the city is just right, why are they leaving?

Mailed on a Train 104 Years Ago

This post card reminds me very much of a joke my father would suggest that we play on our art teacher in elementary school. He suggested that we color the entire paper black and title it "Midnight on the Desert". I did that in grade 5 or 8 (I had the same teacher each of those grades) using a black colored pencil on a 4 by 6 piece of card stock. She then brought me the paper and a pencil with an eraser and started to lightly erase areas to look like cactus, mountains in the background and a coyote. I didn't think she had much of a sense of humor. The picture on the front of this card must have inspired my dad's joke.

The message on the back is no laughing matter, however. It is written by someone who has been on the train across the American prairies for perhaps one day too long. "Here we are getting back East. Leaving the Mountain & riding thru prairie all day Friday." I am not sure, but I think the writer tried to balance off the complaint by signing the card from everyone in the family (three of whom had a name that started with the letter T). It is signed "S+S+S+ HM"

The post card was published by The Barkalow Brothers. I have many post cards in my collection thanks to their efforts.
The Barkalow Brothers were Sidney D. Barkalow and Derrick V. Barkalow. They arrived in Omaha from Ohio in 1856. BARKALOW BROS., news agents U. P. R. R. commenced business in 1865. D. V. B. of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, February, 1843. 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.

What I really like is that this post card was mailed while the writer was still on the train. It was a Union Pacific passenger train that traveled the route: Omaha, North Platte & Denver. The R.P.O. at the bottom of the round postmark indicates that the post card was mailed from a Railroad Post Office.

From Los Angeles to Toronto 108 years ago

This post card was mailed 108 years ago today. The message is Jean is telling Rosena that, although, she sent pictures to others in the area, she knew that Rosena would see them. My take on this is that Jean moved to Los Angeles

in 1909; her family built a new home and sent pictures of it to the old neighborhood. I went on line and searched the addresses of both the sender and the receiver. For the sender I found that the home is now very close to the Santa Monica freeway. It was built in 1909 with 4 bedrooms and 1 bath. The total square footage is 2,336. The estimated value on the real estate market today is just under $800,000. The home to which this message is being sent is almost straight north of downtown Toronto. It is a 5 bedroom and 1 bath home on a piece of property 15 feet wide and 90 feet deep. It is described as a semi-detached bungalow, but it looks like a multi-story duplex. Jean adds that it is the "rainy season " in the Los Angeles area so she cannot go sight-seeing. So, she sends Rosena a picture of a sight near Los Angeles:

This is a picture of the incline railway that takes visitors up to the top of Mt. Lowe. Visitors arrive via the street car that you see in the lower left of the picture. They transfer to the cable car to ascend 1300 feet in altitude over a 3,000 foot installation of tracks: the incline. From there, there catch a tram that takes them over the "circular bridge", across Los Flores canyon, through the "Granite Gate" and on to the Mount Lowe Tavern. I have 95 post cards that depict the various scenes of this day-trip from Los Angeles.