Merry Christmas to you...

The picture on the front of this post card shows how the Canadian Pacific

Railway shops looked at the turn of the 20th Century. The post card was printed after 1908 (the publishing company was started in that year). The Canadian Pacific Railway was incorporated in 1881. If this picture is from 30 years later, that would mean the picture was taken in 1911. For sure, the picture was taken before the start of World War I (1914), because the post card printing from Germany for all the North American post card publishers came to a screeching halt when the war broke out.

Just as the picture on the front of the post card shows the CPR yards from a long time ago; the picture here is what I could find on line that shows the yards as close to today as I can get.

This publishing company, The Pacific Novelty Company was headquartered in San Francisco, California from 1908 to the 1960s. They printed many postcards that were duplicates of postcards published by Edward 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; this particular post card says it was printed in Saxony - which is in Germany today; in 1871 Saxony became one of the states of the newly founded German Empire. The Pacific Novelty Company 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.

Yale, Pretty Calm Today...

This is a picture of the Canadian Pacific Railway passenger train as it passed by a small town called "Yale". Yale is in the Fraser River Canyon about 175 kilometers up river from Vancouver, British Columbia. Judging by the appearance of the automobile, I would guess that this post card was published in the 1940s. The Canadian Pacific Railway had several passenger trains that used this section of track, so I cannot say which train it is.

I am publishing this card as part of my blog because of the word "Yale". I went on line to see if there was a history around Yale as a settlement. THERE CERTAINLY IS!! Even before the railway came through this canyon, Yale has already made a name for itself. There was a gold rush in the 1850s in the Fraser Canyon. At one time, they think, there were as many as 15,000 people living and working the gold fields near Yale. It became famous (over the other settlements) because of the Fraser Canyon War of 1858. My favourite part of the war was when some "Indian-hating" white men went up river to kill "the enemy" and wound up killing themselves, instead. You can find the story on Wikipedia by googling "Fraser Canyon War" on their website. I highly recommend it.

This post card was published by The Coast Publishing Company, a publisher of view-cards and cards of Native Americans. Their first cards were issued as tinted halftones and they latter moved on to linens, and then photochromes. All their cards were printed in the United States. They existed between 1907 and the 1950s.

This Goat Gets Around

The picture on the front of this post card shows Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) locomotive number 3206 at work in the rail yard of Vancouver, British Columbia. Because it is working in the rail yard, it has earned the title of

"Goat". That is the term used to describe an engine that works in the rail yards. This particular photo is from around 1930, according the publisher of the post card. The good news for this engine is that it did not spend its entire life in the rail yard. When I went on line to see what I could find out about the locomotive, I stumbled on a picture of it on Vancouver Island. The front page of the Canadian Historical Railroad Association published a picture of this same engine working as a logging train. This is the text under the picture: "Once upon a time, main line logging trains were as picturesque as their backwoods counterparts, as witness this picture of two Esquimalt & Nanaimo timber trains meeting somewhere on Vancouver Island about twenty-five years ago, the loaded train headed by Canadian Pacific M-l-a class 2-8-0 No.3206." This quote is taken from the July / August issue (Number 113) of 1960. So, in 1930 the engine was working in the Vancouver rail yards, and by 1935 it had earned its way onto the island to haul logs to market.

The post card was published by the Head-end Rail Prints Company out of White Rock, British Columbia. They existed after 1971 because the address includes a Canada Postal Code (first introduced in 1971). However, a search on the internet does not lead to any other information about the company. The business currently at 1450 Johnston Road in White Rock, British Columbia is the Hygrove Design Company and it has a different Postal Code.

Byron Harmon Fest (Part Three of three)

I have so many post cards printed by Byron Harmon that I have decided to simply scan them and publish them so that you can enjoy them, too. The photographs are all taken west of the Spiral Tunnels in British Columbia.

A quick check into Wikipedia will help you to understand where these pictures were taken:
Mount Chancellor, Mount Field, Mount Stephen, Stoney Creek Bridge, Kicking Horse Canyon, Spiral Tunnels, etc.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. May I also suggest that if you are ever in Banff, Alberta that you visit the gallery of his granddaughter...

One Hundred and Eleven Years Ago Today AND the Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition of 1909

Happy Birthday to my sister, Mary!!
I am dedicating this blog entry to her - even though she was not born in the year when this post card was mailed; she was born on the same day and month as it was mailed.

This post card shows a train as it winds it way with passengers through the beautiful scenery of Cow Creek Canyon in Oregon.

The Southern Pacific Railroad built the original line by following the natural terrain of Cow Creek. It is, as you can see from the map below, a short north and south route between Glendale, Oregon and Riddle.

This map is taken from: http://www.alpharail.net/corp/cowcreek/cowcreek1.htm I recommend that you visit their website for a more recent tour of the canyon than this post card.

Between Glendale and Riddle, Oregon the Central Oregon and Pacific Railroad takes a scenic detour from Interstate 5 and civilization through Cow Creek Canyon (green line on the map above). When the Siskiyou Line was originally surveyed in the 1800's it followed natural drainages rather than tackle the mountains of southwest Oregon. For years the Southern Pacific was the sole means of transport through the Canyon.

The post card was mailed on December 2, 1908.

That is one hundred and eleven years ago, today at 3:00 PM. The message on the back is a friendly response to another message.
"Dear Friend. Rec'd your card Was glad to here (sic) from you. We are all well, hopeing (sic) this will find you the same. We are having fine weather here now. I am going to the skating Rink at Newberg, Ore tonight. From your loving friend, John W Sheppy" He is writing to a MISS Myrtle Walter in Bonanza, Oregon. Bonanza is down toward the California border. He is writing from Dayton, Oregon. It is half-way between Portland and Salem. I have to point out that some savage pulled the stamp off of the post card!! How shameful! The post card was printed in Germany and published by The Portland Post Card Co. They had offices in both Portland, Oregon (I bet you are surprised by that) and Seattle, Washington. Speaking of Seattle, did you notice the little round seal in the bottom left. It is advertising the upcoming "Alaska - Yukon - Pacific Exposition" soon to happen in 1909.

The following information was taken from: http://www.seattle.gov/cityarchives/exhibits-and-education/digital-document-libraries/the-1909-alaska-yukon-pacific-exposition

The Alaska-Yukon-Pacific Exposition (AYPE), held in Seattle from June 1 to October 16, 1909, followed on the heels of the 1905 Lewis and Clark Exposition in Portland, Oregon. Initial inspiration for the fair came from a group of Alaska's gold rush pioneers in 1905. In 1906, Seattle businessmen altered the original plan, postponed the 1907 date (so as not to conflict with the Jamestown, Virginia tricentennial celebration) until 1909, and sought financial support for an enlarged scope. The AYPE followed a tradition established in 1876 when Philadelphia held a Centennial Exposition. It was an opportunity for Seattleites to display pride in their heritage and their patriotism. Although the anticipated influx of people and the anticipated stimulus to economic growth did not materialize as a result of the Exposition, the City and promoters counted AYPE as a success. Traffic was handled well, the boulevard system was completed in time for visitors to enjoy the scenery, and the police ably protected "the lives and property of the citizens and visitors during the Exposition." The University benefited by the expansion of its campus. Permanent benefits for the city included many additional miles of streetcar tracks, additional fire alarm boxes, a boulevard system, and a statue of William Seward.

Byron Harmon Fest (Part Two of three)

I have so many post cards printed by Byron Harmon that I have decided to simply scan them and publish them so that you can enjoy them, too. The photographs are all taken west of the Spiral Tunnels in British Columbia.

A quick check into Wikipedia will help you to understand where these pictures were taken:
Mount Chancellor, Mount Field, Mount Stephen, Stoney Creek Bridge, Kicking Horse Canyon, Spiral Tunnels, etc.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. May I also suggest that if you are ever in Banff, Alberta that you visit the gallery of his granddaughter...

Byron Harmon Fest (Part One of three)

I have so many post cards printed by Byron Harmon that I have decided to simply scan them and publish them so that you can enjoy them, too. The photographs are all taken west of the Spiral Tunnels in British Columbia.

A quick check into Wikipedia will help you to understand where these pictures were taken:
Mount Chancellor, Mount Field, Mount Stephen, Stoney Creek Bridge, Kicking Horse Canyon, Spiral Tunnels, etc.

I hope you enjoy them as much as I do. May I also suggest that if you are ever in Banff, Alberta that you visit the gallery of his granddaughter...

Here are the first eight pictures:

Hmmm... Made in the USA

From Wikipedia: "Chancellor Peak is a 3,266-metre (10,715-foot) mountain

summit located in Yoho National Park, in the Canadian Rockies of British Columbia, Canada. Its nearest higher peak is Mount Vaux, 4.0 km (2.5 mi) to the north-northwest. Both are part of the Ottertail Range. Chancellor Peak is a landmark in the Kicking Horse River valley. The mountain was named 1898 to honor Sir John Alexander Boyd (1837–1916), who was Chancellor of the High Court of Justice of the Province of Ontario. The first ascent of Chancellor Peak was made on July 30, 1901 by James Outram, J. Henry Scattergood, and George M. Weed, with Christian Hasler Sr. as guide. Outram wrote of it: "The Chancellor, that mighty pyramid from whose frowning precipices, black and forbidding, loom aloft nigh upon 7,000 feet above the Kicking Horse River cannot fail to impress the traveler with a sense of awe and grandeur, as he approaches eastward from the grim gateway of the lower canyon." The mountain's name became official in 1924 when approved by the Geographical Names Board of Canada."

But that is not why I chose to reflect on this post card. I believe that this post card was printed by the Curt Otto Teich Company. My attention was drawn to the texture of the card. It is a texture invented by and perfected by Curt Otto Teich. The number of the post card (in the bottom right-hand corner)

is also a pattern used by the same company. It tells me that this post card is printed in 1934 (the first "4A") using the "Art Colortone" method (the "H" in the number). The back of the card, however, only hints that this might be the case (MADE IN THE U. S. A.). The carefully chosen words "Distributed by" also lead me to the same conclusion. Byron Harmon was a famous photographer who produced many of his own post cards. I have included many of them in my previous postings.

I Did Not Know This...

I have a lot of pictures of the Spiral Tunnels in my train post card collection. Until today, I did not realize that the trains exiting Spiral Tunnel Number 2

immediately crossed over the Kicking Horse River. The picture on the front of this post card makes that fact perfectly clear! It is a picture of the Imperial Limited, which was the Canadian Pacific Railway's luxury express train. It ran non-stop between Montreal and Vancouver. The train is exiting the second spiral tunnel and crossing over a bridge. The post card was printed and published by The Gowan, Sutton

Company, Limited in Vancouver, British Columbia. A publisher of real photo and printed postcards of the Canadian West. Not only did they produce cards depicting large cities, they captured many hard to reach views within the Canadian Territories. Many of their cards were hand tinted in a simple manner striving for style rather than realism, which created cards in vastly differing quality. While the real photo cards were made in Canada their printed cards were made in England.

The Largest.... EVER!

The locomotive shown on the front of this post card is truly an essential part of this Express Train as declared in the title on the card: "Canadian Pacific

Railway Express Train". The driving wheels are 84 inches in diameter; that means that each revolution of the wheels moved the train forward 22 feet. Once the pistons got into the rhythm, this locomotive could easily go 60 miles an hour. These were the largest driving wheels ever used on the trains of the Canadian Pacific Railway.

The Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) used this particular locomotive to haul passengers from Montreal to Ottawa and back. It was the CPR's attempt to cut into the lucrative business of the Canada Atlantic Railway, which already had a similar route. The CPR's 113 mile long tracks were completed in 1898 and the first passenger trains started running in the fall of the next year. The train could make the trip in two hours and 20 minutes.

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is an Atlantic-type of engine (using the Whyte system of classification) which means that the wheel arrangement was 4-4-2. You can see that the pistons have two chambers in the front of the driving wheels. This is a clue that the locomotive used the Vauclain system to drive the wheels. The system used the steam from the boiler twice; once at high pressure and the exhaust from this became a lower pressure piston driver. This system was said to be more economical, but it turned out that these savings were offset by the extra wear and tear on the system.

This locomotive was built by the CPR's DeLorimer Works at Montreal in 1899 and scrapped in 1917.

The post card was published by the Valentine & Sons Publishing Company. They began publishing in 1907 in Montreal, so a picture of a locomotive like this would make perfect sense for them to print. This was published by 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 (you can see it in the bottom right-hand corner of the post card). These tinted halftone and collotype cards were printed in Great Britain (as is mentioned on the back of the card, running up the left side of the card. Valentine sold their Canadian branch in 1923.

Take a Ride Back in Time on...

The following is taken directly from the hand brochure provided by the Nelson Electric Tramway Society:
"Streetcar 23 was built in 1906 by the Stephenson Car Company of New Jersey as number 3334 for the Forest City Railway Company. Nicknamed

the '3 Cent Line', its one street operation was absorbed by the Cleveland Railway Company in 1908. At the time, the car was converted to single end operation and renumbered to 934. The City of Nelson purchased the classy red car in 1924 as number 3. Cars 1 & 2 were repainted to match the new arrival and a loop was built at Lakeside Park. The fleet was renumbered 21, 22, 23 in 1933 to make the system look larger. But Nelson still had the smallest fleet in the British Empire! Car 23 remained in service until 1949 when the streetcar system was replaced by buses. Car 23 served as a skating rink shelter, dog kennel and craft shop until a group of enthusiasts along with the Chamber of Commerce and Selkirk College were able to obtain grants to restore the car. Selkirk students rebuilt the body from 1982 to 1988." This is what the streetcar looks like today:

I highly recommend that, if you are anywhere near Nelson, British Columbia, you stop by and take a ride on the streetcar. The staff are 100% volunteers and very friendly. You might even be shown a magic trick or two when you visit their museum,

shown here to your left with their other vintage streetcar: Number 400. It was built in 1921 by the Preston Car and Coach Company in Ontario. It ran in Victoria, BC from 1922 to 1946. After serving as a bunkhouse for the Mayo Lumber Company it was cosmetically restored for display in a museum. It took the Nelson Electric Tramway Society 20 years to restore it back to operating condition.

Check out the society's website: www.nelsonstreetcar.org

From "The First in Canada"

The Canadian Pacific Railway follows the path of the Fraser River for a very

long distance. Therefore, I cannot pinpoint the exact location where this picture was taken. However, I can tell you that it was taken in British Columbia; the Fraser River flows for 1,375 kilometers, all of it being in British Columbia. The Canadian Pacific Railway follows part of its path through the mountains. You can see that this train is on the side of mountain as it travels along the rails.

The picture is not the most exciting thing about this post card. What excites me is that this post card was printed and published by one of the first companies in Canada to print picture post cards.

William Warwick was a publisher, printer, and bookbinder. His company became the official printer for the Provincial Government of Ontario. It was one of the first to print postcards in Canada producing over 4,000 tinted halftone view-cards in line block with a dull pallet. Many of their card sets also have very decorative borders and some with crests. The business was destroyed by fire in 1904 but they rebuilt and continued publishing. Following William Warwick’s death, the name of the business was changed to “Wm. Warwick & Son”, the firm consisting of Mrs. Warwick and eldest son Guy. In 1885, when the second son, George R. Warwick was admitted to the partnership, Mrs. Warwick retired and the firm name became “Warwick & Sons”. Arthur F. Rutter was taken into the partnership in 1886 and Charles E. Warwick, the youngest son, was also made a member of the firm. In 1893 the firm name was changed from “Warwick & Sons” to “Warwick Bros. & Rutter”. The company existed from 1848 to 1933; its last address was on King Street near Spadina in Toronto.

This is what one of their post cards looked like on the back. Notice that it cost two cents to send the post card all way to Massachusetts.

Through the Selkirk Mountains

One of the conditions for British Columbia to join the Canadian Confederation was that Canada would connect the new province to the rest of the country by railway. Early in the negotiations a route for the railway was surveyed. The best route through the Rocky Mountains was determined

to be the northerly Yellowhead Pass route now used by the Canadian National Railway. However, by the time the Canadian Pacific Railway was established in 1881, a more southerly route was desired. There were several reasons, three of which were: 1) a railway across the southern part of Canada would help to guarantee not being taken over by the United States; 2) the southern route would be shorter and, thus, save money; and 3) the majority of the population of British Columbia was in the south of the province.

The first part of the newly chosen route leaving the prairies included going through the Kicking Horse Pass. But, that was all of the planning that had been done. As the railway progressed across the prairies toward the mountain the CPR was getting desperate to find a route through the Selkirk Mountains. Major A. B. Rogers was hired in April 1881 by the CPR to find the route through a pass in the Selkirks. He was promised that the pass would be named after him and he would receive a bonus of $5,000 if he would find a way to get through the mountians. Rogers' survey party started out from what is now Revelstoke and went up the Illecillewaet River. It took them two summers, but in 1882, he discovered that the longed for pass really did exist. He was presented with a cheque for $5,000 and the pass is truly named after him.

The trains first went through the pass in winter in 1886. The heavy snows of the pass that winter were taken as a warning sign by the CPR. The first defense was to build wooden snow sheds along the route. However, dried wood in the summers receiving a shower of sparks from passing steam locomotives proved them to be a fire hazard. It wasn't until 62 men were killed in one avalanche while clearing snow from another avalanche in 1910 that the CPR decided to construct a tunnel through the mountain. The construction of an eight-kilometer tunnel under Rogers Pass and through Mount MacDonald was begun in 1912. The Connaught Railroad Tunnel opened in 1916.

It currently sits in what is known as Glacier National Park and can be reached using the Trans-Canada Highway.

By looking at the back of the post card we can see that it was posted in the mail on July 30, 1923; that makes it 96 years old! There isn't much of a message on it, but we can see that it was sent from a man, who happened to be in Victoria, BC to an unmarried woman in Newark, New Jersey. I googled the address and today there is a two story apartment building sitting at that address. The post card was published by the Coast Publishing Company. They were at 318 Homer Street in Vancouver from 1907 until into the 1950s. They were a publisher of view-cards and cards of Native Americans. Their first cards were issued as tinted halftones and they latter moved on to linens, and then photochromes. All their cards were printed in the United States. Today, that address is very close to the Gastown Steam Clock in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Goin' Round in Circles

The following is taken from this website: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/yoho/culture/kickinghorse/visit/spirale-spiral 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 (CP) 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.

Schwitzer’s solution
The solution for a more gradual grade came from J.E. Schwitzer, one of the railway’s Assistant Chief Engineers. He modeled the Spiral Tunnels after a

system used in Switzerland. In 1909 the Spiral Tunnels were completed and after 25 years of use, the Big Hill grade was abandoned. With a gentler grade, descents became safer and slower, spur lines and rear pushers were no longer necessary, and scheduling delays and operating costs were reduced. Although the Spiral Tunnels were a great improvement for the grade, rockfall, mudslides and avalanches are some of the challenges we still face today in this area where nature reigns supreme.

How the Spiral Tunnels work:
An eastbound train leaving Field climbs a moderate hill, goes through two short, straight tunnels on Mt. Stephen, under the Trans-Canada Highway, across the Kicking Horse River and into the Lower Spiral Tunnel in Mt. Ogden. It spirals to the left up inside the mountain for 891 metres (0.6 miles) and emerges 15 metres (50 feet) higher. The train then crosses back over the Kicking Horse River, under the highway a second time and into the 991 metre (0.6 mile) tunnel in Cathedral Mountain. The train spirals to the right, emerging 17 metres (56 feet) higher and continues to the top of Kicking Horse Pass.

This post card is very clear about who the publisher is - Canadian Pacific Railway -

by printing their logo in the top left of the card. However, despite the hint, the printer remains a mystery to me. The lovely swirl around the words Post Card in the top center of the post card is, no doubt, a mark of the printer. I have seen it on many other post cards. But, I have yet to be informed about to whom it belongs.