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.