Logging Train - a Common Sight! (1 of 5)

The picture on the front of this post card takes me back to my youth in northern Arizona. For two weeks each year we would live at the family summer cabin in Oak Creek. In my memory, every morning we would drive toward Flagstaff and wait for the logging train to cross the highway with its consist of empty logging cars. Then, again in my memory, each afternoon we would watch as the train brought its treasure to the sawmill just outside town. The locomotive on this post card looks nothing like the one we saw; it is much larger and more powerful.

It is a 2-6-6-2 T locomotive built by Baldwin Locomotive Works. The "T" in the configuration tells me that this steam locomotive is carrying its own water in one or more on-board water tanks instead of in a tender. This locomotive is owned by the Bloedel Donovan Lumber Mills. Julius Harold Bloedel (March 4, 1864 – September 21, 1957) was an American businessman and entrepreneur who operated primarily in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States and Canada. Born in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, Bloedel moved from Wisconsin to Fairhaven, Washington (later Bellingham) in 1890, where he became president of Fairhaven National Bank. He engaged in several frontier business ventures, including the Samish Lake Lumber and Mill Company, Blue Canyon Coal Mines, and, as mentioned, the Fairhaven National Bank. He partnered and worked closely with the Bellingham pioneers. Although many of these operations folded eventually, Bloedel's financial know-how managed to keep him afloat through a series of boom-and-bust economic trials. In August 1898, he founded the Whatcom Logging Company with fellow frontier businessmen John Joseph Donovan and Peter Larson, which would later become known as the Bloedel-Donovan Lumber Mills. During their time on the Olympic Peninsula, Bloedel Donovan operated the Sappho, Hoko, Beaver, and Calawah Camps, logged several thousands of acres of timber, including federal forest timber, constructed over a hundred miles of rail lines, and were known to operate more than 9 sides at once to get the logs for their mills. Today, there is hardly anything left, except for some rails here and there, and other stuff if you know what you're looking for. A park with this name exists today in Bellingham, which sits on the site of Bloedel's first lumber mill, which he dedicated as a park in 1946. The photograph of the locomotive was taken by Darious Kinsey. It is part of a series of post cards that are in my collection called, "Kinsey's Locomotives". Darius Kinsey (1869–1945) was a photographer active in western Washington State from 1890 to 1940. He is best known for his large-format images of loggers and phases of the region's lumber industry. He also photographed locomotives and landscapes and (especially early in his career) did studio work. Kinsey, born in Maryville, Missouri, moved to Snoqualmie, Washington, where he took up photography in 1890. He worked as an itinerant photographer for several years, until meeting Tabitha May Pritts at Nooksack, Washington. The couple married in 1896. The following year, they set up a photo studio in Sedro-Woolley, Washington. In 1906, the couple moved to Seattle. Darius gave up studio work and focused instead on the lumber industry and scenic photography. Tabitha developed the negatives and made the prints, which were sent back to the logging camps and sold to the loggers. Darius used an 11" X 14" Empire State view camera with a custom made tripod that could extend twelve feet high. He used glass plates until 1914, when he switched to film. The major collection of his work is held by the Whatcom Museum in Bellingham, Washington. The University of Washington Libraries also has a collection of his work.

The post card was published and distributed by the company, Pomegranate. Wikipedia tells us that Pomegranate Communications is a publishing and printing company formerly based in Petaluma, California, having moved to Portland, Oregon in 2013. The company, founded by Thomas F. Burke, began by publishing works of psychedelic art from San Francisco in 1968 under the name ThoFra Distributors. It distributed posters for concerts at Avalon Ballroom and The Fillmore. Anchored in visual arts, Pomegranate was active in book publishing in the past as well, especially during the 1990s. Adjustments in that sector caused it to reduce involvement accordingly. Currently calendars - long a mainstay - remain a strong part of their catalog, along with coloring books for all ages, nature books and puzzles. In its current form, Pomegranate is best described as a museum publisher, collaborating with institutions such as the National Gallery of Art, the Library of Congress, the British Library, the Smithsonian Museum of American Art, the Sierra Club, the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. It is the licensee for artists M. C. Escher, Edward Gorey, Charley Harper, Wolf Kahn, Georgia O'Keeffe, and Gustave Baumann. Pomegranate’s own website tells us this: Our Mission Art is an essential part of the human experience, and sharing knowledge is crucial in strengthening community. Pomegranate publishes images and concepts that enrich the human spirit of creativity and connection. Who We Are Founded in 1968, Pomegranate is an award-winning independent publisher based in Portland, Oregon, where we handle all editing, design, and distribution of our publications. What We Do We publish books, calendars, puzzles, games, and stationery that bring art, culture, and new experiences to people of all ages. Our products focus on art, nature, history, science, and popular culture. Why We Do lt At Pomegranate, one of our core values is to make art accessible to everyone. To achieve this, we partner with museums, artists, and writers to integrate their works into illuminating products that art lovers, travel enthusiasts, and avid learners are excited to share with others.