Something is Fishy Here

The picture on the front of this post card was taken along the Green River

just a few miles northwest of the city of Green River in Wyoming. The Union Pacific Railroad tracks follow the river for a very short distance (maybe 4 or 5 kilometers), but just enough to get this gorgeous view of the river valley. This particular stretch of the tracks is called “Fish Cut”. This website gives some information about how to get there: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1595361,nodelay=1 Looks like the climb west of Green River to Peru. West of Green River on old Hwy 30 about 3 miles. This road parallels the tracks and is apparently a public road, Ive never been approached by UP police while on it. On the same road is access to the famous bridge over the Green where one can have a train and Castle Rock in the background in the frame. Cross the Green River and look up to your left to the tracks. Turn left on any dirt road that looks like it goes to the base of the hill below the tracks. Hike up to the tracks. Be aware that the cut has been changed from your postcard. The low side of the cut has been completely removed. These are the coordinates to Fish Cut: Latitude: 41.5477 Longitude: -109.5068 This web site gives you the story of why the length of track is called “Fish Cut”: www.jstor.org "Fish Cut" is called that because of the fossil fish from the Eocene (about 48 million years old) Green River Formation. When they made the cut, they discovered some of the best preserved and most abundant fossil fish. If you've seen the fossil of a fish that died eating another fish, it came from that formation (which covers most of Southwest Wyoming and parts of Utah)... along with the millions of fossil fish often seen at museum gift shops for surprisingly low prices. Interestingly, Como Bluff to the east has a similar story involving UP railroad workers discovering abundant fossils, but there it was dinosaurs. Como Bluff is the dig that kicked off the western states dinosaur hunts, started the "war" between Cope and Marsh, and provided a huge percentage of dinosaur fossils in museums around the world. It's now the haunt of one of the most well-known living paleontologists, Bob Bakker (the one on Discovery Channel with the beat up hat and scraggly beard). The post card was published by the Barkalow Brothers. You may notice that there are some darker lines on this side of the card. That is because the post card is embossed and those are signs of wear. It was posted in July of 1908. Here is the story of the Barkalow Brothers as taken from the website https://www.metropostcard.com

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 have been known to cooperate with Williamson-Haffner Company in their publishing efforts. They eventually became suppliers of hotel gift shops and moved their business to Fort Myers, Florida. However, I have seen that on June 9, 1972, the Barkalow Brothers were suing a janitorial company for damages caused by a fire that the Barkalow Brothers say was the janitorial company. This office was in Omaha, Nebraska.