This One Got in Just Under the Wire!

The train on the front of this post card is supposed to be the "Continental Divide by Moonlight".

I know. It doesn't look like a night time scene. But, a good student of science knows that the moon (though not a full moon) is up during the daytime. Maybe the publisher is trying to catch us!! The post card was mailed in Colorado and the publisher is from Denver. So we know the continental divide to which they are referring is in that state. However, there are eight places where a railroad in Colorado crosses the continental divide. We can discount one of them because it is a mining operation. Four of the crossings are by narrow-gauge railroads, so we can set them aside (I am presuming that the picture is of a transcontinental train since it is on a post card). Two of them are through tunnels. That leaves the Rollins pass as the pass that is pictured on this post card. It was a very popular route for the trains crossing the United States. In 1928 the overland pass was replaced by the Moffatt Tunnel. From Wikipedia: The abandoned rail route over Rollins Pass was nominated for and accepted into the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 because of significant events and engineering feats accomplished by railroading efforts in the early 20th century. In 1997, additional areas on the pass were added to the National Register of Historic Places to include achievements made by John Q.A. Rollins and his toll wagon road that traversed the pass. In 2012, Rollins Pass was listed as one of the most endangered sites in Colorado.

This post card was published by Williamson-Haffner. They were a publisher of lithographic souvenir books and view-cards of the American West. While their views were largely based on photographic reproduction, many scenes were artist drawn. They also produced comic postcards. They only existed in Denver, Colorado from 1905 to 1910. This post card was mailed in 1909. It just made it in time before the publisher disappeared - just under the wire! In fact it was mailed on February 12, 1909 so it will be 113 years old on Saturday. Just for the fun of it, here is the logo of the publisher: