They Share the Rockies; They Share the Appreciation!

There is a train on the left side of the loop at the bottom of this post card. It takes a magnifying glass to see it, but it is there. This loop is part of what helped the Alaska Railroad overcome several obstacles in order to get from Seward to Fairbanks, Alaska in the very early 1900s. Wikipedia tells us that the Alaska Railroad is a Class II railroad that operates freight and passenger trains in the state of Alaska. The railroad's mainline is over 470 miles (760 km) long and runs between Seward on the southern coast and Fairbanks, near the center of the state and the Arctic Circle, passing through Anchorage and Denali National Park. This is the website of the Alaska Railroad, itself: https://www.alaskarailroad.com/corporate/history Here is part of the history one can find there: 1903: Alaska Central Railway (later renamed "The Alaska Railroad") built the first railroad in Alaska. It started in Seward and extended 50 miles north. 1910: Alaska Central Railway reorganized as the Alaska Northern Railway Co., later extending the railroad to Kern Creek - 71 miles from Seward. 1914: The US Congress agrees to fund construction and operation of a railroad from Seward to Fairbanks. Estimated construction cost - $35 million. 1915: Anchorage starts off as a tent town and serves as a railroad construction community along Ship Creek. Railroad headquarters are moved here from Seward. 1923: President Warren G. Harding drives the golden spike in the ground at Nenana, marking the completion of the Alaska Railroad. On his return trip to San Francisco, President Harding died. 1930: With a combined population of just 5,400 people, Seward, Anchorage, and Fairbanks - the only sizable towns along the rail belt - are unable to generate enough business to make the railroad profitable. 1938: Under the management of Col. Otto F. Ohlson, the Alaska Railroad operates its first profitable year. 1940-43: World War II brings large profits from hauling military and civilian supplies and materials. 1943: Two tunnels are built through the Chugach Mountains to allow rail access to Whittier, a military port and fuel depot necessary to support the war effort. A new Anchorage passenger depot is completed in December. 1944: Whittier opens as a second railroad port. Diesel locomotives begin to replace steam engines, a process completed in 1966 when the last steam engine was sold. 1947: The inaugural run of the Aurora, a blue and gold steamliner, marks a new level of passenger service between Anchorage and Fairbanks.

The post card was published by the H.H. Tammen Company out of Denver, Colorado. Both states have a lot of Rocky Mountain train tracks, so I can see why a Denver company could appreciate what an Alaskan railroad was able to accomplish. The H. H. Tammen Company was a novelty dealer and important publisher of national view-cards and Western themes in continuous tone and halftone lithography. Their logo does not appear on all their cards but other graphic elements are often remain the same. H. H. Tammen (1856-1924) Harry Heye Tammen was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 6, 1856, the son of a German immigrant pharmacist. He attended Knapps Academy in Baltimore, then worked in Philadelphia before moving to Denver in 1880. With his partner Charles A. Stuart he worked as a Denver bartender in 1880, and in 1881 they established the firm of H.H. Tammen & Co. (which in 1896 became the H.H. Tammen Curio Co., with partners Carl Litzenberger and Joseph Cox ) in Denver, Colorado. In 1895 Tammen formed a partnership with F.G. Bonfils (whom he had met at the Chicago World's Fair) and they became co-owners and co-editors of the Denver Post. Their publishing business flourished, and Tammen's business successes made him a wealthy man. In 1917 Buffalo Bill Cody happened to die while in Denver, and Tammen (one of the city's biggest boosters) offered Cody's widow $10,000 if she would allow Cody to be buried in Denver; she accepted, and the ensuing funeral procession drew 50,000 people. He established the H.H. Tammen Trust in 1924, providing essential health care for children of families who cannot afford to pay. Tammen died July 19, 1924. The H.H. Tammen Curio Co. was in business until 1953, and possibly as late as 1962.