American Falls, Idaho

This post card can certainly be dated as being 109 years old today. The post mark tells us that it was mailed on July 1, 1909. But, it is older than that. This type of post card was used for mailing post cards prior to March 1, 1907. Prior to this date, one could only write the message on the front of the post card. The back was reserved for the address only.

After March 1st of '07 the Divided Back post card took the country by storm. You can see that this post card has an added feature of being embossed. Those grey lines on the post card are from the rocks and river on the front of the post card.

The front of the post card is showing the American Falls in the Snake River

in Idaho. The town of American Falls was once a thriving, active hub located on the west bank of the Snake River, but during what was easily the largest government relocation of its time, the town was moved in it’s entirety to avoid flooding by the nearby dam. The known history of American Falls is just as fascinating as what remains shrouded by the passage of time. Part underwater marvel, part ambitious undertaking, part prehistoric wonder, and part active community, this (literal) hidden gem is a spectacular portion of Idaho’s history that few know the full story of… and even fewer know of the incredible discoveries that its muddy depths have revealed. In 1925, the Bureau of Reclamation began the job of moving American Falls to make way for the American Falls Dam. It was an ambitious and expensive undertaking that involved moving nearly 350 residents and their homes, over 60 businesses, churches, and schools, and lifting the entire railroad across the river an additional 22 feet to prepare for the increased water levels. The above information can be found at: http://www.onlyinyourstate.com/idaho/id-underwater-ghost-town/

Then and Now, again

In February I posted on this blogspot about American Falls, Idaho. I did not include any pictures of what it looks like today. So, when I found this post card in my collection I decided to add to the theme started last week: "Then and Now". Here is a post card even older than the one from February. This one was posted in the mail on July 1, 1909. Although it is well after March 1, 1907, the writer obeyed the print on the back of the post card and wrote only the address. The message is on the front: "Cheyenne Wy Our train passes this Mary Watkins." This is what American Falls looks like today:

I always find it to be very sad when I cannot find out any information about the printer or the publisher of the post cards in my collection. I am very sad today.

Life Before the Dam

American Falls:
The picture on the front of this post card is of the American Falls, a landmark waterfall on the Snake River, named after a party of American trappers whose boat went over the falls. The Wilson Price Hunt expedition in 1811 camped at the falls one night and the expedition of John C. Frémont was here in 1843. The Oregon Trail passed north of town, through the present-day reservoir. Power plants first sprang up at the falls in 1901.

American Falls was the first town in the U.S. to be entirely relocated; it was moved in 1925 to facilitate construction of the nearby American Falls Dam. The old town site sits at the bottom of the reservoir, northeast of the present city. A larger dam was completed in 1978, downstream from the deteriorating 1927 structure, which was later demolished. The first dam, designed by Frank A. Banks, at American Falls was begun in 1925 by the Bureau of Reclamation and was completed in 1927. The river was temporarily impounded while the new concrete structure was put in place.

The Oregon Short Line Railroad:
The railroad bridge, pictured in this post card travelling over the river, had to be raised to allow for crossing the new reservoir of water that would build up behind the dam. It belonged to the Oregon Short Line Railroad.

The Oregon Short Line Railroad was a railroad in the states of Wyoming, Idaho, Utah, Montana and Oregon. The line was organized as the Oregon Short Line Railway on April 14, 1881 as a subsidiary of Union Pacific Railway. Union Pacific intended the line to be the shortest route ("the short line") from Wyoming to Oregon. In 1889 the line merged with the Utah & Northern Railway and 6 other small railroads to become the Oregon Short Line and Utah Northern Railway. Following the bankruptcy of Union Pacific, the line was taken into receivership and reorganized as the Oregon Short Line Railroad.

The Oregon Short Line was independent for a short period of time until October 1898 when the newly reformed Union Pacific Railroad took control of a majority of the board of directors. In 1938, Union Pacific began consolidating operations and leased for operation a number of its subsidiaries including the Oregon Short Line. The railroad operated under the lease until December 30, 1987, when the OSL was fully merged into the Union Pacific Railroad.

This post card was printed by Curt Otto Teich’s company using the C. T. American Art name of the printing process. The number on the card (R-88257) indicates (using a bit of mathematical interpolation) that the year of publication is 1922. This is good news, because the company that published the card:

Gray News Company was only in operation from 1906 to 1922. They were centered in Salt Lake City, Utah. They were known as a publisher and distributor of regional lithographic view-cards. So in my catalogue I have put the date of this post card at 1922.