Merry Christmas to you...

The picture on the front of this post card shows how the Canadian Pacific

Railway shops looked at the turn of the 20th Century. The post card was printed after 1908 (the publishing company was started in that year). The Canadian Pacific Railway was incorporated in 1881. If this picture is from 30 years later, that would mean the picture was taken in 1911. For sure, the picture was taken before the start of World War I (1914), because the post card printing from Germany for all the North American post card publishers came to a screeching halt when the war broke out.

Just as the picture on the front of the post card shows the CPR yards from a long time ago; the picture here is what I could find on line that shows the yards as close to today as I can get.

This publishing company, The Pacific Novelty Company was headquartered in San Francisco, California from 1908 to the 1960s. They printed many postcards that were duplicates of postcards published by Edward Mitchell. Mitchell was a partner with other photographers in this publishing company then at some point he bought the others out. A major publisher and printer of view-cards depicting California in halftone lithography. They produced cards in different styles, most of which were printed in Germany; this particular post card says it was printed in Saxony - which is in Germany today; in 1871 Saxony became one of the states of the newly founded German Empire. The Pacific Novelty Company eventually sold off their own printing department to Herman Vogel who renamed it Quadricolor Press. Pacific Novelty went on to produce photochromes that were manufactured in the United States.

Quite the Pedigree

The engine in this picture is a 2-8-8-2 Mallet Compound Engine. It is pictured here in La Grande, Oregon. The first compound-compression locomotive with an articulated pair of drive wheel assemblies was designed by Swiss engineer Anatole Mallet (pronounced SORT OF LIKE: "Malley") in France. The front driver assembly included two low-pressure cylinders. The rear driver assembly included two high-pressure cylinders. The single boiler was rigidly attached to the rear driver assembly.

Mallet locomotives in the USA followed the design created by Anatole Mallet and were called Mallet locomotives as a result. Like Anatole's original design, these locomotives used compound expansion where steam was first used the two high-pressures cylinders and then exhausted to be used a second time in the two larger low-pressure cylinders in the front of the locomotive.

The USA later experimented with the same basic design but with four high-pressure cylinders. These were still articulated locomotives but were no longer true "Mallets" because they used simple expansion instead of compound expansion. Unfortunately, no good name for this design ever emerged, and they tended to be loosely called 'Mallets' as well.

This locomotive was built in 1909. Technically, it is classified as an MC-1 locomotive. The diameter of the driving wheels is a mere 57 inches with a tractive effort of 94,880 pounds. This is produced by cylinders that are 26 inches in diameter with a 40 inch stroke. It burned oil as the fuel of choice.

Built for the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company as Number 451 in 1909, it was renumbered to the Oregon Washington Railroad & Navigation Company’s 701 in 1911. From this we can surmise that while the post card is from the divided back era and could be from between 1907 to 1915, the picture (valid from 1909 to 1911) tells us that the post card is from somewhere between 1909 and 1915.


The title of this blog is "Quite the Pedigree". That is referring to the line-up of Companies involved in the Oregon Railroad & Navigation Company. When I go to Wikipedia to look up the history of the O.W.R. & N. I find this at the beginning: “The Oregon–Washington was incorporated November 23, 1910, in Oregon for the principal purpose of purchasing and consolidating the properties of certain corporations which were then controlled through stock ownership by the Union Pacific Railroad Company and the Oregon Short Line Railroad Company.

Accordingly, on December 23, 1910, it acquired by purchase all of the properties of 12 corporations, except their corporate franchises and certain of their assets, and, on the same date, purchased a part of the properties of 3 other corporations. It subsequently acquired the property of 2 other corporations.”

Then a list follows… there are 34 transactions listed. They vary from “sold to”, to “conveyed to”, to “named changed to”. The list ends in the year 1916; but, it all starts with the incorporation of the Oregon Steam Navigation Company by a special act of the Washington Territory on December 16, 1860.

The post card is from the Divided Back Era (1907 - 1915) and it was published by the Pacific Novelty Company. The following is from the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York: This publishing company printed many postcards that were duplicates of postcards published by Edward Mitchell. Mitchell was a partner with other photographers in this publishing company than at some point he bought the others out. A major publisher and printer of view-cards depicting California in halftone lithography. They produced cards in different styles, most of which were printed in Germany. They eventually sold off their own printing department to Herman Vogel who renamed it Quadricolor Press. Pacific Novelty went on to produce photochromes that were manufactured in the United States.

Still on Mount Tamalpais

In my last blog I told you that the Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway was advertised as "the crookedest railroad in the world". Well here is some proof.

The words are not crooked because I scanned the card in a sloppy manner; it is the way the card was printed.

This post card isn't from the set of cards that I am filing away into my post card collection, which I purchased while blogging about Pikes Peak. This one comes from the collection itself. As I was filing away last week's post card, I saw this one tucked into its sleeve on page near where last week's post card now rests. I thought I should share it with you. I now have a total of twelve post cards about the Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway.

This one was published by the Pacific Novelty Company from San Francisco. This company was owned by the same Edward H Mitchell that owned the company that published last week's post card. Again from the Metropolitan Postcard Club: "This publishing company printed many postcards that were duplicates of postcards published by Edward Mitchell.

Mitchell was a partner with other photographers in this publishing company than at some point he bought the others out. A major publisher and printer of view-cards depicting California in halftone lithography. They produced cards in different styles, most of which were printed in Germany. They eventually sold off their own printing department to Herman Vogel who renamed it Quadricolor Press. Pacific Novelty went on to produce photochromes that were manufactured in the United States."

This post card was mailed on March 30, 1916 at 1 PM. It is from the Divided Back Era (1907 - 1915). The sender has written to a Miss Robison in New York to tell her that he or she is spending time at the top of the railway at the tavern. He or she also spent some time at the top of the mountain (where the sender has marked an X that you can see above under the word "near"). In two more years, this card will be 100 years old.

I would like to draw your attention to the cute train that was drawn onto the post card by the printer. It is in the lower left hand corner of the post card. It is very obvious to me as I look directly at the card that this locomotive and car were an addition. I hope you can see it, too.

Coming Back to Life (sort of)

Some interesting things have come together in this post card. First, and best, it is a post card of the Lucin Cut-off. I have about 50 cards of the trestle and this is one of them; you have seen a few more in my earlier posts. I like this one because it looks so textured, even though it isn’t. The printer has added smudges of very light brown (okay beige) in the clouds and on the Great Salt Lake. They give the impression that it is a textured print because the pixels in the brown smudge are so far apart from each other. The train is headed east (shadow location) and one can clearly see that there are 6 people on the platform of the final coach. The steam is coming out of the engine way in front and the air seems to be coming out of the brake hose (invented in 1869) in the back. The wording at the bottom of the card states that this is the “Lucin Cut-Off, Great Salt Lake, Utah (On Southern Pacific)”.

On the back of the card we see that it was printed in Great Britain but published in the USA by the Pacific Novelty Company (PNC) of San Francisco. The PNC was one of three companies that were owned in whole or in part by Edward H. Mitchell (April 27, 1867 to October 24, 1932). Most of his postcards depicted scenes of the western United States. He was very creative and imaginative when it came to deciding what pictures would be on the front of his post cards. He produced an extremely high volume of cards, which had great color for the era in which they were printed. Besides his own company he was also invested in the Pacific Novelty Co. and the Souvenir Publishing Co. He travelled all over the west by train finding subjects for his cards, of which railroads and trains were a drop in the bucket. My next series of blogs should be about his exaggerated produce cards. I have many! Also on the back of the card is half of a conversation between Vera and her friend Sylvia. Sylvia used to live in Berkeley, California near Vera. She has recently moved all the way to Oakland, California – a huge move of less than 5 miles. This card was mailed on August 31, 1909. In those days there were gaps between the houses in the cities of Berkeley and Oakland and no freeway. I typed in the Oakland address on the computer and this picture appeared:

I typed in the Berkeley address and this picture appeared:

Vera is asking her old friend, Sylvia, if she has Monday off. If she does, does she want to go to the theater? The card was mailed on Tuesday, August 31st and Vera wants an answer about next Monday (Labor Day which began in 1894). The post card is to go from Berkeley to Oakland and back in less than a week. She is also telling Sylvia that she has a new steady job; it is with the phone company and it is not in the “hello” department and Smithy didn’t get it for her, either. The “French kid” is in Reno, Nevada and the Henry girl moved next door to where Sylvia used to live (the picture above) so why doesn’t Sylvia move back and they will have filled in the block. This post card is almost 103 years old. It has preserved a simple conversation between friends and brought them back to “life” for a short while today. And, I have met them today because Vera chose to use a postcard published by a company from across the bay, to send to her friend in Oakland just up the road.