Twins, Separated by 3 Years

The pictures on these two post cards are exactly the same; one isn't even a

copy of the other. Notice the moon in the upper left-hand corner. It has the same cloud shadowing on both cards. The round front of each train are identical; the headlight shines in the same manner. There is nothing extremely obvious that is different from one post card to the other at first glance. I can see two differences: 1) the border on the top one is smaller and darker than the second, and 2) the number and title at the bottom, while the same wording, are in different font size and style. Also, one is a bit lighter than the other - but that could just be age. The top card was mailed in 1911 and the bottom one in 1914. The reason that these two cards are the same is because they were both published by the same company.

On the top post card the publisher's name is very difficult to read because the author of the message went out of the borders. The printing going up the side of the post card reads: "PUBLISHED BY BARKALOW BROS. DENVER, COLO. MADE IN U.S.A." The second post card, however, shows the publisher very clearly. I guess that after 3 years in the publishing business, they made some money, figured they would be around longer and paid to have a logo developed for them. It is the circle in the upper left corner of the bottom card.

The Royal Gorge (also Grand Canyon of the Arkansas) is a canyon on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado. With a width of 50 feet (15 m) at its base and a few hundred feet at its top, and a depth of 1,250 feet (380 m) in places, the 10-mile-long canyon is a narrow, steep gorge through the granite of Fremont Peak. It is one of the deepest canyons in Colorado. On April 19, 1878, a hastily assembled construction crew from the Santa Fe began grading for a railroad just west of Cañon City in the mouth of the gorge. The D&RG whose end of track was only ¾ of a mile from Canon City raced crews to the same area, but were blocked by the Santa Fe graders in the narrow canyon. By a few hours they had lost the first round in what became a two-year struggle between the two railroads that would be known as the Royal Gorge War. The railroads went to court with each trying to establish their primacy to the right of way. After a long legal battle that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court, on April 21, 1879, the D&RG was granted the primary right to build through the gorge that in places was wide enough at best for only one railroad. On May 7, 1879 the first excursion train traveled through the Royal Gorge after years of court battles between the Denver & Rio Grande and the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe (AT&SF or Santa Fe) railroads.

81 Years Od Today

There is so much to say about this post card.... Because the title on the front of the card claims that it is "The Steepest Railway in the World" we should check on that. The rails are 1,550 feet long from top to bottom of the canyon. For 100 per cent of the ride the rails are set at a 45 degree angle. That sounds like the steepest Railway in the world to me - - - at least back on June 14, 1931 (not quite 6 years before this post card was mailed) when it was dedicated. If you search on line for the world's steepest railway today, you will find that it is, of course, in Switzerland. It is certainly steeper than this railway is today - it no longer exists. It was destroyed beyond repair by a fire in June of 2013. That was the same month as its 82nd birthday. The incline railway was owned by the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad. You can see that when we turn the card over:

The purple circular stamp in the top, middle says, "The top of the world Tennessee Pass Colorado" at the bottom of the circle it has the letters: "D. & G. R. W. Rail..." It also tells you that you are a the 10,242 foot elevation mark (not quite 2 miles above sea level. On left side of the card we see that it was published by the Interstate Company out of Denver. Van Noy Railway Hotel and News began a series of mergers and acquisitions in 1914, starting with the Brown News Company (also headquartered in Kansas City) which was acquired on October 1, 1914 being operated as Van Noy News. In 1915, the Company began consolidating operations with the New York City based Interstate News Company. The company name was changed to Van Noy-Interstate News Company in 1917, but the company headquarters remained in Kansas City under the leadership of Ira C. Van Noy. As a result of changes in railroad passenger train service, Van Noy Interstate began to focus more on the hotel side of their operations. In 1922, the Company acquired the Gem Fountain Company, and in 1926 the company began operating as the Interstate Company.
The line down the center of the card indicates that it was printed by the H. H. Tammen Curio Company. 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. Tammen also manufactured a very popular line of "Colorado curiosities" and "mineral novelties" consusting of a variety of numbered and identified Colorado mineral and ore specimens cemented onto clocks, caskets, inkstands (one of which won an award at the 1881 Colorado State Fair), centerpieces, crosses, horseshoes and so on for ornamental purposes. He described these items as "perfect in taste, blending of colors, etc., and absolutely trustworthy as regards the cataloguing, classification and specifications of the different minerals employed in the construction of each article." He also dealt in stereoscopic and other photos of the West (he was supplied by the famous Western photographer W.H. Jackson), photo albums, books on the West, silver souvenir spoons, a wide variety of humorous and scenic postcards (especially of mining areas), fossil fish, polished agates, botanical specimens, Pueblo Indian pottery, Tlingit Indian carvings, relics and taxidermy items from his stores in Denver.

Ninety Seven Years Ago Today

The picture on the front of this post card is from inside the Royal Gorge. It is called this or "The Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River". This is because it is between 8 and 10 miles long (depends on where you start the measurement) and over 2,500 feet deep. It is a midget compared to the real Grand Canyon, but if haven't been to Arizona, this one is impressive.

In this picture, the train has just passed over the suspended bridge. Here the walls of the canyon are so narrow that the only way they could support the bridge deck was from above. I have other post cards that give a better and closer view of it. In this picture the red girders come to a point over the back of the train and the bridge is also red-ish.

The post card was written on December 14, 1920 (the date is written in the same handwriting as the rest of the message). But, using my super-super magnifying glass, I have come to the conclusion that it probably was not mailed until two days later. The number to the right of the 1 is too round to be a 4 in the cancellation mark.

The message is a friendly thank you. "Dear Anna & all; just got the pictures from Katherine yesterday, sure think they are beautifull (sic) and thank you many times for them and Gladys thanks the girls for her's (sic) too. I never saw any photos as pretty as they are. What are you going to do Xmas? I don't know if we will get to go to Hastings or not." Then, because she ran out of room at the bottom of the card, the author signed her name at the top, left of the card: "From Nellie".

Did you notice the cute little fellow at the top, middle of the card? This little alien-like critter is the logo (along with the arrow up the middle) of the H.H. Tammen Company. Those are their letters in the middle of the arrow. This 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.

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.

One Hundred and Eight Years Ago Today

This is another of the post cards in my collection that are related to the Royal Gorge in Colorado. I was collecting this theme of post cards long before I went there to see it with my own eyes. My wife and I decided to vacation in the state of Colorado a few years ago. Because we were in Colorado we included 3 train trips in the itinerary. Pikes Peak was the first one. The Durango & Silverton was the second and the Royal Gorge was the last one. We paid a bit extra to be able to sit in the cab with the engineer. We saw all the sights that are connected to the Royal Gorge in my post cards except this one; it's called "The Crevice". It looks like it might be near the hanging bridge. There are no signs to point them out, so we went past this, but I am not sure when we did.

This post card was mailed 108 years ago today. The message is from one good friend to another. It tells the receiver that the sender is now working in the "mail service". It adds that he has to "learn the work before I get any money". This would not be an acceptable practice today. YAY Progress!!! He does add later that "I like this fine." so I am glad he was happy with what he was doing.

You will notice that the logo in the top, middle of the card appears again. I have this on so many of the post cards. I would love to know who it belonged to.

One Hundred and Four Years Old Today

The Royal Gorge (also Grand Canyon of the Arkansas) is a canyon on the Arkansas River near Cañon City, Colorado. With a width of 50 feet (15 m) at its base and a few hundred feet at its top, and a depth of 1,250 feet (380 m) in places, the 10-mile-long canyon is a narrow, steep gorge through the granite of Fremont Peak. It is one of the deepest canyons in Colorado.

On April 19, 1878, a hastily assembled construction crew from the Santa Fe began grading for a railroad just west of Canon City in the mouth of the gorge. The D&RG whose end of track was only ¾ of a mile from Canon City raced crews to the same area, but were blocked by the Santa Fe graders in the narrow canyon.

By a few hours they had lost the first round in what became a two-year struggle between the two railroads that would be known as the Royal Gorge War.

Unfortunately, I do not know anything about the printer of this post card. The only tell-tale sign of who this could be is the logo partially covered by the postmark and cancellation stripes. This logo is on so many of my post cards, and yet, I cannot definitely say who it belongs to. Some day....

I have two other post cards that are the same as this one. One has the publisher of it as being the Gray News Company of Salt Lake City, Utah. The message on that post card, mailed in 1912 says, "We are still in state of many wives". That is the entire message!!

The post mark on the top, middle of the card with the picture and the first message, above, is from 104 years ago today at 1:30 AM. It was sent from Montrose, CO to Rutherford, NJ. The address is written right-side up, but the message is upside down. It basically says that the sender is on her way to Jake's, she hopes the receiver is feeling better, that she will get over the see mother (maybe they are sisters) and that the sender hopes to be home toward the end of November.

The Other Two Royal Gorge Observation Cars

These are the two other post cards I mentioned in my blog last week.

The top one is from October 4, 1905 (prior to March 1, 1907 after which you could write a message on the back of the post cards), so the message is on the front of the post card. Charles is telling Helen (the addressee) that he and Mary rode on the car in the picture through the Royal Gorge that day. There is no indicator about who the publisher or printer are.

The bottom card is postally unused. However, it is from post March 1, 1907 because there is room for the message on the back. The back also tells us that the Carson-Harper Company of Denver Colorado printed the card. When you compare the two backs, you can see that the words POST and CARD are in the same font style.

More (Lots More) about the Back than the Front of the Post Card

This post card shows a steam engine going through the Royal Gorge in Colorado on the left and gives a detail of what it is pulling on the right. If the picture doesn’t tell you the story, the words above certainly make it clear. “Through the Royal Gorge in an Observation Car on the Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad”.

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The history of the Royal Gorge is fascinating. You can read about it on the Wikipedia website here: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Gorge

I recommend the article.

The train still runs through the Royal Gorge today, although it is not operated by one of the big Railroad Operators.
You can catch a ride through this website: https://www.royalgorgeroute.com/
They operate trains year-round from Cañon City, Colorado. It is on my “bucket list” of things to see and do.

I have mentioned the Royal Gorge in 12 previous posts, so I won’t go into detail about the topic on the front of the post card.

I will delve into the content on the back of the post card.

In a book about post card collecting I once read a chapter titled “Every Post Card has Two Sides”. This chapter opened my post card world very wide. I now try to find out all I can about both the publisher and the printer of every post card. I have a list of 325 publishers and printers of the post cards in my collection. I research all of them whenever I can. Many of these were truly unsung heroes of the post card world. I only know a little bit about just over one third of the known publishers and printers… and there are many post cards that do not reveal who printed or published them.

Today’s post card is an example of not knowing much about who published or printed the post card. There are certainly clues. The design between the two pictures is unique. The print style on the font is another clue. I know it is part of a series of cards because I have two others similar to this one.

When I look at the back of one of those other cards, I see that it was printed by Carson-Harper from Denver, Colorado. Carson-Harper published both books and postcards. They produced multi-view scenes of the West as pioneer souvenir cards and private mail cards in tinted halftone. They later reproduced many early pioneer images as regular postcards. (from: http://www.metropostcard.com/publishersc1.html )
I cannot guarantee that Carson-Harper printed the one in this blog, but you can compare the post cards in my next blog.

Today, I am concentrating on the message on the card. What really caught my eye was the PS in the upper left-hand corner of the card.

The body of the message gives me the impression that this is the woman of a married couple, Jennie and George, who are coming back from a journey out west, writing to her mother and a friend who lives with the mother. She is telling them that they have arrived in Colorado Springs at noon and will leave tomorrow just before noon. They haven’t decided if they will go up to Pikes Peak. They are on their way to Emporia (I presume that this is Emporia, Kansas).

Side note about Emporia, Kansas from Wikipedia:
The city is the home of Emporia University and once had an Amtrak stop that was served by the east and westbound Southwest Chiefs daily. The station was eliminated in the mid-90s. Here is a file picture I found on line of what the station used to look like:

The Southwest Chief is the successor to the Super Chief, a train operated by the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe) until 1971 and later by Amtrak until March 1974 when the Santa Fe forced Amtrak to stop using the name because of a perceived decline in quality after Amtrak took over the Santa Fe's passenger trains. After subsequent improvements in service, the Santa Fe allowed Amtrak to change the name of the Southwest Limited to the Southwest Chief on October 28, 1984.

In 1953, Emporia was the site of the first Veterans Day observance in the United States. At the urging of local shoe cobbler Alvin J. King, U.S. Representative Edward Rees introduced legislation in The United States Congress to rename Armistice Day as Veterans Day. President Eisenhower signed the bill into law on October 8, 1954.

Back to the P.S.:
It reads, “P. S. We were only delayed 3 hours by the slide near Soldiers Summit yesterday in Utah.” Imagine being the mother and receiving that Post Script! I would wonder if they were okay, if the train was damaged, it anyone was hurt, etc. But Jennie drops it as a second thought. They must be okay.

Soldier Summit takes its name from a group of soldiers who were caught in an unexpected snowstorm on the summit in July 1861. These soldiers were Southerners, previously under Union General Philip St. George Cooke at Camp Floyd, on their way to join the Confederate Army. A few of them died in the storm and were buried on the summit.

The post card is addressed to her mother who lived in McConnell, Illinois. Here is a bit of history about McConnell, also from Wikipedia:

In 1836, John Dennison claimed 1,000 acres east of the Pecatonica River for the purpose of starting a town. The area was heavily timbered and required a saw mill, which was erected north of the grove on a small creek in the spring of the year. This mill, located on Muddy Creek, was operated by Dennison and John Van Zant.

During the following year, Dennison and Van Zant plotted the town with Van Zant acting as surveyor. Stephenson County abstracts prove that the town was to be called either "Pennsylvania" or "New Pennsylvania".

By the spring of 1838, Dennison and Van Zant had made several land improvements and sold all of it, including the mill, to Robert McConnell. McConnell then changed the name to "McConnell's Grove". Due to Galena being the nearest town to acquire supplies and mail, McConnell built a storehouse and went to Galena to purchase goods to start a trading post.
On March 11, 1842 the land Robert McConnell received from Dennison and Van Zant was deeded from the United States to McConnell from the Land Office in Dixon.

Worth mentioning here is that Galena, the town that Mr. McConnell went to for supplies, was also a terminus on a railroad that went to Chicago. But, more than that, the Galena & Chicago Railroad was the first railroad to operate in Chicago. It was built to connect the lead mines near Galena to Chicago. This is rather unusual because the railroad comes from the west in 1848. One could easily have expected that one of the major railroads of the day would reach Chicago first. But, no; railroads didn’t reach Chicago from the east until 1852. These were the Michigan Central and the Michigan Southern Railroads.

The post card was mailed on June 26, 1922, so it is 91 years old.

Calming Dawn

The Royal Gorge is a 10 mile long canyon in Colorado carved out by the Arkansas River. It is not only a beautiful canyon, it was such a potential short cut for two railroads that they came to “war” over the track rights. On April 19, 1878, a hastily assembled construction crew from the Santa Fe began grading for a railroad just west of Canon City in the mouth of the gorge. The D&RG whose end of track was only ¾ of a mile from Canon City raced crews to the same area, but were blocked by the Santa Fe graders in the narrow canyon. By a few hours they had lost the first round in what became a struggle between the two railroads that would be known as the Royal Gorge War. After a long legal battle that ended in the U.S. Supreme Court, on April 21, 1879, the D&RG was granted the primary right to build through the gorge that in places was wide enough at best for only one railroad. On May 7, 1879 the first excursion train traveled through the Royal Gorge.

This is a picture of the canyon decades later. As you can see, things are much calmer. A lone steam engine is pulling its passenger up the canyon toward their destination.

I can give approximate dates to the age of the card. It is a card from the divided back era, so it is from between 1907 and 1915: around one hundred years old!

I cannot tell you who printed or published the card. The only hint about this is a beautiful scroll work on the back to highlight the words Post Card. If any of you know anything about who is connected to this scroll work,

I will be greatly appreciative if you let me know. This will fill the gaps on many of the post cards in my collection.

Surviving Through History

Not all of the post card printers and publishers lasted a long time. For example, the Acmegraph Company lasted eight years (1909 – 1918); the Benham Company existed from 1910 to 1915 – a short 5 years; the Gray News Company was able to meek out an existence of 16 years from 1906 – 1922. On the other hand, some companies have had a very long and prosperous life. The Albertype Company was around from 1887 to 1952; the American Art Post Card Company was in New York for about 38 years (1915 – 1953); Raphael Tuck & Sons had a very good run, starting in 1866 until it was purchased (and so, sort of still exists) in the 1960s. The H H Tammen Curio Company is in the group that lasted a very long time. It began in 1896 and closed shop in 1953. 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. They were smart, because they didn’t deal only in post cards. The business sold minerals and branched out into other curiosities from the West. A quick internet search shows that they printed books, sold silver souvenir spoons (who doesn’t know someone who collects these?), printed and sold burnt leather calendars. He and a partner also owned the Denver Post newspaper. He was a very successful businessman. It is not surprising that many of the post cards that depict the trains in the western USA in my collection have his logo on them. These three cards are a drop in the bucket.

They all show the same scene: the last car of a passenger train heading through the Royal Gorge in Colorado. As you scan down the three images, you can see that it looks like they just continued to print and print and print without changing the ink. I know that is not the case because these cards come from two different post card eras and represent two different publishers. The first card is from the time immediately after the Post Office allowed people to write messages on the backs of cards. It is known as the Divided Back era (1907 – 1915). The photo is actually quite crisp and clear as I look at it. The water has movement in it and the rocks show the fissures very well. This card is unused, so I don’t know exactly how old it is. Within the next few years, though, I can almost guarantee that it will be a centenarian. The second card is the same picture printed by the same printer and published by the same publisher – HH Tammen Curio Company. But, now the businesses have found out that you can save lots of money by adding a white border around the same pictures they have been printing. The post card number and title have not changed: 5955. Going Through the Royal Gorge, Colorado. Parts of the rocks, the rails and the river have disappeared as the printing process cropped the picture. There are no changed made to the back. This card comes from the White Border era (1915 – 1930).

The third card is printed by the same printer, comes from the White Border era and uses the same picture. However, it is now being published by the Van Noy-Interstate Co., of Denver, (1914 – 1926) Colorado. The details are much less crisp and the fringe on the back of the observation deck is now red and white instead of the green and white in the other two cards. The title has not changed but it has a new number: 4367. You can see that the Van Noy-Interstate Company wanted to do more than just tell you about the picture. They have added the now familiar box in the upper left hand corner of the card that gives a fuller description of the feature on the other side of the post card. I am not sure if you can read the message, but it looks like it was used by a student to let someone know that she is not very sure about an assignment she had just handed in. The most fascinating thing that I find about the HH Tammen Curio Company is the use of the little “space critter” as their logo.

If anyone who reads this blog knows where the little fellow originated, I would be very happy to hear from you.

Here is how I see it.

Although all three of them were printed in 1925, the top card is the first one in the series. The three cards are numbered from top to bottom (the number is in the bottom right-hand corner of the card) 102668, 106179 and 106170-N. The first card was printed by Curt Otto Teich and distributed by the Union News Company. The Union News Company, like so many other News companies, was wholly owned by the American News Company. From New York City, they distributed postcards and other printed items through the newsstands in major hotels and railway stations. It is printed on good quality paper stock by Curt Teich’s company. This card must have been very popular. It is soon reprinted by Curt Teich’s company. This time it is numbered at the top (collectors now have a series to complete!!) and a new number is given to it in the bottom right-hand corner. This time, it is published by the Sanborn Souvenir Company in Denver. Curt Teich has changed the name of the printing process from “C. T. American Art” to “C. T. American Art Colored”. The bottom rendition of the card has the same number as the middle card with a dash N added. The “-N” is an indication that it is a reprinted version of the original 106179 card. The collector incentive number is still at the top.

However, on the back, all one can assume is that the Sanborn Souvenir Company was the only company that touched this card. They must have struck a deal with the Curt Teich Company to be able to publish and distribute the duplicate copies of the original picture for their use. Two things hint at the Curt Teich Company’s involvement. First, the numbers are the same except the –N that indicates a Curt Teich reprint and second, it is printed on the Linen Style of card that Curt Teich developed. The other two cards are on good stock smooth paper. There certainly was a lot of development in the postcard business regarding this particular view in 1925.

Here, are some illustrations of the same picture being used more than once.

The Picture on the right is the same picture as the one on the left. At least the copyright is owned by the same printer-publisher in both cases. The copyright is held by the Detroit Photographic Company from 1901. Now one could think that, “WOW! These two postcards are from before the March 1, 1907 decision.” But, to the alert sleuth, the differences on the front might be a sign of differences on the back. On the front, both cards are by the same company, both have the same card number (5107) and the descriptions of the picture are the same (Eight miles long, Canyon walls 2600 feet in height). The locations of the copyright indicator, the size of the font, and the double line in the description are indicators that something might be amiss.

Sure enough, when you turn over the cards, they are from two different post card eras. One was printed and mailed (Oct 28, 1906) prior to March 1, 1907 and the other came after that date. As you can see the top card does not have a divided back and the warning is there: “THIS SIDE FOR THE ADDRESS”. On the bottom card, the address is to be located on the right-hand side of the card and the message can be added to the left. P.S. We can see that it took two and half days for the post card to get from Salt Lake City, Utah to Manhattan, Kansas - from 12:30 PM on October 28, 1906 to 7:30 AM on October 31st – a distance of just over 1,000 miles.

It takes a keen eye

So... I flipped the page in my album to see what the next set of post cards will be; surprise! we're still in the Royal Gorge. These two cards are a close-up of the Hanging Bridge - about which I know I have posted in the past (see earlier today).

These two pictures are much clearer than any others I have. As I examine them closer I see that this is because they were printed in 1938. These two cards are from the Linen Card Era. The number in the bottom right hand corner (8A-H192) tells me right away that these cards were printed by Curt Otto Teich's company. The 8A indicates that it was printed in the 1930s (the A tells us that) and specifically in 1938 (th 8 tells us that). The H after the dash indicates that the cards are of the Colortone type that Curt Teich produced. The 192 is an internal information number.
I kept both of them not because one of them is more yellow than the other (although that could be an indicator of a different print run - not just poor storage) but because they are actually from different print runs. Everything on the front is exactly the same (except the yellow hue); but, when you turn them over there is a very clear indicator that they are not from the same print run.

As we turn over the card, they do both look exactly the same. The descriptive words that tell you what is on the front of the cards are the same; the publisher on the left-hand side of the card is the same; the printer the "line" down the middle of the card is the same printer. But, upon closer inspection we see that the words POST CARD are in a different location and in a different font. I believe that the bottom card is older than the top one. When the US Postal Service finally allowed us to send post cards in the mail, the back side was for the address only. Then on March 1, 1907 we were able to put the address and a short message on the same side of the card. The address had to be on the right-hand side of the card and the message on the left. Many, I dare say most, of the post cards of this era remind you of which side which part is allowed. "THIS SIDE FOR ADDRESS ONLY" and "THIS SIDE FOR MESSAGE" are very prominent on the cards in my collection. It looks like this card has a bit of a carry-over from that era.

The other indicator that these are two print runs is that the name of the publisher, Curt Otto Teich and his patented printing process ("C.T. Art-Colortone")are each printed in the opposite direction on the two cards.

Who is the publisher? you ask. The Deseret Book Company is the official printer and distributor of the Mormon Church print material. The Deseret Book Company is the result of a merger between the Deseret News Bookstore and the Deseret Sunday School Union Bookstore in 1919 and formally adopted its name in 1920. They can both trace their organizational roots to George Q. Cannon, a Latter-day Saint General Authority. The bookstore is named after "deseret," a word from the Book of Mormon meaning "honeybee".

Triplets

At one point, in the Royal Gorge, the river and the two canyon walls are so close together that there was no easy way to lay the tracks for the train to pass through. A genious engineer (civil, not train) thought of laying a bridge that was suspended over the water rather than held up by piers. They inserted girders into the canyon walls and suspended the bridge for the train to get through the canyon.

These three post cards show the bridge from the same angle.
The top card and the card on the right (with the steam engines obviously drawn in)are from the same printer. They are both embossed. You can feel where the girders are in the picture as well as some of the mountains. When you turn them over the writing surface is not even. The words Post Card are both over an Amercian flag on a staff laid on its side.

The card on the left looks suspiciously similar to the card on the right. The big difference is that the picture is much more fuzzy. The blotches on the canyon wall to our right are in the exact same locations. And, it looks like a second steam engine is right behind the one on the bridge. When I turn it over I see that it is printed by a different company. The Post Card words are surrounded by an ornate swirl.

I love the creativity of the printers and publishers of this eara. One of the cards was mailed on June 9, 1908 at 2:30 PM. I guess everyone was making enough profit from selling these cards that they didn't have to worry about copyright infringement, etc.

This type of duplication is very common and I see many times over in my collection of train postcards. I know it happened in other types of cards, too.

Copyright Infringement?

Comparing the fronts of these two cards, we could easily come to the conclusion that they are the same picture. Because one is darker than the other, we might think that the only difference is that they were printed earlier and later in the same print run. That is almost the correct story.
These are the same picture.

They are pictures of the Hanging Bridge in the Royal Gorge, in the Grand Canyon of the Arkansas River in Colorado. The descriptions on the backs of the cards have the exact same wording. They were even both printed by the same company; that is what the little critter on the top, middle of the card indicates. “He” is the logo of the H. H. Tammen Curio Company of Denver, Colorado. It existed from 1896 to 1953 at its last known address: 1516 Arapahoe Street, Denver, CO.
But, at first glance, it looks as if the same picture was printed by two different companies. It could make us wonder about copyright infringement. However, if you look in the left margin of the cards you will see that they were published by two companies with very similar names: The Van Noy-Interstate Co. and The Interstate Co. This led me to want to delve deeper into the mystery of the publishing companies. Here is what I have found.

Van Noy Railway Hotel and News began a series of mergers and acquisitions in 1914, starting with the Brown News Company (also headquartered in Kansas City) which was acquired on October 1, 1914 began operating as Van Noy News. In 1915, the Company began consolidating operations with the New York City based Interstate News Company. The company name was then changed to The Van Noy Interstate News Company in 1917, but the company headquarters remained in Kansas City under the leadership of Ira C. Van Noy. As a result of changes in railroad passenger train service, Van Noy Interstate began to focus more on the hotel side of their operations. In 1922, the Company acquired the Gem Fountain Company, and in 1926 the company began operating as the Interstate Company.
Both cards belong to the “White Border Era”, which lasted from about 1915 to 1930. The card printed by The Van Noy-Interstate Company was published first – sometime between 1917 and 1926. The card published by The Interstate Company was printed between 1926 and 1930.

Two Cards that Look the Same

This is one of the aspects that I like about collecting the postcards. These two cards look like the same postcard, but they are different – sort of. They are the same view into the Royal Gorge and the Hanging Bridge.

But, the postcards have a couple of differences worthy of pointing out.
These cards were both published by the E. C. Kropp Company of Milwaukee. The publisher’s name is on both cards. On the card to the left you will find the name and a card number at the very bottom, slightly cut off in the printing. One the card to the right, the publisher has moved that information to the left margin.
This company has existed, in several forms, for a very long time. It began producing postcards as Kropp in 1898. In 1907, it changed its name to E.C. Kropp Company – just in time to catch the end of the “Address Only on This Side of Card” era. (More about that later regarding these two cards) They were bought in 1956 by L. L. Cook and today are now part of GAF Corporation. It is very interesting to hold a postcard that is over 100 years old, knowing that the company that published it is still around in one form or another.
When we turn the cards over, we can see they are also slightly different on the back. They both have the EC Kropp “bird” logo with the words Post Card on it. But, the slight differences are in two places: 1) the postage stamp square – the frame and the lettering are ever so slightly different from each other; and 2) the warnings that this side is only for the address are worded differently from each other.

These cards make we wonder which one was published first. My guess is that the one on the left came first for two reasons: 1) they discovered that their name and the postcard number were cut off in the production, so they moved them; and 2) as the time for the opportunity to write the address and a message on the back came closer – but was still not legal, they had to warn the writers that the back side of the card was still EXCLUSIVELY for the address.
Even so, as close as these two cards are to each other, I count them as separate cards in my collection because of these slight differences. I don’t see them as duplicates.

This one was used!

This card, on the back, is very similar to the last one I wrote about. It, too, belongs to the “Divided Back” group. That means that it was printed around 1907 to 1915. The picture goes right to the edges and on the back is a dividing line between the address and the message. You can see that people are getting used to the idea that they can write both the address and a message. On the left of the card, the reminder: “This space Can Be Used for a Written Message” has been shortened to “THIS SPACE FOR MESSAGE”.
However, we know more about the age of this card because it was actually used. It as mailed on October 22, 1913 from Fort Morgan, Colorado. It is on Interstate 76 northeast of Denver. A little piece of trivia regarding Fort Morgan: Glenn Miller, who was born in Iowa, went to school here. He is the big band leader who went missing toward the end of World War II. His plane disappeared over the English Channel in bad weather.
It is being mailed to Scotts Bluff, Nebraska, which is almost straight north of Fort Morgan. Scotts Bluff is on the routes of both the Oregon Trail and the Mormon Trail.
This picture is of the Gorge looking away from Denver.

There is another hint in this picture of an amazing engineering feat. You can see to lines at the bottom of the card that seem to go from one side of the canyon to the other. The train has just passed under the support beams for the Hanging Bridge.
This was printed, and it looks like it was also published, by the HH Tammen Company.
One thing I like about cards that have been used is the insight they give us to the lives of the people that wrote them. I like to think that this is Anna Ford writing to her husband, Walter.

Anna has gone out west to visit a friend or relative who just had a baby. While there, they received the news that her 4 year old nephew had an operation for an abscess and isn’t expected to live longer than a day. Then she reminds her husband to pick her up at the train station. On the top of the card she lets him know that it rained – “but not enough to keep the folks from working”.

100 years old?

This card also belongs to the “Divided Back” group. That means that it was printed around 1907 to 1915. The picture goes right to the edges and on the back is a dividing line between the address and the message. You can see that people are getting used to the idea that they can write both the address and a message. On the left of the card, the reminder: “This space Can Be Used for a Written Message” has been shortened to “THIS SPACE FOR MESSAGE”.

We are still in Colorado and will be for a very long time. Volume One of my collection focuses exclusively on Colorado. The majority of the cards from Colorado are all about the Royal Gorge. The Royal Gorge is a good 3 hour drive east of Denver. The Arkansas River has carved it out similar to what the Colorado River has done to the Grand Canyon, but on a much smaller scale.

This picture is another picture of the Gorge looking toward Denver. There is a hint in this picture of an amazing engineering feat. You can see to lines at the bottom of the card that seem to go from one side of the canyon to the other. These are the support beams for the, as they like to advertise, “Famous Hanging Bridge”.
This was printed, and it looks like it was also published, by the HH Tammen Company. Because it is a divided back card and there is no mention of any other company and no post marking, the best I can do to guess the age of the card is to say that it was probably printed some time between 1907 and 1915. It is approximately 100 years old.

Another Divided Back. . .

This card belongs to the “Divided Back” group. That means that it was printed around 1907 to 1915. The picture goes right to the edges and on the back is a dividing line between the address and the message. Also, on the message side is the sentence, “This space Can Be Used for a Written Message.”

A printing company existed for a very short time (1905 – 1910) during these years. It was known as the Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co. of Denver, Colorado. They published souvenir books and postcards of the western states. The company was based in Denver and this picture is of the Royal Gorge – a natural match.
I had to be quite the detective to determine some information about today’s feature card. I have seen the American flag wrapped around the staff like that on many postcards. However, not very often is there any identification about the printer included. As I researched and researched the various cards, I finally found two of them holding the secret – at least I hope it is the secret to the identity of the printer. I am not 100 percent convinced. These two cards have the logo of the Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co. and the same American flag!

That would mean that this postcard was printed sometime between March 1, 1907 (when people could start writing messages on the backs of postcards) and 1910 (when the company disappeared).
The left side of the card says that it was published for Van Noy News Co. – also of Denver, Colorado. Van Noy News Co. operated under that name for a very short time. The Van Noy Railway Hotel and News began in 1914, after a series of mergers they changed their name to Van Noy News Co. on October 1, 1914. They then changed their name to Van Noy Interstate News Company in 1917. This doesn’t help the theory that this card was printed between 1907 and 1910. The Van Noy News Co. only existed between 1914 and 1917.
I wonder if someone else picked up the American flag logo after Williamson-Haffner Engraving Co. went by the wayside…

Back into the Royal Gorge

The previous card belongs to a group called “The Divided Back”. The pictures went right to the edge of the cards and the backs were the first backs to be divided into two parts: the right for the address and the left for a message. Sometimes there is a message on the back to remind folks that they can write on the left side of the card. This group was printed from about 1907 to 1915.

The card featured in today’s post belongs to the “White Border” group. These cards were printed from about 1915 to 1930. They were still divided on the back, but there was a noticeable change on the front. A white border appeared.
We are going back to the Royal Gorge today. This card is younger than the card in the last post. I can tell right away because it has a white border around the picture. The picture on the front of the card is of the Railroad’s East entrance – surrounded by a white border. By looking on the back of the card, I can narrow the date of printing even more.

The printer is the H. H. Tammen Curio Company. It began business in 1896 and finally wrapped up in 1953. It operated out of 1516 Arapahoe Street, in Denver, Colorado. (So it is fitting that they would promote the Royal Gorge!) You can see the little mascot in the top middle of the card and the arrow pointing up to it with H H T CO imprinted on it. These are definitive signs that point to the H.H. Tammen Curio Co.
The publisher, on the left side of the card printed sideways, is The Interstate Co., also of Denver, Colorado. The Van Noy Railway Hotel & News, which came into being in 1914, became the Van Noy News Co., after some mergers with other companies, On October 1, 1914.
In 1915, they began consolidating operations with the Interstate News Company out of New York City. The company name was changed to the Van Noy Interstate News Company in 1917, under the direction of Ira C. Van Noy. The Van Noy Interstate Company began to focus on the hotel aspect of their business, including selling souvenir postcards to their guests. In 1922, the Company acquired the Gem Fountain Company, and in 1926 the company re-named one more time; now they were to be known as the Interstate Company.
All this tells me that because the name “The Interstate Co.” appears on the card, it was printed after 1926. The next phase of postcard printing began around the year 1930. So I am deducing that this card was printed sometime very close to the years 1926 and 1930.
As I hold the card in the light and close to my magnifying glass, I can see that there is a road that runs on the other side of the canyon.