Did Robert Louis Stephenson Ride This Train?

I have a poster on the wall downstairs. It is an advertisement by the Canadian Pacific Railway for people to ride the train west. I never did think much of it until today. The railroads, in both the United States and Canada, depended on getting people to settle in the west so that the railroads could make money by selling the settlers the land that was granted to the railroad with its charter. This website has some background about these “Emigrant Trains”, as they were known.

The picture on the front of this post card is of an “Emigrant Train”. The picture was taken by Thomas C. Roche (a Civil War photographer) during his tour of the Union Pacific and Central Pacific Railroads in 1870. https://legacysunfoldingjourney.blogspot.com/2011/07/take-ride-on-immigrant-train-advance.html In order to sell as much of this land as possible, the railroads had to compete for immigrants. So, they covered Europe with advertising promoting the American Dream of religious freedom, upward mobility, and cheap fertile land. So why did so many immigrants choose the U.S. and not countries closer to their homes? Well, there was genuine opportunity and freedom, too. But mostly it was good advertising. The Burlington Northern Railroad alone had over 850 agents roaming Europe selling the virtues of life in the United States. “A Congressional report in the early 1870’s estimated that every foreign laborer landing on our shores was economically valued at $1,500. The report stated that in less than ten years, these people would add $4.8 billion to the wealth of the nation” (“Across America on an Emigrant Train”). http://eyewitnesstohistory.com/emigranttrain.htm It was 1879 and twenty-eight-year-old Robert Louis Stevenson - future author of the novels Kidnapped and Treasure Island - was in love. Her name was Fanny Osborne. She was an American, ten years his senior and married to another man. The two had met in France three years earlier and Stevenson had fallen hopelessly in love. She returned to California and her husband, but in 1879, Stevenson received a cable from her that immediately set him off on a voyage to be by her side. Stevenson's parents were not happy with his plans and refused to fund his journey - so the young author decided to travel to America as an emigrant. This allowed him to take advantage of the low one-way fares to America offered by the American railroads. Special "Emigrant Boats" sailed to America's eastern ports and were met by "Emigrant Trains" that carried the foreign passengers to their final destinations. Stevenson kept a journal of his experience and soon turned this into a book. The picture on this post card was taken by T.C. Roche. This website gives us some of his history: https://civilwartalk.com/threads/t-c-roche-civil-war-photographer.71797/ T.C. Roche (1826–1895) was a photographer who worked with Alexander Gardner and Matthew Brady. Not much is know about him. In 1858, Roche became interested in photography and was listed as an agent at 83 South St. in Brooklyn, New York. In 1862 he went to work for E. & H. T. Anthony & Company. Over the years, Roche was Anthony's principal photographer and senior advisor and one of their most valuable assets, developing many patents for the company's products and processes. Roche is probably best known for, and counts among his many accomplishments, the roughly 50 stereoviews taken on April 3, 1865 following the fall of Petersburg, Virginia. These include the "death studies", at least 20 stereoviews of the dead, allegedly taken inside Fort Mahone. After the war, Roche returned to work for the Anthonys, with whom he published a book on photography.Thomas C. Roche was quite an inventor, and has a number of patents that you can find on Google Patents - most of them have to do with photography.

This post card is one of 50 that were sold by the Lightfoot Collection in Huntington Station, New York. This is the website where you can see the other 49 post cards. They are not all about trains. I have numbers 13, 21 and 25 from this collection. http://wallywombatscollectables.com/Master-Photographer-by-Lightfoot.php

Crossing the North Platte River in Wyoming

The train on the front of this post card belongs to the Union Pacific Railroad.

It is in Wyoming, crossing the North Platte River. The bridge was built in the 19th century as part of the transcontinental railroad. Today it is a deck plate girder bridge. It is located near Fort Steele in Carbon County in the state of Wyoming. My research found the following about Fort Steele, the namesake of the bridge. It is taken from this webiste: https://www.legendsofamerica.com/wy-fortfredsteele/ Fort Fred Steele was established on June 20, 1868, to guard the men who were building the Union Pacific Railroad across southern Wyoming against Indian attacks. Located on the west bank of the North Platte River, the site was selected by Colonel Richard Dodge, and named for Major General Frederick Steele, a Civil War hero. After the railroad was completed, the soldiers continued to protect the area, especially the vulnerable railroad bridge across the North Platte River. In 1973, the Wyoming State legislature created the Fort Fred Steel State Historic Site.

The post card was published by the Souvenir Novelty Company out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The company existed from 1910 to 1927. It was a publisher of local souvenir books and postcards in lithography. Many of their cards were printed by Curt Teich. The code at the bottom-center of the card confirms that his one was printed by Curt Teich. Edward H. Mitchell was a partner in the Company: March 4, 1914 “Mr. Edward H. Mitchell has purchased our interest in the Souvenir Publishing Company"

Something is Fishy Here

The picture on the front of this post card was taken along the Green River

just a few miles northwest of the city of Green River in Wyoming. The Union Pacific Railroad tracks follow the river for a very short distance (maybe 4 or 5 kilometers), but just enough to get this gorgeous view of the river valley. This particular stretch of the tracks is called “Fish Cut”. This website gives some information about how to get there: https://www.trainorders.com/discussion/read.php?1,1595361,nodelay=1 Looks like the climb west of Green River to Peru. West of Green River on old Hwy 30 about 3 miles. This road parallels the tracks and is apparently a public road, Ive never been approached by UP police while on it. On the same road is access to the famous bridge over the Green where one can have a train and Castle Rock in the background in the frame. Cross the Green River and look up to your left to the tracks. Turn left on any dirt road that looks like it goes to the base of the hill below the tracks. Hike up to the tracks. Be aware that the cut has been changed from your postcard. The low side of the cut has been completely removed. These are the coordinates to Fish Cut: Latitude: 41.5477 Longitude: -109.5068 This web site gives you the story of why the length of track is called “Fish Cut”: www.jstor.org "Fish Cut" is called that because of the fossil fish from the Eocene (about 48 million years old) Green River Formation. When they made the cut, they discovered some of the best preserved and most abundant fossil fish. If you've seen the fossil of a fish that died eating another fish, it came from that formation (which covers most of Southwest Wyoming and parts of Utah)... along with the millions of fossil fish often seen at museum gift shops for surprisingly low prices. Interestingly, Como Bluff to the east has a similar story involving UP railroad workers discovering abundant fossils, but there it was dinosaurs. Como Bluff is the dig that kicked off the western states dinosaur hunts, started the "war" between Cope and Marsh, and provided a huge percentage of dinosaur fossils in museums around the world. It's now the haunt of one of the most well-known living paleontologists, Bob Bakker (the one on Discovery Channel with the beat up hat and scraggly beard). The post card was published by the Barkalow Brothers. You may notice that there are some darker lines on this side of the card. That is because the post card is embossed and those are signs of wear. It was posted in July of 1908. Here is the story of the Barkalow Brothers as taken from the website https://www.metropostcard.com

The Barkalow Brothers, Sidney D. Barkalow and Derrick V. Barkalow, arrived in Omaha from Ohio in 1856. BARKALOW BROS., news agents U. P. R. R., firm composed of D. V. and S. D. Barkalow, commenced business in 1865. D. V. B. of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, February, 1843. In 1856 he removed with his parents to Omaha, Neb. Learned printing and telegraphy, and about 1862 was engaged as operator on the overland telegraph line. He married in Cheyenne, W. T., May 24, 1876, to Miss Kate Whitehead. They have two children, Weltha M. and Robert V. Mr. B. is a member of the Pleasant Hours Club. S. D. Barkalow of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1844; removed to Omaha Neb., with his parents in 1856. At the age of fifteen years he commenced clerking, and at seventeen started in business for himself in book and stationery firm of Barkalow Bros. They became the exclusive distributors of printed materials, including postcards, for the Union Pacific Railroad. They won won their contract with the U.P. in 1865 and became the exclusive news agents on the trains and in the stations along the line. The Barkalow Brothers also published non railroad oriented view-cards that were often printed by Tom Jones. They have been known to cooperate with Williamson-Haffner Company in their publishing efforts. They eventually became suppliers of hotel gift shops and moved their business to Fort Myers, Florida. However, I have seen that on June 9, 1972, the Barkalow Brothers were suing a janitorial company for damages caused by a fire that the Barkalow Brothers say was the janitorial company. This office was in Omaha, Nebraska.

The Devil's Slide

The geological formation on the front of this post card is called “Devil’s Slide”.

It is a chute of two pretty parallel slabs of limestone 6 meters (20 feet) apart, each 12 meters (40 feet) high and 30.5 meters (200 feet) long. This slide is near Croydon, Utah in Weber Canyon. I blogged about Croyden on January 5, 2018 and about Weber (It’s pronounced Weeber) Canyon on both October 18, 2014 and December 16, 2014.

The first maps of the area referred to phenomenon Weber Canyon as “Gutter Defile”.
According to Lynn Arave on this website: https://www.standard.net/what-s-the-story-behind-devil-s-slide-in-morgan/article_08d618c3-93e2-5ead-b6b5-f0d1153434b0.html

“James John Walker (1830-1896), an early resident of Croydon and a railroad worker, is very likely the first person to have called it Devil’s Slide. A Walker family history states that James Walker was a contractor on the railroad, installing the first tracks through upper Weber Canyon. Probably around 1868, he was asked (being a local resident) by a railroad crew what to call this unusual rocky chute and his reply was Devil’s Slide and the title stuck. The first official mention of that name for the rock formation in a newspaper was in 1875. By 1904, someone discovered that the limestone was not just in the geological formation, but was abundant in the area. The Portland Cement Company set up a town and tried to name it Portland, after itself. But, in 1907 the post office was reflecting the name Devils Slide. The town reached its heyday in the late 1920s, before the Great Depression, when it boasted 529 residents. By the 1940s, its school closed and by the 1980s, only a few families still resided there. Soon after, the cement company closed the town and today a gravel pit and rubble mostly cover what remains of this ghost town. Ogden began promoting Devil’s Slide as a tourist attraction in the mid 1920s, with signs. Devil’s Gate, at the lower end of Weber Canyon, was also boasted of in numerous Standard-Examiner reports of the 1920s. ” - End of article by Lynn Arave.

This is the back of the post card:

There isn't a lot to know about the publisher of this post card. The name down the left-hand side says that it was published by The Gray News Company out of Salt Lake City, Utah. The company was a publisher and distributor of regional lithographic view-cards. Many images were produced of sparsely populated rugged areas. They only existed for 16 years; between 1906 and 1922. That makes this post card almost 100 years old! However, looking at the number at the bottom, middle of the post card raised my curiosity.

It looked an awful lot like a file number that Curt Otto Teich's company would use when they printed the post card for The Grey News Company. I looked at my files and saw this: "1908-1928 Cards numbered A or R 1 to 124180. The cards they printed for Woolworth have a W prefix. The letter N prefix was used to designate a reprinted image from this series." I thought that I was on the right track; then I saw this:

That little logo under the letter "T" is the company logo for Curt Otto Teich's company!! So, doing some math, if this is lot 7967 out of 124,180 printed between 1908 and 1928, this post card was probably printed in April of 1909. This does make sense because this is a divided back era post card. That era covers from 1907 to 1915. That means that this post card would be over 100 years old!

McKeen Motor Car

From the source of all knowledge worth knowing [Wikipeida] because the McKeen Motor Car Company website is under construction. www.mckeencar.com The McKeen Motor Car Company of Omaha, Nebraska, was a builder of internal combustion-engined railroad motor cars (railcars), constructing 152 between 1905–1917.[1] Founded by William McKeen, the Union Pacific Railroad's Superintendent of Motive Power and Machinery, the company was essentially an offshoot of the Union Pacific and the first cars were constructed by the UP before McKeen leased shop space in the UP's Omaha Shops in Omaha, Nebraska.

The UP had asked him to develop a way of running small passenger trains more economically, and McKeen produced a design that was ahead of its time. Unfortunately, internal combustion engine technology was not, and the McKeen cars never found a truly reliable powerplant. The vast majority of the cars produced were for E. H. Harriman's empire of lines (Union Pacific, Southern Pacific and others). Harriman's death in 1909 lost the company its major sponsor and investor, and Harriman's successors were less enthusiastic about the McKeen cars. Many McKeen cars ended up being re-engined with a variety of drive mechanisms — gasoline-mechanical, gasoline-electric, diesel-electric, or even steam power. Most, although not all, McKeen cars had the distinctive "wind-splitter" pointed aerodynamic front end and rounded tail. The porthole windows were also a McKeen trademark, adopted allegedly for strength after the 7th production car. A dropped central door, as pictured, was also present on the majority of the cars. Two lengths, 55 and 70 feet, were offered; either could be fitted out with a large mail and express area ahead of the center doors, a smaller mail/express area, or the car could be all seats for a maximum capacity of 64 or 105 respectively.
It is when I read the backs of postcards like this

that I wish that I could speak a multitude of languages. I would love to know what is being said, even if it only, "I'm OK; are you?" The post card was published by a company headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska - just like the Union Pacific and the McKenn Motor Car Company. The Barkalow Brothers, Sidney D. Barkalow and Derrick V. Barkalow, arrived in Omaha from Ohio in 1856. BARKALOW BROS., news agents U. P. R. R., firm composed of D. V. and S. D. Barkalow, commenced business in 1865. D. V. B. of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, February, 1843. In 1856 he removed with his parents to Omaha, Neb. Learned printing and telegraphy, and about 1862 was engaged as operator on the overland telegraph line. He married in Cheyenne, W. T., May 24, 1876, to Miss Kate Whitehead. They have two children, Weltha M. and Robert V. Mr. B. is a member of the Pleasant Hours Club. S. D. Barkalow of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1844; removed to Omaha Neb., with his parents in 1856. At the age of fifteen years he commenced clerking, and at seventeen started in business for himself in book and stationery firm of Barkalow Bros. They became the exclusive distributors of printed materials, including postcards, for the Union Pacific Railroad. They won won their contract with the U.P. in 1865 and became the exclusive news agents on the trains and in the stations along the line. The Barkalow Brothers also published non railroad oriented view-cards that were often printed by Tom Jones. They eventually became suppliers of hotel gift shops and moved their business to Fort Myers, Florida. They have been known to cooperate with Williamson-Haffner Company in their publishing efforts. The forgoing was found on the great website of the Metropolitan Post Card Club of New York http://www.metropostcard.com/index.html.

Want to Join a Club?

Taken from the Union Pacific Railroad's website:
Long an advocate for a rail line that would extend all the way to the Pacific, former railroad attorney and now President Abraham Lincoln realized his dream when he signed the Pacific Railway Act of 1862.

The Central Pacific Railroad of California, which had been chartered in 1861, was authorized to build a line east from Sacramento. At the same time, the Act chartered The Union Pacific Railroad Company to build west from the Missouri River. The original legislation granted each railroad 6,400 acres and up to $48,000 in government bonds for each mile it completed. The UP deadline for completion: July 1, 1874. The Corporate Headquarters for the Union Pacific Railroad is in Omaha, Nebraska. probably not very far from where this picture was taken.

The writer of the post card is inviting himself to join a club in which they trade post cards with each other. The other person, Miss Nellie Valentine, lives in Michigan. He lives in Omaha, thus the nature of the post card.

The Preamble to the Constitution, I Mean Freedom Train

The Union Pacific Railroad loaned one of their engines (Number 951) to Freedom Train movement in 1976. We see a picture of it here on the front of this post card. It is called "The Preamble Express". It was named this for at least two reasons: 1) The Constitution of the United States has a preamble. I quote it here: "We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense,promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America."

2) A preamble is a preparatory statement or introduction to what follows. The train in this picture was the introduction to the train which followed it. The locomotive chosen for this job was an E9 that belonged to the Union Pacific RR. The E9 was a 2,400-horsepower (1,790 kW), A1A-A1A passenger train-hauling diesel locomotive built by General Motors' Electro-Motive Division of La Grange, Illinois between April 1954 and January 1964. 100 cab-equipped A units were produced and 44 cabless booster B units, all for service in the United States. The E9 was the tenth and last model of EMD E-unit and differed from the earlier E8 as built only by the newer engines and a different, flusher-fitting mounting for the headlight glass, the latter being the only visible difference. (Taken from Wikipedia).

This seems like it would be an honor for the people sitting in the passenger coaches and for the crew chosen to pilot the train. However, as I read the words on the back of the post card describing what is on the front, I read these words: "The Preamble Express was used to check security for the Freedom Train." That is code to me for this train was used to go ahead of the Freedom Train to discover and hidden mines or bombs on the tracks or bridges. This makes the people involved in the Preamble Express true heroes in my books.

The post card was published by Mary Jayne's Railroad Specialties. I only had one interaction with Mary Jane, but I think she must be a saint. I wrote her a letter asking if she had a catalog of the post cards that she published. I explained about my train post card collection and how I look at both the front and back of the post cards. I asked that, if there was a catalog could I somehow get a copy. I fully expected that I would have to pay something for the printing or photocopying. She wrote me a personal letter (along with the catalog) thanking me for my humble approach. She had received many DEMANDS from people that she send them the catalog. All she asked was that I give some money to a charity of my choice. I gave money to the "Feeding Hungry Minds" endowment fund. If you want to know more about the fund leave a comment below. I was deeply impressed by her kindness.

The train in the picture above is passing through Hollywood, Florida. The printer of the post card is also from Hollywood, FL

Then and Now

The bridge in this post card was designed by the famous architect, Ralph Modjeski, the chief engineer for the San Francisco–Oakland Bay Bridge which began construction in 1933. The Missouri Valley Bridge & Iron Company built the bridge by cantilevering it out from rock walls on both sides of the canyon.

The first steel for the bridge arrived on site on May 18, 1911, and was lowered by derrick to the bottom of the gorge. Men climbed down rope ladders to attach cables to the steel beams and the steel was hoisted back up both sides of the canyon as the beams were needed. The first train crossed the bridge only four months later on September 17, 1911.

The crossing of the Crooked River played a critical role in the competition to build a railroad up the Deschutes River Valley. The incentive for railroad construction was reaching the vast stands of timber south of Bend. The Oregon Trunk Railway, owned by Jim Hill of the Great Northern Railway, started up the west side of the Deschutes. In the meantime the Des Chutes Railroad, owned by Edward Harriman of the Union Pacific, started up the east side. At 126 miles both railroads had to cross a major tributary of the Deschutes, the Crooked River. There was only one place where the cliffs on both sides were close enough to build a bridge. Jim Hill had obtained the rights to the location when his Oregon Trunk Railroad acquired the Central Oregon Railroad Company on December 1, 1909. The Central Oregon had laid no track and the rights to the bridge site were its principal asset. Hill's acquisition of the location forced Harriman to negotiate a settlement whereby the Oregon Trunk would own almost the entire line from the Columbia to Bend but Harriman's company would have the right to use the track.

Through a series of mergers the rail line and the bridge has become part of the BNSF Railway. The Union Pacific still has the right to use the track.

This is what the bridge looks like today:

The post card was printed and published by the H. H. Tammen Curio Company. They were located at 1516 Arapahoe Street in Denver, Colorado from 1896 to 1953. The picture on the front does not have a white border around it, and the back is divided. From this we can conclude that the post card was printed some time between 1912 and 1915.

Three Related Post Cards (3 of 3)

In the blogs of the last two weeks, I mentioned that as I looked at three post cards I noticed that the writing on the back looked very similar. Sure enough, the post cards are being sent to Miss Reba Van. They were all written on the same journey, by the same author, to the same person. This is about the third, and final, post card in that series.
As the Union Pacific Railroad headed east from Omaha, Nebraska the track laying crews made their way almost straight west across Nebraska and Wyoming then entered into Utah. In Utah they made a southern turn and traveled toward Ogden, Utah on the shore of the Great Salt Lake. To get there they had to lay track through the Echo and Weber (pronounced Weeber) Canyons. Weber Canyon is in the Wasatch Mountain Range. The 40 mile long river is fed by 13 tributaries as it flows west toward the Great Salt Lake.

The Union Pacific built tunnels and bridges through Echo Canyon first; track-laying progressed rapidly down Echo Canyon to Echo City, reaching there on January 15, 1869. Within a week, tracks reached the site of a large tree, 90 feet tall, that happened to be exactly 1,000 miles from Omaha (the corporate seat of the Union Pacific), and soon a sign was hung from the tree clearly stating that fact. The tree was in the middle of a gorge between Henefer in the Upper Weber Valley and Devil's Slide, a unique geological formation of twin limestone ridges running vertically from the canyon floor. Along with the Thousand Mile Tree, Devil's Slide immediately became a sight to be seen by all passing trains.

Three miles west of Devil's Slide, two tunnels designated No.3 and No. 4, were completed, allowing tracks to progress further west through Round Valley to Morgan. Like the delays at Tunnel No. 2, delays at tunnels 3 and 4 forced the construction of short and temporary runaround tracks to speed the progress of track laying, including a curved wooden trestle at Tunnel No. 3 that is said to have followed the course of the river around the tunnel. Quoting Charles Edgar Ames in his excellent 1969 history of the construction of UP's transcontinental line:
"Tunnels 3 and 4 were only three-quarters of a mile apart in the narrowest part of the steep, rock-filled gorge of Weber Canyon, 3 miles west of Devil's Slide. Work was begun in September. Tunnel 3 was 508 feet long on a 3-1/2 degree curve, while Tunnel 4 was 297 feet long on a 4 degree curve. Both were cut through sharp spurs of black limestone and dark blue quartzite. The use of newly invented nitroglycerine greatly expedited the work. Number 4 was finished in January, but longer Number 3 not until April. So, for a few months, trains had to creep dangerously around sharp curves at the edge of the turbulent river."

The view of the completed Tunnel No. 3 and its adjacent bridge over the Weber River was so dramatic that numerous stereographic and hand colored postcards were generated that showed the wooden bridge crossing the Weber River, and the tracks plunging under the rocky crags above the tunnel portal. After the completion ceremony at Promontory, and throughout the following spring and summer, UP construction crews returned to the tunnel sites and various bridge sites to complete the permanent structures and timber linings.

This post card is from the Divided Back Era (1907 - 1915). The number on this post card is A-9090 It was posted from Blue Canyon, California on January 6, 1911. The message is explaining to the reader that the trip through the Sierra Nevada's was beautiful in the height of winter. The post card was published by Barkalow Brothers from Omaha, Nebraska. Hmmmmm.... that is where the Union Pacific Railroad Company is headquartered. I wonder if there is a connection to the picture on the front. Maybe this description will help us to know the answer to that: It is taken from the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York

The Barkalow Brothers, Sidney D. Barkalow and Derrick V. Barkalow, arrived in Omaha from Ohio in 1856. BARKALOW BROS., news agents Union Pacific Rail Road, firm composed of D. V. and S. D. Barkalow, commenced business in 1865. D. V. B. of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, February, 1843. In 1856 he removed with his parents to Omaha, Neb. Learned printing and telegraphy, and about 1862 was engaged as operator on the overland telegraph line. S. D. Barkalow of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1844; removed to Omaha Neb., with his parents in 1856. At the age of fifteen years he commenced clerking, and at seventeen started in business for himself in book and stationery firm of Barkalow Bros.

They became the exclusive distributors of printed materials, including postcards, for the Union Pacific Railroad. They won won their contract with the U.P. in 1865 and became the exclusive news agents on the trains and in the stations along the line. The Barkalow Brothers also published non railroad oriented view-cards that were often printed by Tom Jones. They eventually became suppliers of hotel gift shops and moved their business to Fort Myers, Florida.

Three Related Post Cards (2 of 3)

This is the second of three post cards sent to Miss Reba Vass in Cincinnati, Ohio. My last post had the first one and the next post will contain the third.

The front of this post card shows a steam locomotive passing Croydon, Utah while on the Union Pacific right of way. The train is called the Eastern Express. Unfortunately, I cannot find anywhere that there actually was a train on the Union Pacific called the Eastern Express. It really doesn't seem to matter, though, because the writer of the post card is headed west anyway!!

This is from Wikipedia: "Croydon is a small unincorporated community in northeastern Morgan County, Utah, United States. It is part of the Ogden–Clearfield, Utah Metropolitan Statistical Area. Accessible from Interstate 84, it is home to Holcim's Devil's Slide Cement Plant and several hundred residents. Lost Creek runs through this small unincorporated town, just northeast of the Devil's Slide rock formation. Cattle and sheep ranches can be found throughout the valley and in the surrounding mountains. Croydon was also home to the annual Widowmaker snowmobile and motorcycle hillclimbing events for several years. Croydon was originally called Lost Creek, and under the latter name was founded in 1862. The present name is after Croydon, in England, the native land of a large share of the first settlers."

This is from http://utahrails.net/up/up-in-ut-1900-1996.phpMarch 1906
Union Portland Cement announced that it would build a plant at Croydon. (Salt Lake Mining Review, March 15, 1906, p. 30) Production began in June 1907. (Salt Lake Mining Review, June 30, 1907, p. 31) (Croydon was called Devil's Slide by the Union Pacific)

The post card was published by the Barkalow Brothers. The Barkalow Brothers, Sidney D. Barkalow and Derrick V. Barkalow, arrived in Omaha from Ohio in 1856. BARKALOW BROS., news agents U. P. R. R., firm composed of D. V. and S. D. Barkalow, commenced business in 1865.

D. V. B. of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, February, 1843. In 1856 he removed with his parents to Omaha, Neb. Learned printing and telegraphy, and about 1862 was engaged as operator on the overland telegraph line. He married in Cheyenne, W. T., May 24, 1876, to Miss Kate Whitehead. They have two children, Weltha M. and Robert V. Mr. B. is a member of the Pleasant Hours Club. S. D. Barkalow of above firm was born in Warren County, Ohio, in 1844; removed to Omaha Neb., with his parents in 1856. At the age of fifteen years he commenced clerking, and at seventeen started in business for himself in book and stationery firm of Barkalow Bros. They became the exclusive distributors of printed materials, including postcards, for the Union Pacific Railroad. They won won their contract with the U.P. in 1865 and became the exclusive news agents on the trains and in the stations along the line. The Barkalow Brothers also published non railroad oriented view-cards that were often printed by Tom Jones. They eventually became suppliers of hotel gift shops and moved their business to Fort Myers, Florida. They have been known to cooperate with Williamson-Haffner Company in their publishing efforts.

Three Related Post Cards (1 of 3)

Preface: I am still cataloging the post cards that came in the mail while I was blogging about my Pikes Peak post cards. I looked at this card and thought that, for some reason, I should look at the next one, too. I realized immediately that the pictures seemed to be related. When I turned them over I saw that they were both from the Barkalow Brothers Publishing Company. (It is nice to know I am learning something as I blog about these post cards.) But, I also noticed that the writing on the back looked very similar. Sure enough, both post cards are being sent to Miss Reba Van. I let my curiosity get the best of me and I picked up the third card on the stack. It, too, was written on the same journey, by the same author, to the same person. These next three blogs will show you the three cards. This is the first of the series. It was mailed while they were traveling through Wyoming.

This post card shows the "San Francisco Overland Limited" leaving Cheyenne, Wyoming; it doesn't specify in which direction the train is headed. Overland is the title given to the first wagon train trails that headed west. When the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific Railroads built the first transcontinental railroad, it only seemed natural that the name would also refer to the train tracks. There have been several variations on the name: Overland Limited, San Francisco Overland Limited, the Overland Flyer, the Overland Route being the most common. If it is leaving Wyoming with only one locomotive at the head, it must be headed to the flat plains of Nebraska.

Looking at the back of the card, I notice that it is from the Divided Back Era and the post mark confirms this. It was mailed on January 6, 1911. This is interesting because it was the first card written to Reba. The name of the location at the top left says Wyoming. On the next card it will say Nevada and the third card says they are in Sacramento, California. These post cards are also related to each other because they were all published by the Barkalow Brothers Publishing Co. I will write a bit about the company in the final of these three blog posts. The number of the card, found at the bottom middle of this back, is A-9092. You can wait to see what the other two cards are numbered. I will keep you hanging in anticipation.

Tomorrow, April 27th in Train and Post Card History

The picture on the front of this post card is of a train crossing a river near Riverside, California. The train belongs to the Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad (the LA & SL).

The LA & SL was a railroad company that completed and operated a railway line between its namesake cities, via Las Vegas, Nevada. Incorporated in Utah in 1901 as the San Pedro, Los Angeles and Salt Lake Railroad, the line was largely the brainchild of William Andrews Clark, a Montana mining baron and United States Senator. Clark enlisted the help of Utah's Senator Thomas Kearns, mining magnate and newspaper man, to ensure the success of the line through Utah. Construction of the railroad's main line was completed in 1905. Company shareholders adopted the LA&SL name in 1916 after San Pedro had become part of Los Angeles. As you can see in the title of this post card, the railroad was also known by its official nickname, "The Salt Lake Route."

The railroad began in 1871 when the Utah Southern Railroad began laying track southward from Salt Lake City. The Utah Southern, controlled by the much larger Union Pacific Railroad (UP), built a line to a station known as Juab, Utah in 1879. Over time, the Union Pacific Railroad either extended lines, built new tracks, or purchased existing tracks and companies. Another player entered the scene in 1900, however, when Mr. Clark acquired the struggling Los Angeles Terminal Railway with an eye to extending the line northeast to Salt Lake. After “railroad war” a settlement was reached whereby Mr. Clark would build his railroad and the UP would be half owner of his company.

The LA&SL operated independently until April 27, 1921 (93 years ago) when the Union Pacific agreed to acquire Clark's half of the railroad. After 1921 the LA&SL lines were operated as part of the UP system, although the LA&SL Corporation continued to exist on paper until January 1, 1988.

The information above was mostly taken from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Angeles_and_Salt_Lake_Railroad

The information that follows below was mostly taken from Jeff, a dedicated collector and admirer of Edward H. Mitchell. His website can be found at: http://www.mitchellpostcards.com

I have also taken content from a great reference site for post cards: http://www.metropostcard.com/publishersm2.html

Edward H. Mitchell, one of the earliest and most prolific postcard publishers in the United States, was born on April 27, 1867 (147 years ago) in San Francisco.

Mitchell published very early cards – colored vignettes – that were printed in Germany. He was printing and publishing undivided back cards from 225 Post Street in The City before the earthquake and fire of 1906 destroyed his operation and much of San Francisco. He continued to work out of his home until he built a plant and warehouse on Army Street. His cards have great color for the time they were created. All postcards printed after 1908 proudly proclaim 'Printed in the United States' on their backside.

Most of his postcards are about the West. Mitchell rode the rails, which makes sense in his era. I am sure that he created many postcards about the railroads in exchange for discounted travel. I believe that is where the saying “The Road of a Thousand Wonders” which appears on many cards came from.He printed cards for himself and other publishers, most notably to promote the 1915 Panama Pacific International Exposition. Some of his postcards were being republished through other publishing companies that Mitchell owned or was a partner in such as the Pacific Novelty Co. and the Souvenir Publishing Co. He was known to have purchased the businesses of competitors.

Edward H. Mitchell gave up postcard publishing around 1923 to focus on his interests in the Oil Industry. He died in 1932.

Cantra Loop, Contra Loop or Cantara Loop?

The scene on this post card is of a small section of what was then the Southern Pacific railroad in northern California. Today, of course, it is owned by the Union Pacific Railroad. I published some information about another post card with a picture of this loop 6 months ago on September 6, 2013. You can read about The Loop in that blog posting.

I wanted to show this post card because even though the name is on the post card twice (once on the front and once on the back) the printer and publisher both missed the fact that it is spelled incorrectly both times.

On the front The Cantara Loop (correct spelling) is spelled "Cantra". On the back it is spelled "Contra".

They certainly got the rest of the information right, though! If you have never been to northern California you have missed some very beautiful and dramatic scenery.

The printer of the post card is the H.H. Tammen Curio Company. The logo is the arrow in the middle of the card pointing up to the little space alien-type critter.

Mr. Tammen would probably be mortified at the double mistake; he was an owner and editor of the Denver Post for many years.

They were 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. Deeply interested in the study of mineralogy, he published a promotional journal called Western Echoes magazine, "Devoted to Mineralogy, Natural History, Botany, &c. &c." Volume 1 Number 1 is copyrighted 1882.

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.

Here is the trademark of the publisher, but, for the life of me, I cannot connect it to any company. Any assistance you can provide will be GREATLY appreciated.

Obviously it is a company with two names; the first one starts with a B and the second one starts with an N.

Not Salt Lake Utah Exactly

This post card is showing the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge, spanning the Santa Anna River, west of Riverside, California.

This bridge has significance because the Union Pacific Railroad Bridge was part of an overall plan initiated by Senator William Andrews Clark to connect the rail centers of Salt Lake City and Los Angeles, thereby creating a route of strategic importance for the shipping and transportation of materials. The Bridge was also, at one time, the largest concrete bridge on earth.

When built in 1903 it was billed as the largest concrete viaduct in the world. It is 984 feet (300 m) long, 17 feet (5.2 m) wide, averages 55 feet (17 m) in height, and contains about 14,000 cubic feet (400 m3) of concrete. As a comparison, Glenfinnan Viaduct (the "Harry Potter" viaduct) was built in 1901 and is 1,035 feet (315 m) long and up to 100 feet (30 m) high.

The post card is from the divided back era, so it is from around 1907 to 1915. M. Reider (in business from 1901 to 1915)printed and published view-cards of the West and of Native Americans. His cards were printed in Germany except those contracted out to Edward H. Mitchell in the United States. On E-bay, there is a post card published by Edward H. Mitchell (EHM) that uses the exact same picture on the front, but says it is published by EHM. I am trying to purchase the card to add to my collection!

I am sorry about the quality of the pictures of this post card. The program and my new Windows 8 don't seem to like each other. I can scan the post card onto my computer with my trusty Epson V500 scanner, but I can't get it onto this program from there. So, I held up the post card to the webcam on my computer and took a photo of the post card directly into this blog. Hopefully, things will get better.

The Tehachapi Loop

The Tehachapi Loop is a spiral loop through the Tehachapi Pass in the Tehachapi Mountains. More specifically it is located in southern California. The line connects Mojave in the Antelope Valley to Bakersfield in the San Joaquin Valley on the other side of the mountains. The purpose of the loop is to reduce the grade of line. Once on the loop a train loses (or gains – depending on the direction of travel) 77 feet of elevation over almost three quarters of a mile. This makes it a safe 2% grade. Construction of the line and the loop began on November 8, 1874 and finished on September 5, 1876. The first train to use the brand new loop arrived at Los Angeles from San Francisco. It has been in heavy use ever since. In the summer of 1952 an earthquake shut down the Tehachapi Loop until repairs could be made. Today, the Union Pacific does not allow passenger trains to use the Tehachapi Loop.

The fun part of the loop is that the track crosses over itself, so that if a train in long enough, about 3,900 feet, it one can see the engine and the end of the train at the same time, one on top of the other. If you would like to experience this phenomenon yourself the Tehachapi Loop is at co-ordinates Latitude: 35°12′03″N and Longitude: 118°32′13″. This is a partial quote from the commemorative plaque at a stop where you can watch the trains go round: “In front of you is the world famous Tehachapi Loop which is about halfway upgrade to the Tehachapi Pass. This steep line averages 2.2% in gradient in its 28 miles of length. This feat of civil engineering genius was the crowning achievement of civil engineer William Hood of the Southern Pacific Railway Company. It is one of the seven wonders of the railroad world.” Many post cards have been made of this event. I have this older post card and a much more modern card. This post card has a train drawn in on the loop. It is the orange streak in the middle of the card. I am not sure who printed the card, but it was published by the M. Kashower Co. of Los Angeles, CA. It is from the white border era (1915 – 1930). I blogged about a card last month: also from M. Kashower, also from southern California. It was the train passing through orange groves.

Their company logo was on the back of that card as it is on the back of this post card. BUT, the logo has changed. This is the earlier logo, because the previous card was from the linen card (1930 – 1945) era. That logo was a bear (California symbol) in a circle with an M on our left and a K on our right hand side. This is an angel (symbol of Los Angeles) in the circle facing to our left and holding something (maybe a torch) in its right hand. The words M. Kashower Company are on the top, inside of the circle and Los Angeles, Cal are on the bottom, inside of the circle.

Union Pacific on the Southern Pacific?

I have written earlier about how the copyright law enforcement was not so enforced in the time of the early post card production, printing and selling. These three cards exemplify that theme. One can easily see the similarity among the three cards. The same train (except for the coloring), at the same location, going in the same direction, as seen from the same vantage point, with the same semaphore in the same position.

In the first post card we can see that the name of the train is the Overland Limited, and it is being operated by the Union Pacific Railroad. This is very interesting because the Lucin Cut-off trestle was built by the Southern Pacific Railroad. Two comments about this follow. First, the moniker “Overland Limited” has its origin in the stagecoach days. A stagecoach service between Virginia City, Nevada and Salt Lake City operated from 1861 to 1869. This service was begun by the Overland Mail Company and was ended after Wells Fargo took over the business. The Union Pacific Railroad was probably honoring the memory of the stagecoach service. Second, the original route of the Union Pacific’s Overland Limited was about 1900 miles, from Omaha, Nebraska to San Francisco. It began in 1869, the same year the stagecoach route was closed. This passenger service lasted with the Union Pacific until AMTRAK took over the long range passenger trains in 1971. In the early years, it would take sometimes over a week to complete the full journey by train. By 1906, the entire trip could be made in fewer than 60 hours (that’s two and a half days). You can see on the first card that the train is described as “The San Francisco Overland Limited” and they tell us that it is “passing over Great Salt Lake Cut Off, Utah.” They don’t mention that the Southern Pacific has partnered with the Union Pacific to allow this to happen. They just say that it is “On Line of Union Pacific”. This card is from the divided back era (1907 – 1915).

It was published by the Barkalow Brothers in Omaha, Nebraska. The Barkalow brothers were Derrick and Sydney. They began their business as news agents for the Union Pacific Railroad in 1865 which also was (and still is) headquartered in Omaha, Nebraska. At the age of 15 Sydney began his own book and stationery company with his brother. They became exclusive distributors of print material for the Union Pacific all along the UP routes. For retirement, they moved to Fort Myers, Florida. The middle post card actually names the cut-of as the “Lucin Cut-off”. It also tells us that there are 12 miles of trestle on which the trains travel to traverse the lake. The list of similarities in the pictures convinces me that they come from one photo. I went through the list in the first paragraph. There are some differences, too. The mountain that is in the horizon on the first card is missing in the second. The arms of the semaphore are painted differently. But, not much more varies between the two cards. This card was published by the Moon Book and Stationery Company. It is publication number 128 and it, too, comes from the divided back era. I do not know anything about the Moon Book and Stationery Company. I have looked, but in vain. If you know anything or find any information, I will be grateful if you send it my way. You can leave a comment in the comment section or e-mail me at froggytales@hotmail.com. The bottom post card was once a part of a set. The top edge has perforations that tell us that it was once attached to another post card. It, too, only recognized that the train we see is part of the Union Pacific: “Union Pacific Limited Train Crossing Great Salt Lake, Utah”. It is probably from the divided back era, too. On the back side it says “Union Pacific System Pictorial Post Card” and the symbol of the Union Pacific Railroad’s Overland Route is in the upper left hand corner of the card. The bottom left declares that it is the “direct and shortest route to San Francisco”. These last two cards are postally unused. The first card was mailed on September 16, 1911 at 5:30 p.m. from Omaha, Nebraska. The message on the back is from Charlie to Al in Whiting, Indiana: "I got this far or I should say to Ohaha. Having a fine trip. Best regards to all." Whiting, Indiana is on the shore of Lake Michigan just a stone's throw from the Indiana - Illinois border. So, Charlie probably went to Chicago and boarded the train there. Now he is in Nebraska on his way to hopefully somewhere warm for the winter.

Party Time!! in Utah

When the Central Pacific Railroad was building its part of the Transcontinental Railroad, it was going through Utah when it met the Union Pacific coming from the other direction. You may be familiar with a rather large lake in northern Utah, the Great Salt Lake. In order to go through Utah economically and quickly, both railroads went north around the lake and they met at Promontory, Utah straight north of the middle of the lake. This is where the Golden Spike was driven into the railroad tie to symbolize the completion of the transcontinental railroad. A telegraph message was sent at 12:47 PM on May 10, 1869 "Done".

You may recongize the picture on this post card. It is only a replica. This post card has a copyright of 1999 on it. This route through Utah was used to get across The United States of America for 35 years. It was used even before Utah became the 45th state on January 4, 1896. The Central Pacific Railroad was eventually leased to the Southern Pacific Railroad starting on April 1, 1885. The Southern Pacific (Willaim Hood, Chief Engineer and Edward Harriman, CEO) decided to go straight across the lake and by-pass several dangerous curves and steep grades as well as 43 miles of travel. The shortcut, known as the Lucin Cut-off, runs between Ogden, Utah on the east side and Lucin. It was built between February, 1902 and March, 1904. The first pilings were set into the lake in August of 1902 and the last pile was driven on October 26, 1903. The cut-off was a combination of a rock-filled causeway and a 12 mile long wooden trestle. It cost $4,000,000 to build.

This post card was mailed on Jan 18, 1907. It is a commemoration of the ceremony to open the Lucin Cut-off. The top left picture is a shot from on the trestle looking across the lake. The large picture is the gathering of the required dignitaries (Misters Hood and Harriman, not doubt are in there) to make the opening official. The bottom left is a profile view of the 12 mile long trestle. And the bottom right is of 4 people floating in the Great Salt Lake. Like the Dead Sea, the minerals make the water so dense that people can easily float on the water. In the middle of the trestle was the aptly named "Mid-Lake Station". Midlake began when trestle construction started in 1902. Temporary camps for the workers were built at intervals along the trestle, and one of them, Camp 23, was located at the later site of Midlake. While the other camps disappeared with the completion of the trestle, Camp 23, renamed Midlake, remained as a train order station and maintenance of way facility. It closed in 1945 when the Southern Pacific changed over to cenralized trafic control from the semaphore-block style traffic control. Imagine growing up in the middle of the lake. That is what this next post card is showing to us. The square picture is a picture of Mid-Lake, Utah.

These previous two post cards were published by The Albertype Company of Brooklyn, NY. The top card is from the pre-March 1, 1907 era and this one is from shortly thereafter. The back contains the reminders on the right side of the card: "This space is for the Address only" and on the left side: "This space may be used for Correspondence" The Southern Pacific continued to use this right of way until into the early 1960s. The trestle may have been near the end of its life as a trestle as the 1960s started, but its story had just begun. The 1960s through the early 1990s brought over thirty years of well-deserved rest from the heavy train traffic of its almost 60 years of service. Nature was not so kind. The wind and the waves accompanying the intermittent fierce storms on the Great Salt Lake began to take their toll on the trestle, which was no longer being maintained as it had been when it was the railroad's only means of crossing the lake. Piece by piece, handrail and deck materials were broken free and blown or washed into the lake. In not too many years, the trestle was no longer fit to be even a back-up means of crossing the lake.

This post card is also from the pre-March 1, 1907 era and was printed by the Albertype Company. All three of these cards are on very good quality card stock and have not lost any of their strength, rigidity or stiffness over the past century - WOW!! that is a long time. "The trestle was given new life in the early 1990s. In March of 1993, Cannon Structures, Inc. obtained salvage rights to the trestle from T.C. Taylor Co., Ltd., which had previously acquired these rights from Southern Pacific. Cannon soon thereafter established its Trestlewood Division, through which it has been salvaging, remanufacturing and marketing the wood from the trestle ever since." (from Trestlewood.com website)