Still Going Strong After All These Years

I used the same title last week as I am using this week. These two post cards of locomotives that belong to small but long-lasting railroads. They both deserve the title.

The locomotive pictured on the front of this post card is an Alco RSD4. The ALCO RSD-4 was a 1,600 horsepower six axle diesel-electric locomotive built by the American Locomotive Company between 1951 and 1952. It was a derivative of the four-axle ALCO RS-3, with two additional powered axles which allowed better tractive effort at lower speeds. It was the first “C-C” locomotive, meaning that all 6 of the axels were powered. Due to the inadequate capacity in the hood for the main generator, it was not very popular; only 36 locomotives were manufactured. Because of this the RSD4 was superseded in production by the ALCO RSD-5. The Utah Railway owned 7 of the RSD4 locomotives. https://www.american-rails.com/utah.html The Utah Railway has its beginnings dating back to January 24, 1912, when it was incorporated by the State of Utah, originally as the Utah Coal Railway Company but later shortened to just the Utah Railway in May of that year. Today the Utah Railway hauls more than 90,000 annual carloads and operates over 400 miles of track although only 45 of those are actually owned (the rest are leased from the BNSF Railway and Union Pacific. The information above was taken from these two websites and Wikipedia: https://www.american-rails.com/utah.html Here is the website of the company today. https://www.gwrr.com/utah/

I am adding the back of the post card here so that you can read what the anonymous author wrote about the front of the card.

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"

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!

Even Steeper than Raton Pass

Last week I posted a picture of a train going over the 3.5% grade of Raton Pass between New Mexico and Colorado with a helper engine behind it. That reminded me of another post card I have of several engines going over another pass.

This post card is a picture of Soldier Summit with a train making its way over the 3% grade of Soldier Pass in Utah.
The pass was named Soldier Summit because several soldiers are buried there. During the beginning of the Civil War (1861) General Philip St. George Cooke and several others tried to cross the pass on their way to join the Confederate Army. They were caught in a snow storm in July of 1861. Those who died during the storm were buried there.
The post card shows a Denver & Rio Grande (D&RGR) train. But the D&RGR did not build the line. It was built by the Utah & Pleasant Valley Railway, which was incorporated between 1875 and when it was bought by the D&RGR in 1881. Grading for the line began in April of 1877, but railway itself was not completed until October of 1880; it was purchased in April of 1881. The first locomotive was run on the line on September 16, 1878. It helped to build the rest of the line.
The four percent grade heading up to Soldier Summit was a bottleneck, and in 1913 just over 22 kilometers of new line was built between Detour and Soldier Summit. Today that four percent grade route is part of US Highway 6 between Detour and Soldier Summit.

The post card was published by a very prolific company, H. H. Tammen. Perhaps you can see the little "alien" type of fellow in the top-center of the post card. 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.
The post card was mailed two years before Buffalo Bill died.

See America First 104 Years Ago

The back of this post card promotes that Americans should see their own country first. It is very politely worded, "SEE EUROPE IF YOU WILL BUT SEE AMERICA FIRST". It is very cute that they have a dark outline of all of North America (with white border line above and below the States) but they don't really mention Mexico and Canada as options. The giveaway to me is that HUGE American flag. I am pretty sure that they meant for Americans to visit the 48 states (there were only 48 in 1914) first, then, if there is time left in the visitor's life, he or she can go to see Europe.

Of course, the front of the card hints at the absolutely very best way to "See America first".... take the train. This is a picture of a steam train crossing the Great Salt Lake in Utah on the Lucin Cut-off. The train is leaving the Midlake Station on its way to the other shore. The Lucin Cut-off is a railroad line which included a railroad trestle which crossed the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February 1902 and March 1904 across Promontory Point, it bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory Summit where the Golden Spike was driven in 1869. By going west across the lake from Ogden, Utah to Lucin, Utah, it cut off 43 miles and avoided curvatures and unpleasant grades. The trestle was eventually replaced in the late 1950s with a parallel causeway built under contract by the Morrison Knudsen construction company. Today the wood from the old trestle is being re-used by the Trestlewood Company. I have a piece of the original trestle to go along with my train post card collection. Thank you, Trestlewood.

The message on the back is reassuring if not disconcerting. "Everything is just right in this city. Will depart 21st." If everything in the city is just right, why are they leaving?

One Hundred and Seven Years Ago Today

I had never heard of the "Eastern Express" until I saw this post card (and two others in my collection). I searched the internet for a reference to the Eastern Express but could only find people trying to sell post cards on-line with Eastern Express in the titles. Knowing that the transcontinental railroad had several names for their cross-country trains, one would think that this name would be listed officially somewhere. But, I cannot find it; at least, none connected to the Union Pacific Railroad.

This particular Eastern Express is just southeast of Ogden, Utah at a little unincorporated area of Utah called Croyden. I did look on a map and there is a railroad track that passes just a wee bit south of Croyden today. You can see in the post card picture that there are two locomotives pulling it up the hills toward the Rocky Mountains.

I like this post card because it tells us that the person who wrote it mailed it while he or she was on the train. The post mark tells us that is was mailed on January 5th of 1911 on the line between Ogden and some place that starts with an SAN... I took out my super-magnifying glass and it continues on the stamp with SAN FRAN!! But it also tells us it was mailed on the train, itself, because the bottom of the postmark contains the letters R. P. O. The R.P.O. stands for Railway Post Office.

The first railroad post office car in North America was used on July 28, 1862 when the train traveled over the Hannibal & St. Joseph RR in Missouri as the mail made its way to California.

This post card is from the Divided Back Era. The number on this card is A-9091... It was published by the Barkalow Bros. 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. 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.

One Hundred and Nine Years Ago Today

The Lucin Cut-off is a railroad line which included a railroad trestle which crossed the Great Salt Lake in Utah. Built by the Southern Pacific Company between February 1902 and March 1904 across Promontory Point, it bypassed the original Central Pacific Railroad route through Promontory Summit where the Golden Spike was driven in 1869. By going west across the lake from Ogden, Utah to Lucin, Utah, it cut off 43 miles and avoided curvatures and grades. The trestle was eventually replaced in the late 1950s with a parallel causeway built under contract by the Morrison Knudsen construction company. I am very excited to be able to say that I have a piece of wood from the original trestle in my possession. I got in from these people: Trestlewood.com/story


The Williamson-Haffner Engraving Company existed and was headquartered in Denver, Colorado from 1905 to 1915.

The company was a publisher of lithographic souvenir books and view-cards of the American West. While their views were largely based on photographic reproduction, many scenes were artist drawn. They also produced comic postcards. This post card was a photographic reproduction printed by another company but published by the Williamson-Haffner Co. I have 5 post cards of extremely similar images. 4 of them were printed by the company I would love to be able to identify. It has the words "POST CARD" over an American flag draped over a staff lying sideways (see the top of this card). I have many, many post cards from this printer. Unfortunately, none of them identify the printer, only the publishers.

I have seen the message on the back of the post card several times. It must have been popular at the turn of the last century. "I don't know where I'm going, but I'm on my way." I am pretty sure that the word "Dearest" was scratched off much later by another "collector"; and the "mn365 20" looks like it was added after, too.

The post card was mailed 109 years ago today at 3:30 in the afternoon.

GEOGRAPHY Lessons today!

The title of this post card, in typical V. O. Hammon sytle of small red block lettering, is: LOADED ORE TRAINS LEAVING MAHONING MINE, HIBBING, MINN (LARGEST OPEN PIT MINE IN THE WORLD).

Today the Hull-Rust-Mahoning Mine in Hibbing, Minnesota, United States, is one of the largest open pit iron mines in the world, with a 1.5 by 3.5 mile footprint and depths up to 600 feet. The mine, located in the Mesabi Range, supplied as much as one-fourth of all the iron ore mined in the United States during its peak production during World War I and World War II.
This area of the Mesabi Range was explored in 1893–1894, shortly after the Mountain Iron mine was established in 1892. It began as an underground mine, but open pit mining soon proved to be a better choice because of the shallow nature of the ore deposits. The many smaller open pit mines developed in the area soon merged into one large mine. The growth of the mine even resulted in the town of Hibbing being relocated to accommodate expansion. The move started in 1919 and took two years to complete at a cost of $16,000,000. 185 houses and 20 businesses were moved, and some of the larger buildings had to be cut in half for the move. Only a few uninhabited remnants of the original townsite are left near an observational lookout at the edge of the mine.

Hibbing was founded in 1893 by the town's namesake, Frank Hibbing.[8] Hibbing was born in Hannover, Germany on December 1, 1856 and was christened Frans Dietrich von Ahlen. His mother died when he was still in infancy and it was her name, Hibbing, which he assumed when he set out to seek his fortune in the New World. He first settled in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin where he worked on a farm and in a shingle mill. After deciding he was not familiar enough with the English language to make a legal career possible, he turned to timber cruising.
In 1887, Mr. Hibbing settled in Duluth where he established a real estate business and began explorations on the Vermilion Range. In 1892, he headed a party of thirty men at Mountain Iron and cut a road through the wilderness to Section 22, 58-20. An expert iron ore prospector, he soon discovered the surface indication which led him to believe in the existence of extensive ore deposits.

In July 1893, the townsite of Hibbing was laid out and named in honor of him. Feeling personally responsible as Hibbing's creator, he took the deepest pride in its development and, by his generous aid, made its progress possible. He used his personal means to provide a water plant, electric light plant, the first roads, hotel, sawmill, and bank building. For the last ten years of his life, Mr. Hibbing made his home in Duluth where many of his business interests were centered. He retained close contact with the community which bore his name, until he died of appendicitis on July 30, 1897 at age forty.

The post card is being sent from Duluth, Minnesota to a friend who lives in Lynndyl, Utah. The writer tells his friend that "I just lit here and I don't know how long I will stay."
Lynndyl Utah is a town of about 3 and a half square miles in area located in northeast Millard County. This puts in close to, but not very near to the geographical center of the state. Lynndyl got its beginning, like many towns, as a railroad town in1907. Farming in the area began around the year 1912. Its greatest population was achieved in 1930 with 495 people living in Lynndyl; the lowest population was in 1980 at 90 people. Today there are just over 100 people there.
At the turn of the 21st Century, according to the 2000 census, there were 134 people, 45 households, and 39 families residing in the town. There were 55 housing units there and the racial makeup was 89.55% White, 2.24% Native American, 5.97% from other races, and 2.24% from a mixed race household. Hispanic households were13.43% of the population.
The age spread was that there were 32.8% under the age of 18, 4.5% from 18 to 24, 23.9% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years old.
The median income for a household in the town was $35,625. Males had a median income of $31,250 versus $21,250 for females. 11.1% of families and 7.5% of the population were living below the poverty line, including 13.0% of people under the age of eighteen.

The post card was printed and published by V.O. Hammon Publishing Company out of Chicago. A major publisher of halftone lithographic view-cards of the Great Lakes region. They also published novelty cards. Most of their cards tend to have a distinct look as they were printed in crisp RGB colors with small red block lettering. The V.O. Hammon Publishing Company, publisher of pictorial postcards, is listed in the Minneapolis, Minnesota city directory from 1904 until 1923.

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.

A Little Confusion

The title on this post card say that it is a picture of the First Bridge in Ogden Canyon, Utah. Ogden is the town at which the Lucin Cut-off begins as the trains head west across the Great Salt Lake. It was included on the Transcontinental Railroad by the Union Pacific Railroad when it raced across the country to meet the Central Pacific Railroad just north of Ogden at Promontory Point. However, back to the title. It says that this picture is taken in Ogden Canyon. When I searched for Ogden Canyon on line, I found a route that goes from a reservoir of water down the hill to Ogden. There was no set of tracks anywhere to be seen.

I think that this is actually a bridge on the Transcontinental Railroad in Weber Canyon. (By the way, Weber is pronounced "Weeber" in case anyone asks. It was named after a trapper who hunted in the area.) The Union Pacific followed this canyon into Ogden as it built the railroad across the country. It built many bridges and tunnels in order to make the journey safe for the steam engines.

This post card is also published by Edward H. Mitchell. This makes three weeks in a row that an Edward H. Mitchell post card is in this blog. He was a very prolific publisher. BUT, I notice that the way his name is displayed on the back of the card is different from the previous two cards. Usually, his name is up the left hand side of the post card. On this one it is on the bottom left. He is listed as the publisher, too, not the printer.

Similar is not the Same.

The picture on the post card below is very similar to about 15 other post cards in my collection.

There is a train headed across the trestle that makes up the Lucin Cut-off. There is a beautiful sunrise in the east and a bit of a mountain top just poking its head over the Great Salt Lake.

This particular train looks like it is passing another train at Mid-point Station. As they constructed the trestle, they built little towns right on the trestle as a place for the crews to live. When the construction was finished they left one of the "towns" in place, double tracked the section and added signals. They called it the Mid-point Station and the train would stop so that the passengers could get out and see the sights. This particular train is on its way with three people on the observation platform of the final car. I have several post cards in my collection with this picture on the front.

I am still blogging about the group of post cards that came in while I was focused on Pikes Peak several sets of postings ago. I received this one a couple of weeks ago.

I chose this set of cards to blog about because the are similar but NOT EXACTLY like the other 15 post cards with the same picture on the front, so it is a new one in my collection. The picture is exactly the same, in fact the quality of this picture is better than the others. But what makes it different is the title.

I have scanned three of the other post cards with the same picture AND the same beginning to the same title. However, you can see that there is a slight variance among the titles. So, in my collection this constitutes a new post card. You can see that the top post card is written with a script font; the middle one is all caps and doesn't spell out Southern Pacific; the bottom one is all caps and does spell out Southern Pacific.

You can see from the scan of the back of the post card that it spent some time in a collection using the little triangles to hold it in place. The back of this card tells us that it, like the post card from last week is an Edward H. Mitchell production. In fact, all three post cards are from Edward H. Mitchell of San Francisco. They were just different print runs. All three of them are also from the Divided Back Era (1907 - 1915).

Quintuplets?

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 five cards are a prime example of this. At a quick first glance, one could almost assume that these 5 cards are precisely the same. With an eagle eye, one can see that all the trains’ engines are right at the point between the third and fourth support piles – every one of them! The piles are reflected in the water on each card, too. Each engine is pulling exactly one baggage car and 5 passenger cars. These cards sure do have a lot in common.

With a closer look, one sees that two of the trains have smoke coming out of the stacks. These same two cards have mountains, which are different from the others and it looks like they have actual clouds, instead of the white wisps in the skies of the other cards. Upon even closer inspection one can see that the fourth and fifth cards have the same printing flaw. Just above the baggage car on each card is a little zig-zag in darker blue ink against the white wisps. .

Then as we look at the titles on the cards we see that they are definitely not identical cards – but we also see that they were probably either printed by the same company with slight variations for one reason or another; or the picture was sold to another printer; or another printer boldly picked up the picture but avoided copyright infringement by changing just one small thing. I am in favor of “the same company printed it with slight variations” theory.The top card’s title “1574 Lucin Cut-Off, Great Salt Lake, Utah – Southern Pacific” is printed in red ink. It was the Southern Pacific Railroad that built the trestle after taking over the Central Pacific Railroad. In fact, four out of the five cards remind us that the Southern Pacific is in charge of the trestle. The top card is the oldest, having been printed before March 1, 1907.

The back of the post card contains the ubiquitous “THIS SIDE IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE ADDRESS” phrase. It was published by the Gray News Company. They existed from 1906 to 1922 and operated out of Salt Lake City, Utah. There is not indicator of who printed the card The other four cards are from the divided back era (1907 – 1915). The second card ignores the Southern Pacific as well as the publisher of the post card and the printer. Maybe they are trying to make up for this by adding smoke coming out of the engine. There is a very distinctive American flag wrapped around the horizontal flag pole pointing left in the top center of the back of the card. I am not certain about what this means about indicating the printer or the publisher. There is more to come about this on a later card. The next card also has the smoke coming out of the engine.

It has the same train, the same clouds, the same mountains. The only difference is that the card’s title is at the bottom and in dark green ink. It says,”1574 Lucin Cut-off, Great Salt Lake, Utah” then over to the right side it reminds us of the import role the Southern Pacific played: “On Southern Pacific Ry.” The back of the post card is exactly the same as post card number two, except (so it isn’t exactly) the ink used in a very dark blue. The fourth post card is similar to the previous two. It has the same back as card number two in the same golden colored ink. But, like card number three, the title is at the bottom and in dark ink. The number is off to the left of the card, the Lucin Cut-off is centered and the Southern Pacific reference is on the far right of the card. This presents itself in a much more balance than the previous three cards. The printer is getting better at layouts.

The title at the bottom of the last post card is no longer spread out in a balanced presentation. They have rejoined the number of the card to the description but they left the Southern Pacific reference off to the right. The great thing about this post card is that there is a publisher’s name on the back: the card was published by the Williamson-Haffner Company (WHC).

This company was very short lived. They were in Denver Colorado from 1905 to 1910. I am hoping that the connection on the back of the card between the flag draped horizontal flag pole and the WHC is more than a coincidence and more than just a printer’s indication but a direct connection to the publisher. I am still trying to trace the printer. I have many post cards with this flag and not much else on the back. Knowing the printer will make it easier to understand the cards better. This particular post card was mailed on November 17, 1908 at 3:30 in the afternoon from Ogden, Utah – the eastern terminus of the Lucin Cut-off. I love the message: “Don’t know where I’m going but am on my way.” I see that the word “Dearest” has been crossed out. I wonder if this is some kind of hint to Miss Lily Bridges by the sender. Once he returned to Walker, Missouri did he propose to her or ask her to be “his girl”? I see that he got the county in which Walker sits correct. However, he spelled the name of the city wrong – he added an “s” at the end. I did a bit of research on the name, Miss Lily Bridges. Her name shows up in Marriage Book Q on page 51 of the marriage registry of Vernon County in Missouri. She was married in 1926 to a man named John Harley in Nevada, Missouri – just a start and a stop southwest of Walker. Here is some sort of up to date information about Walker, Missouri. The population in July 2009 was 274 people, 138 of whom were males. The median age of the residents was 35.8 years old 4 months younger than that of the state of Missouri. The estimated household income was $31, 261 and the estimated cost of a house or condo was $44,766. If you were renting, you paid $433 per month.

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)