World Famous - at one time....

This is the third in a series of three related posts. They are all post cards of trains related to the current Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railroad (BNSF). These three post cards have pictures of trains from the companies that merged to form the BNSF. The train in this post card is a Santa Fe passenger consist passing through the Cajon Pass.

This pass is notable because it was with the completion of this pass that gave the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway the status of transcontinental railroad.

Fortune magazine named the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway (Santa Fe) the Nation's Number One Railroad in 1948. The Santa Fe was the only transcontinental train route from Chicago to Los Angeles until December 22, 1982 - when the takeover by the Union Pacific Railroad of the Missouri Pacific Railroad became effective. The Santa Fe railway The Santa Fe was the brainchild of Cyrus K. Holliday. He helped to found the city of Topeka in Kansas and quickly realized that the city needed to be connected to the rest of the country in order to thrive economically. Being a lawyer by trade, he wrote the charter for the Atchison and Topeka Railroad Company in 1859. It's purpose was to connect the two cities (Topeka and Atchison) by railroad as it followed the route of the Santa Fe Trail. The charter was approved by the Kansas Territory governor Samuel Medary on February 11, 1859. Holliday was named a director and president of the new railroad on September 17, 1860. The company was given the right to raise one and half million dollars in stock, which the board realized could only be raised through the selling of land rights. Through the normal political machinations, the Santa Fe was included in the Pacific Railroad Act of 1863. When the Act was signed by President Abraham Lincoln on March 3, 1863 the Santa Fe received the odd numbered sections of land for ten sections in width on each side of the track. The name of the company was also changed in 1863 to include “Santa Fe” because it seemed like Cyrus Holliday’s dream could come true. In 1867 Holliday was successful in raising funds within some of the local counties when they $350,000 worth of bonds. In 1868 the company purchased 338,766 acres of land from the Potawatomi Indians, which lands provided financial support when the lands were then resold to the new settlers. With these finances and the charter in hand, a ceremony was held on October 30, 1868 to celebrate the beginning of the building of the railroad. By 1870 gross revenue reached $127,000. The railroad reached the town of Atchison on May 13, 1872; you can imagine the celebration that day!! When the company was included in the Pacific Railroad Act, the grant of all that land was contingent on the rails reaching the border of Colorado before March 3, 1873. Granada, Colorado was reached on December 28, 1872 – 3 months to spare! The company continued to expand and grow attempting to reach the Gulf of Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. There were many challenges to overcome, some were geological, some were financial (though not significant), and some came from the competition. Most notable of these was the Colorado Railroad War between the Denver & Rio Grande and the Santa Fe railroads – which was won in court by the Santa Fe. By 1879, the railroad’s net income was $3.5 million. On November 15, 1885, the day that the final track work over the Cajon Pass in southern California was completed, the Santa Fe officially achieved transcontinental status. While the railroad was the brainchild of Mr. Holliday, that child was brought to life, nurtured and grew strong thanks to the efforts of William Barstow Strong; he was elected vice president and general manager in 1877 and spearheaded the developments that led to the completion of the transcontinental railroad.

The post card was printed in 1957.

I know that it was 1957 because the "Place Stamp Here" box has a Curt Otto Teich code in it: The post card was printed by a Curt Teich company. That is what the dividing line between the message and address tells us.
It was published by Western Publishing & Novelty Company out of Los Angeles, California. The company began in 1932 with a focus only on Southern California related tourist materials and post cards; it ended sometime in the 1970s.

From the Desert to Paradise

Here is another post card promoting the joyous bliss of living in southern California! The title is: "IN CALIFORNIA = 'THE LAND OF SUNSHINE, FRUITS AND FLOWERS". I have to say that in the 17 years that I lived in southern California, I never saw any place like this. Of course, my time in southern California started in 1959; this section of the state might have been developed into housing by the time I got there.

But, I have to admit that I have seen the snow on the mountains, the orange trees with the train track, the pepper trees and the flowers all in southern California. I just never saw them all at the same time. It kind of make me want to go back there to see just where this picture was taken.

When we turn the card over we see that it was published by the Western Publishing & Novelty Co. of Los Angeles. I truly believe that they were some of the most prolific promoters of California (especially southern California) EVER!

I can't tell who printed the card for them... maybe by this time they printed their own. I would place the card in the White Border Era, which lasted from 1915 to 1930 more or less. There is a number in the top middle of the back of the card. I presume it is the order number or the run number. I haven't been able to find many details about the Western Publishing & Novelty Company, but if I did I think that this number A-101318 would give us an excellent idea about the date this card was printed and published.

Not all is orange blossoms

The last couple of posts have been about trains entering southern California through beautiful orange groves. This post card shows what they had to pass through in order to get to the orange groves - the desert. As you can see, the desert is not always a dusty, sandy location with no plant life. This picture was taken in the Spring, when the desert plants were in bloom (probably in late April or early May).
Unfortunately, the post card doesn't name the train, so I don't know exactly where this is. There are several routes that enter southern California through the various deserts.

This post card was printed by Curt Teich. His name is not mentioned on the front or the back. You just have to know these things. The number in the bottom right hand corner of the front of the post card (1A-H405) is the key to the mystery. The A tells us that this post card was printed in the 1930s. The number 1 gets more specific and informs us that it was actually 1931. The H after the dash indicates that the post card was printed using his special "Art Colortone Method", also known as Linen Cards. The texture on the front of the post card makes it look and feel as if it were printed on a linen-type substance. Notice that they kept the white border from the previous era to save on ink costs. In 1931 there were 565 post cards printed by Curt Teich. This is number 405 of that series. 405 is 71.68% of 565. 71.68% of the calendar year falls on September 18th. So this card was printed somewhere near September of 1931.



The card was published by the Western Publishing & Novelty Co. of Los Angeles, California. I don't know a lot about them, except that they were prolific producers of printed materials. The previous post card in this blog posting was also published by them. What I could dig up, I owe to the Metropolitan Post Card Club of New York City: they tell us that the company existed in Southern California from 1932 until the 1970s; and that they were a publisher and distributer of California related tourist materials and postcards.

You Can Trust a Post Card Picture! Can’t you?

Here we are again, passing through an orange grove in Southern California. The previous blog post showed the front of a train; this is what the back of a train looks like. I can imagine all the Easterners coming to Southern California for the first time and, as the train passes through the orange groves to get to Los Angeles, crowding the back platform of the last car to get a better look at the trees laden with fruit! These people seem to have been distracted by the camera in the vehicle right behind them – or are scared stiff, afraid that it will crash into them. They do look rather casual, so this is probably a staged photo, after all. The title on the card doesn’t give us a very good perspective as to where in Southern California these tracks are. It simply says, “The ‘Limited’ passing through the Orange Groves, California.” When I was a kid growing up east of Los Angeles, we actually came across orange groves with train tracks through the middle of them – many times in many locations. We used to go for family car rides on Sundays and sometimes this post card is exactly what we saw, minus the train.

When you turn the card over and read the message on the back, you realize that you can trust a post card picture. The message says, “When travelling on the Limited this is one of the first scenes the tourist gets of Southern California. It is exactly as pictured.” So, there we have it. Someone travelled on “The Limited” into Southern California and verified that the picture on the front can be trusted. Hmmmmm.

The post card was published by the Western Publishing & Novelty Co. Los Angeles, Cal. The Metropolitan Post Card Club of New York City tells us that the company existed in Southern California from 1932 until the 1970s. They were a publisher and distributer of California related tourist materials and postcards.

It was printed by (or the picture was taken by) Theo Sohmer. There is a very long an extremely interesting history of Theo Sohmer written for the South Jersey Post Card Club’s newsletter in October of 2006. I recommend that you read page 3 of the newsletter, which can be found here: http://sjpostcard.com/ARCHIVES/2006PDF/102006/McClintock.pdf
The nutshell version is that Theo Sohmer was a prolific photographer for a newspaper who took pictures of many parts of California and sold his photos to the Western Publishing & Novelty Co. He had so many pictures that he even designed a logo for his copyright. You can see it in the upper left corner of the post card.

Through the Beautiful Desert

This post card is also in California. It is a picture of the back side of a train headed into California. Did you know that from many directions you have to cross a desert to get into California, especially if you take the Southern Pacific or Santa Fe routes?

They do not tell us which railroad this is a picture of but I don’t believe that either railroad ran green passenger cars. This is probably a case of “poetic license” on the part of the printer. The post card is part of the push for tourists to California so one can notice that even the desert is a beautifully blooming paradise as you travel through it. Having grown up in Arizona and California, I can attest that the desert does indeed bloom into beautiful colors. I find it amazing that someone was able to capture it on film with all of the plants blooming at the exact same time! This is probably some more “poetic license”. The card is a linen card (1930 to 1945 approx.). It was published by the company we have mentioned several times connected to the tourist trade: the Western Publishing and Novelty Co. out of Los Angeles. However, this time they have not teamed up with Theo Sohmer as the printer. They have gone straight to the company that invented the “linen post card”, the Curt Teich Company.

There is no indication on the back that his was printed by Curt Otto Tiech, but on the front at the bottom right hand corner there is a code: 1A-H405. The 1A tells us that it was printed in 1931. The A stands for the 1930s and the 1 tells us it is 1931. 405 is the printer order for that year. This was the 405th print run in 1931. The H just after the dash is the indicator that this was printed using the copyrighted Art Colortone Method, also known as the “linen cards”.

Paradise?

We are going to continue with the Southern California orange grove/train theme. This post card is from the white border era (approximately 1915to 1930).

The front of the post card is a picture of the final part of a train passing from an arboretum-like setting into an orange grove. The plants are all in bloom and the orange trees are full of fruit. In the background one can see the coastal range with snow on the mountain tops. Yet, there sit two lovely damsels in the flower garden enjoying the daisies. The title on the card says, “In California, the Land of Sunshine, Fruits and Flowers”. It certainly looks a bit like paradise. Even the people on the train are looking at the two lucky women sitting in the grass enjoying the lovely fragrances.

The back tells us that this is published by the Western Publishing and Novelty Company of Los Angeles. Because we are going to be focusing on California for a while, we will see a few cards issued by them. This company had a decent run – from 1932 to the 1970s. This company was a great promoter of the Southern California tourist business. Their cards were mostly pictures of California and they published some tourist material. There is a code on the top middle of the back of the card (A-101318) but I cannot tell you what it means. I would assume that it means that this is the 101,318th design of post cards that this publisher issued. However, I cannot back up that theory. If you know anything, I would love to hear from you. The back doesn’t tell us who printed the card, but I know that the Western Publishing and Novelty Company had a good partnership with Theo. Sohmer until he disappeared from the business scene.