This One Got in Just Under the Wire!

The train on the front of this post card is supposed to be the "Continental Divide by Moonlight".

I know. It doesn't look like a night time scene. But, a good student of science knows that the moon (though not a full moon) is up during the daytime. Maybe the publisher is trying to catch us!! The post card was mailed in Colorado and the publisher is from Denver. So we know the continental divide to which they are referring is in that state. However, there are eight places where a railroad in Colorado crosses the continental divide. We can discount one of them because it is a mining operation. Four of the crossings are by narrow-gauge railroads, so we can set them aside (I am presuming that the picture is of a transcontinental train since it is on a post card). Two of them are through tunnels. That leaves the Rollins pass as the pass that is pictured on this post card. It was a very popular route for the trains crossing the United States. In 1928 the overland pass was replaced by the Moffatt Tunnel. From Wikipedia: The abandoned rail route over Rollins Pass was nominated for and accepted into the National Register of Historic Places in 1980 because of significant events and engineering feats accomplished by railroading efforts in the early 20th century. In 1997, additional areas on the pass were added to the National Register of Historic Places to include achievements made by John Q.A. Rollins and his toll wagon road that traversed the pass. In 2012, Rollins Pass was listed as one of the most endangered sites in Colorado.

This post card was published by Williamson-Haffner. They were 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. They only existed in Denver, Colorado from 1905 to 1910. This post card was mailed in 1909. It just made it in time before the publisher disappeared - just under the wire! In fact it was mailed on February 12, 1909 so it will be 113 years old on Saturday. Just for the fun of it, here is the logo of the publisher:

Lonely 109 Years Ago

The publisher's title for this post card is "Three Elevations of Track on F. & C. C. Ry., Colo." If you look very, extremely carefully at the very top of the hill in the middle, you can see a dark line with a very slight puff of smoke heading skyward. That is the first level. The second level is obvious with the engine and three passenger cars. The third level of tracks stars in the lower left and crosses a wee bridge to the right. The railway is the Florence and Cripple Creek, a 3 ft (914 mm) narrow-gauge railway. It went Northwest out of Florence, Colorado where it met with the Denver and Rio Grande. It included Cañon City (from where this post card was mailed) on the banks of the Arkansas River. The C & CC Railway traveled up the steep and narrow Phantom Canyon to the Cripple Creek Mining District, west of Pikes Peak. It was founded in 1893 and went out of business in 1915. (from Wikipedia)

I love the kinds of messages this post card contains: Why haven't you written to me!! I find humorous because the author is complaining that he hasn't hear from his cousin, but he certainly hasn't told her much in the way of news with this post card.

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.

Almost Twins

These two post cards look exactly alike. The picture is the same; the wording at the bottom is the same. They are both pictures of the top of Pike’s Peak. The wording says it is the “Summit of Pike’s Peak, Altitude 14,147 Feet” on both cards. They both indicate that they are copyrighted. The space to the right is the same and for the same purpose – for the sender to write a message.

What is the difference? Let’s play “I Spy”! The words on the card to the left are smaller. The picture and words are just a bit lower on the card. Now let’s play “I Feel”. The card on the right is actually embossed. If you run your fingers over the card, you can feel the indentations.

Turning the post cards over, they look very similar, too. They both say “POST-CARD.” at the top and remind everyone that “THIS SIDE IS EXCLUSIVELY FOR THE ADDRESS.” in accord with the government standards.

There is no indicator as to who the printer or publisher is. I published the one on the right in my blog on October 13th last month. I received an e-mail from someone who had read the blog that the publisher was Williamson-Haffner. Unfortunately, when I responded to the e-mail I also erased the original message so I cannot give you the credit you deserve for pointing this out. The sender also told me the name of the artist – which is now unretrieveably lost.

We can tell that the post cards were printed from between 1901 and 1906. I say 1901 because it was in 1901 that the government allowed printers to change the wording from Private Mailing Card to Post Card. And I say 1906 because the post mark on the back of the card on the right was mailed in 1906. If it was printed by the Williamson-Haffner Company, then the post cards were printed in 1905. The company started that year and the postmark on the second card is from July 26, 1906.

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.

Another Divided Back. . .

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

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

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