Ninety Seven Years Ago Today

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

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

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

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

Did you notice the cute little fellow at the top, middle of the card? This little alien-like critter is the logo (along with the arrow up the middle) of the H.H. Tammen Company. Those are their letters in the middle of the arrow. This company was a novelty dealer and important publisher of national view-cards and Western themes in continuous tone and halftone lithography. Their logo does not appear on all their cards but other graphic elements are often remain the same. H. H. Tammen (1856-1924) Harry Heye Tammen was born in Baltimore, Maryland on March 6, 1856, the son of a German immigrant pharmacist. He attended Knapps Academy in Baltimore, then worked in Philadelphia before moving to Denver in 1880.

In 1895 Tammen formed a partnership with F.G. Bonfils (whom he had met at the Chicago World's Fair) and they became co-owners and co-editors of the Denver Post. Their publishing business flourished, and Tammen's business successes made him a wealthy man. In 1917 Buffalo Bill Cody happened to die while in Denver, and Tammen (one of the city's biggest boosters) offered Cody's widow $10,000 if she would allow Cody to be buried in Denver; she accepted, and the ensuing funeral procession drew 50,000 people. He established the H.H. Tammen Trust in 1924, providing essential health care for children of families who cannot afford to pay. Tammen died July 19, 1924. The H.H. Tammen Curio Co. was in business until 1953, and possibly as late as 1962.

One Hundred and Fifteen Years Ago Today

On 13 April 1897 Lucian D. Ross, Thomas Burk, James L. Lindsay, W.T. Doubt and Kurnel R. Babbitt organized the Cripple Creek District Railway Company to operate a 6.25 mile standard gauge electric line between Cripple Creek and Victor. The Articles of Incorporation were amended 17 November 1899, at which time the line’s name was changed to Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway. An extension to Colorado Springs opened in April 1901. From 1897 to 1904 the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway remained under the control of local investors. After gaining control of the line through stock ownership in 1904, the Colorado & Southern directed operations until 1911. After the line lost money due to competition from the Florence and Cripple Creek Railway and the Midland Terminal Railway, the Colorado & Southern, in 1911, leased the Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway to the Florence and Cripple Creek. In 1915 this lease was transferred to the Cripple Creek Central Railway, which also controlled the Midland Terminal Railway. By 1917 most rail traffic in the area was directed to the Midland Terminal Railway. The loss of the Bear Creek Bridge in May 1918 cut off all direct traffic from Colorado springs. The Colorado Springs and Cripple Creek District Railway was declared bankrupt in 1919, at which time it went into receivership. All operations ceased in 1920 and the line was sold for scrap.

I do not know who the printer or the publisher of this post card is. Although there is a hint in the lower right corner of the cover picture, I cannot break the code.

But this card is being added to my blog because at 10:30 this morning it will have been mailed 115 years ago. The message is quite serious: "Dear Uncle, This to let you know Rollie has been in the hospital since the morning of the 8th - a bad case of strangulated hernia and also took the appendix. A difficult operation and he'll be in bed 3 to 4 weeks - away from work 2 months. Is doing splendidly. Father will write later. Love to you all from us all. Lottie."

I can only imagine the kind of medical coverage that they had back then. My guess is that there were 2 months of his life when there was absolutely no income while he was off work. Thank God for family!!

One Hundred and Twelve Years Ago Today

The CNoR (this is the official reporting mark, not the C.N.R. on the post card) main line reached Edmonton.

It arrived in Edmonton on November 24, 1905 - just about three months after Alberta became a province in Canada. However it took another 8 years for this railway to reach the British Columbia border past Jasper. During this interval, the CNoR built a number of branch lines in the province, concentrating in central and north central Alberta.

Th post card was mailed on May 22, 1907, just over 110 years ago. The message is from a brother to his sister telling her that she will be surprised to know that he is in Edmonton. He will send more news about how this happened in the future. He did include his mailing address for her to reply.

The post card was made in Germany and published by the Edmonton Music Company. This was before World War I when all trade with Germany came to a screeching halt and the North American printers took up the cause of printing post cards. Notice that it is a "PRIVATE POST CARD", a technical term for the postal service of those days. That is a picture of Edward the 7th on the stamp.

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.

One Hundred and Six Years Ago Today

The First World War was not even four months old; it would be another four years before the significance of November 11th would take hold of the world.

And yet, this father made it a special day for his daughter. They went up to the top of Mount Lowe to make a day of it and he sent her a little reminder of their special time together. The message on the post card says, "Dear Daughter, Just a line from Mt. Lowe and although you are with me I wished to surprise you with a card. Love from Papa" How great is that?

In 1889, David MacPherson, a former Santa Fe Railway civil engineer, planned a steam powered railroad into the mountains behind Pasadena. In 1891, MacPherson and Thaddeus Lowe, a public figure from the Civil War, incorporated the Pasadena and Mt. Wilson Railway. Land near Mt. Wilson was unavailable, so Lowe ran electric trolley cars through Altadena into Rubio Canyon. At the terminus, Lowe built a pavilion transfer station and "The Great Incline". Designed by Andrew Halladie, cable car inventor, the incline was California's first electric cable hoisting mechanism. It traveled 1/2 mile to Echo Mountain summit where Lowe built a powerhouse, Chalet, the Echo Mountain House,

a casino (used as a dance pavilion and dormitory), an observatory, residential car barn, gardens, gas holder, zoo and water system. "The White City on the Mountain" was world famous. Echo Mountain House rose 4-stories with a 400 foot wing providing office space, social and recreational halls, a dining room, curio shop, shoeshine stand and 70 rooms. A massive dome crowned the structure. The interior was finished in natural wood.

Henry Huntington (Pacific Electric Railway System) bought the railway in 1901.  "Red Cars" ran from Los Angeles to Rubio Canyon.  Huntington strengthened the bridges and upgraded the track of the Mt. Lowe Line.  The casino collapsed during a sever gale on December 9, 1905.  The roof flew 60 feet, landing on the powerhouse.  Huntington constructed a modern incline mechanism in a new powerhouse.  For the Alpine Division, he built open-air crossbench cars and expanded the Alpine Tavern.  Amenities included a dining room, billiard room, music room with floor, card room, circulating library and souvenir shop.  Recreation included croquet, tennis, riding, hiking an miniature golf.  Bungalows surrounded the hotel.  A nearby silver fox farm added ambiance.  For the next 30 years, the Mt. Lowe Line was Southern California's favorite lodestone.  Another windstorm destroyed the observatory in 1928.  September 15, 1936, fire completely gutted Alpine Tavern.  Although Pacific Electric weighed rebuilding the hotel, the Depression destined the end of the line. 

One Hundred and Thirty Two Years Ago

The front of this post card is a reproduction of a poster from 1945. It commemorates the sixtieth anniversary of the driving of the last spike in the Canadian transcontinental railway. World War II had just finished and these were pretty heady days in Canada - similar, I am sure, to the days after the completion of the cross-Canada railway. The driving of the last spike happened at Craigellachie, British Columbia at 9:22 A.M. 132 years ago today.

From Wikipedia: The circumstance of the CPR's last spike ceremony led several spikes to assume the honour of being the "last spike". In contrast to the ceremonial gold or silver final spikes often used to mark the completion of other major railroads, the Canadian Pacific Railway's "Last Spike" was a conventional iron spike identical to the many others used in the construction of the line. The symbolic iron spike driven by Donald Smith was badly bent as he pounded it into the railway tie. Roadmaster Frank Brothers extracted the spike and it was given to Smith as the "last spike". Smith had the bent spike straightened and cut several strips of iron from it which were mounted with diamonds and presented to the wives of some of the party assembled at Craigellachie. This spike was later donated to the Canada Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. This post card below was issued on the 100th anniversary of the driving of the last spike. It includes a commemorative stamp printed by Canada Post.

I have been to Craigellachie; it is what many would call "in the middle of nowhere". It is near half-way between Salmon Army, to the west, and Revelstoke. There is a lovely little tourist booth at which you can purchase several souvenirs and read about the history of the CPR's last spike ceremony. I have a T-shirt!!

One Hundred and Eight Years Ago Today

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

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

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