1910 Postcard Logging Rollway Mason County Washington

Log Train at Rollway

Log Train at Rollway Mason County Washington

by Mary Katherine May

of QualityMusicandBooks.com

Here is a great postcard mailed on November 22, 1910, from Dewatto, Washington.  There are two interests going on with this postcard, both subjects which have been perennial favorites among deltiological collectors.  The subject matter is (1) trains, and (2) logging.

Log Train at Rollway, Mason County, Washington

Postmarked Dewatto, Washington, 22 November 1910

     On the post card back, upper left, we are told that this is a Journal Post Card, Shelton, Wash.  It is a comfortable assumption to make that the post card was printed/published by the local Mason County Journal, a weekly publication coming out of Shelton, Washington.  Notice how the American flag is wrapped around the flag pole.  I also notice how few large diameter logs are on each flatbed, and since I know very little about the transport of logs by train, I cannot assume that it was possible to pile them as high as was done on the wagons that would bring the hewn logs out of the woods.

Reading (scroll down the link page) about Mason County, Washington, and the logging industry, I learned that after the Panic of 1893 great effort was taken to put loggers back to work, and that the advent of steam locomotives in this area helped both the logging industry as well as aided in clearing land for agriculture. 

FreeDictionary.com defines what a rollway is: an incline down which logs are rolled for transportation.

In regard to real photo postcards, the image on this post card is not a RPPH.  If you look closely, you will see that the image is comprised tiny dots which a type of printing called halftone.

DEWATTO, WASH.

November 21, 1910. Dear Miss Howard...

     Even more interesting is that the writer of this particular post card gives us a first hand account, although, brief of her message may be,  of what it was like to view logs being floated down river and on the train.  Also of interest is the writer's manner of addressing the recipient, as Dear Miss Howard.  Was this a teacher writing to a student?  or, simply a person observing a formality?

Nov 21 --10

Dewatto

Dear Miss Howard,

received your nice letter and card will write soon.  I wish you could have been here and saw the logs go down the river yesterday.  The river is rageing the logs is most all on the flats above Simoneau's now wishing you a happy Thanksgiving

I remain

Sincerely

D. Cunningham

Artist Painted Post Cards Maud Leach Denver Colorado

Maude Leach, artist
Leach Art Studios, Denver

Maude Leach
(1870-1927)
Margaret Amelia Thornton
(1882-1962)
by Mary Katherine May of  QualityMusicandBooks.com.

Looking at postcards in antique and collectible shops is a time consuming effort if you are interested not only what the photograph or image is on one side, but in the message on the opposite side as well.  Some shops are very obliging and helpful, and others not so much.  We all do what we must in our circumstances, and so the less obliging are left respectfully with all their postcards still in inventory, and those who really do wish to make a sale are left instead, respectfully, with my money.

Blooming Bushes in
Hutchinson, Minnesota

Kathy, my childhood friend, went on a drive with me recently.  At the end of our time we stopped in the small but bustling town of Hutchinson, Minnesota, fondly known to many of its residents as "Hutch." 

Before sitting in the lovely, peaceful park created by the town's girl scouts, Kathy patiently went along as I browed my way through the antiques.  In actuality, I generally browse the books, post cards, and ephemera--or anything paper.

My offering to you today, after this story, is a postcard with a soft, gentle scene of mountains and sky, that I found in Hutchinson.  The postcard is stamped, Leach Art Studios, Denver.  The penciled name in the lower right, Allie, I believe to be the sender of the postcard, which went to a Miss Madge Thornton in St. Paul, Minnesota, leaving Denver, Colorado, on March 22, 1907.

There is no message as you can see, for why would the sender, Allie, ruin this beautiful scenic illustrations of Colorado with a message.  There could have been a message written on the address side of this undivided back post card, because just 21 days prior to its use, on March 1, 1907, writing on the address side was first allowed by the United States Post Office.  I wonder if Allie knew? 

What intrigued me enough to purchase this particular postcard is the art.  I don't know at this point if it is an original watercolor or other form of painting, or perhaps printed from original art?  It isn't signed, but did this artist Leach always sign the paintings?

Maude Leach, artist. Leach Art Studios, Denver

I haven't found out much about Maude Leach the artist.   Maude Leach (1870-1920), sometimes spelled Maud Leach or Maud Leech, did paint and created in the area of Denver, Colorado.  Maude began her life and studied in the East, specifically New York, but would have been living in Colorado in 1907.  She liked to paint mountains and surrounding scenery, maintained a studio, and for a few years was a public school teacher.

Searching the internet and looking at google images under the name of Maude Leach and variations thereof, I discovered that the art on this postcard looks to be exactly like what she painted.  Also, the paper upon which this post card is illustrated is very similar to the watercolor paper I bought for myself at the local Michael's store. 

I noticed that the word Post Card with its ruled border looks like it could have been stamped on, not printed.  Further indication of this possibility is that it is stamped on the back crooked in relation to the paper edge.

I have one more interesting historical point to present before signing off on this post.  Miss Madge [Margaret Amelia] Thornton, born 1882 and a 1904 University of Minnesota graduate, member after graduation of the AAUW (American Association of University Women), in 1907 lived at 369 Von Minden Street, which later was renamed Michigan Street. She was one of twelve children born to Patrick H. Thornton and Margaret Monica Moran, her father being an immigrant from Ireland. Margaret went on to marry Frank Michael Kieron, who together birthed six children of their own.  Allie, our post card sender, may have been her sister, Alice Marie, but we don't know.  Margaret went home to the Lord on April 19, 1962. 

It is the address that is interesting.  It was not discovered until torn down that the the house, known as the Schneider-Bulera House, at 369 Von Minden Street had been built in 1857, one year before Minnesota entered the Union (May 11, 1858), and just fourteen years after Father Lucien Galtier changed the town's name of Pig's Eye Landing to St. Paul, his favorite saint, and was the oldest house still standing in St. Paul. But in the small amount of history that is available on the web about this house, there is no indication of the Thornton family residence.  Interesting.

One last thought, and it is a sad one, because history's moments, though in the past are the source of the roots that make up the character and fiber of our families, towns, cities, states, and nation.  We are who we are because of history, each relational moment being spiritually and/or physically defining what is, and thus our future has its base beginning point in the past.  On that note, I have a touch of sadness in my heart as I quote from the Schneider-Bulera House link:

To quote a city official when the previous oldest house in Saint Paul was torn down by United Hospital several years ago "There will always be another oldest house!" ~Joe Hoover

What About Baudette Minnesota and Herding Goats in Norway Postcard Talk

From Leslie to Hulda Hilden

Orginal Postcard, enhanced.

 

Original Postcard without Enhancement

I began looking at this postcard, thinking I knew at least a few details, only to find that I knew even less of the little that I thought I did know!  After closer examination with 10X magnification under better light, I discovered that the photograph, at least revealed a little more upon which to speculate.

The postmark that I had assumed was for Thief River Falls, Minnesota, it turns out is not.  The word THIEF is there, but there is no river or falls.  A closer look also reveals tht the faint letters on the right outside circle of the postmark can in no way spell out Minnesota; or, as it would have been in the year this card was mailed,  MINN.  Clearly readable, again, is the word, THIEF, AUG 7, and EAST. Beneath that, is possibly M.P.C., and at the top might be the year--1911? 

So much for that.  The stamp is a one cent Franklin. And it is addressed to Miss Hulda Hilden in Beaudette, Minnesota, from Leslie--who may have been her brother.  More specifically, the brief note suggests a good relationship with plenty of camaraderie and joking.  The joke on this postcard would take inside knowledge to decipher the hidden meaning.

Well here is the mail man you were waiting for but I hope I haven't keep you waiting all this time with the same kind of  a costume on the the girl on the card you sent me had.

Leslie

Evidently Hulda had sent him a jokester-type card?  I wonder what the postcard looked like that Hulda had sent to Leslie--is this her brother?

I just heard that your old pal Ole was herding goats in Norway and that he had 2 new hairs.

It seems that Ole at least, maybe without Lena, was the brunt of jokes early in the 20th century!

Well...on with the discovery!

The photograph is hard to decipher for the soil and darkening with age, and also as it is a large area that was included, everything is smaller and less distinct.  Unfortunate in this case is that enlarging the picture makes determining details even more difficult.  My 10X power headgear and a good light did help some, however.  Though very small, a flag is visible atop the building in the background.  With a closer look it can be seen that there is another American flag in front of the building.

There are posts, but there appears to be no fence.  There are three groups of people, yet in none can it be discerned as to what is being looked at.  The closest men, on the left, have hats that look to be part of a military or official uniform.  That they have on neckties is not a defining detail, as in the era of the photo dress was much more formal for nearly all occasions.  At least one of these men is looking to his right.

Next is the group in the middle.  What are these people, both men and women, looking at?  It isn't what the others are viewing to their right or left, because they face the house with their backs turned toward the camera that took the photograph.  This middle cluster is looking toward the building.  They don't seem to be looking up, but across.

At the furthest distance, people group 3, maybe have some people sitting and some standing, or they might be seated on bleachers.  I don't know.  What they are looking at, perhaps a ball game? 

Please Allow me to summarize at this point what I don't know.

1. The postmark year.

2. The location of the sender.

3. The year of the stamp issue.

4. What the three groups of people are looking at.

5. What the Norwegian Ole joke means.

6. If Hulda and Leslie are related.

7. What M.P.C. means.

8. If some of the men in the photograph are wearing part of a uniform.

9. What kind of woman was on the postcard sent by Hulda to Leslie.

Yup.  You guessed it.  I don't know much.  I would appreciate viewer input.  Maybe my knowledge will increase. ...Mary Katherine May