Full Deck - Antique Cards -- Scenes Along the Railway - C M St P Ry

Don't OD on this, but, yes, we've got the full deck for you right here, including the box.  "53 Different Views -- Along the C. M. & St. P. Ry Puget Sound Lines -- Souvenir Playing Cards."  Published by The Inter-State News Company.

Before we present the cards, let us set the scene ...

Imagine you were aboard a transcontinental train travelling between Chicago and Seattle in, say, sometime between 1909 and 1915. You might have been on this very train ...

(Click on picture for larger view)

The image above is from a brochure published by the railroad called "Comforts of Travel" and we will be showing you the entire brochure on a future post. The railroad is the Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul, (C M & St P) and the train is travelling the transcontinental route that in later years became known as the Milwaukee Road. Today, it is no longer in business and most of the steel rails in the western part of the line have been removed.  But let us continue to set the scene ...  To pass some time as you journeyed west, how about a game of solitaire? Perhaps that is what the gentleman (with arrow) is doing in the photo below ...

The photo is from the same brochure and the set of cards he is using could very well be this very set we are showing you below ... we do not, of course, know that, but we do know that this card set was used on those trains during those times.  The great thing about this is the cards you were playing with would have scenes on them showing what you'll see from the train's windows as your trip unfolds.  So take a look ...

Thanks for stopping by John's Island.