Yellowstone in Stereo / Cats on Postcards / SkyWatch

Yellowstone Stereoviews

In the early 1900s, some people, way ahead of their time when it comes to imaging, were into stereoviews. A stereo camera basically takes two pictures, which, when viewed through a stereoviewer, give a 3-dimensional image. Pretty cool, but expensive, in those days. Finding these view cards in good condition today is challenging. We have shared some of our Yellowstone National Park stereoviews in earlier posts. Today, some views of the Park taken by H. C. White. In the early 1900s he offered a box of 15 views, which ultimately ended up in our collection. Hope you enjoy some of the views below.

H C White Yellowstone Stereoview
Box of 15 views.
Also shown ... the viewer.
[ Click on any image to enlarge ]

Included in the box ...
The "Perfec" Stereograph
Edition de LUXE
Patented April 14, 1903.
(Almost 114 years ago)

The view above, showing a stagecoach entering the Park, is not marked with H C White's name as are the others below. The views are also attached to a slightly different color of card stock. Does this mean the card is not the work of H C White and/or did not originally appear in this box set? We don't know the answer to that. All of the cards are marked "Perfec" Stereograph.

In this view a stagecoach, full of tourists, has just passed over
the Gardiner River near the northern entrance
to the Park. They are on their way to Mammoth
Hot Springs, first major stop on their tour.

Mammoth Hot Springs
For scale, note the tourists at top left!

The stagecoach is passing the "Golden Gate" on the way
further into the Park.

Buffalo in Stereo!
Yellowstone National Park
Early 1900s

The perfect roundup for critter photos is Eileen's Saturday's Critters. Check out more critter photos at her linkup. Thanks, Eileen, for hosting!

Famous Fishing Cone
Yellowstone National Park

The view above is one of the better images we've seen of fishing cone. The story goes like this: A person fishing in Yellowstone Lake catches a nice fish, swings around and lowers the fish into the boiling water in the cone.  The fish is ready for dinner in a matter of a few seconds. Of course, today, you cannot walk out onto the cone and try this for yourself! :-)

Fort Yellowstone
early 1900s

Did you know that Yellowstone, even in the late 1800s, needed the Army to protect it? Yes, it's true, and that is what required Fort Yellowstone. The buildings in the view above show the quarters for the troops stationed there. This area, today, is called Mammoth.

By the way, it is not so easy to get a good scanned image of the stereoviews. The views are mounted on stiff cardboard which is slightly curved. Some parts of the scans may turn out slightly out of focus. It might be possible to get a better copy by using a camera, a very small aperture, and a lot light.

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Postcards for the Weekend #32

By way of background, we think collecting postcards is a pretty neat hobby. One good thing is that you can get a lot of postcards into a small space when it comes to storage. And, of course, just about any thing you can think of can be featured on a postcard. Some of the folks who collect cards are into sharing them on the World Wide Web. Last year, one collector started a link-up for those of us who wish to share our cards and see what others have as well. That is how Postcards for the Weekend came to be. Each week, Maria, host of PFTW, sets a theme and asks us to linkup. This weekend is #32 of the linkup and the theme is "whimsical and/or magical". We were concerned that this would be a tough theme for us but we happened to take a look at one of the other bloggers who has already linked up, and, as it happens, another John, shared Whimsical Cats. Fortunately that reminded us of our card below, a cat cookout! Thanks to John Edwards for guidance and to Maria for hosting Postcards for the Weekend. Be sure to check out other cards by other bloggers at the linkup.

Cat Cookout!
Don't miss the champagne in the cooling log!
What a whimsical party!

Back of the unused card.

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SkyWatch

Pictures taken from our west facing window looking out over Puget Sound, Washington.

A bulk carrier vessel departs Seattle
under late afternoon rays of sunshine.
April 2nd  6:00 PM

Gold in the Clouds.
April 1st  7:38 PM

Check out more neat sky photos by other bloggers at Skywatch Friday.  Thanks to Yogi♪♪♪ for hosting!

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Closing thought ...
It's not that I'm so smart, it's just that I stay with problems longer.
     Albert Einstein