Very Old Yellowstone Souvenir

Rare 1915 Postcard Album

If you were lucky enough to visit Yellowstone National Park in 1915 you might have wanted to take home some photo souvenirs to help you remember your visit. Of course, you didn't have a smartphone to snap the highlights, so, the place to go would be the Haynes Picture Shop ... 

 The interior of the Shop ...

The interior of another of Haynes Shops ...

Can you imagine buying one of those framed photos
and having it shipped home, for, say, $5.00?

You might find an album of postcards like this ... 

The album, with a reptile skin cover, holds 52 postcards, featuring the main attractions in the Park.

Example of how the cards are placed into the album ...

On the left, you see the Mammoth Hot Springs area and the Hotel where you might have stayed. On the right, your Coaching Party may have looked similar. [Be sure to click on the images to get the larger view.]

Another example ...

On the left, two Park Bears. On the right, an Elk. The images on the cards were probably taken by F. J. Haynes, often referred to as the Official Park Photographer. He opened up several Haynes Picture Shops, in the Park, to sell his postcards and other souvenirs.

This particular album has ended up in my collection. I scanned the entire album and placed it into a PDF which you can view by simply clicking on the link below.

Click Here to View Entire Postcard Album

[Notes about the PDF: When you click the link a page will open with the file in Dropbox.com. Dropbox is a file sharing site using the internet's cloud. You do not need to sign-in nor do you need the "App". It is not necessary to "Accept all Cookies". You can easily adjust the ZOOM to fit your screen or enlarge to make it easier to read.  While you will be able to scroll easily through the pages, you will not be able to "rotate" the pages. To do that, you must first "Download" to your device, and then open up the downloaded file with Adobe Reader. To rotate pages, in Adobe Reader, click on "View",  and there will be a button to rotate.]

Inside the back cover.

Haynes' ads appeared in magazines and newspapers.

Recent Snaps

Looking over the Marina, across Puget Sound, to
the Olympic Mountains in the distance.
Mostly clear day except for the smoke.

My photo opportunities have been limited during the last several weeks as wildfire smoke has made Seattle's air unhealthy at times, and, in an abundance of caution, I've stayed indoors a lot. As a result, my "Recent Snaps" will start with a few sunset pics I thought worth sharing. The good news is our first storm of the Fall arrived on the 22nd and brought in fresh air from the Pacific Ocean. New walk pics follow the sunset pics.

As the sun sets behind the clouds, the smoke
adds a tint to the scene. If you look very carefully, near the
center of the image, you can see the communication towers
on the foothills across the Sound. Just happened to catch
one of them as the lights on the tower flashed.

As the sun sinks below the mountains, I can't help thinking
the beautiful, yet ominous, scene conveys a
message from Nature.

Seattle Times - October 19 2022

I stopped by Kerry Park on October 19th
to document the smoky skies.
Didn't see the bird in top left corner until later.
Zooming in as much as possible ... it looks like an Eagle.
Had to wonder how the birds are doing with the smoke.

Finally, the smoke is gone! → October 22nd

Finally, clear air allowed getting back to snapping photos.
A well-loaded CMA CGM Container ship departs on October 23.

Getting back to my daily walks along the waterfront.
October 23rd

The Ocean Rover has returned from Alaska fishing.
Speaking of fishing, spotted the Great Blue Heron
at the water's edge. Do you see it?

I believe this is the same Heron I see often in this spot.

I like to link up with Saturday's Critters where many interesting blogs can be found.

Double-crested Cormorant

After a month of not walking, due to smoke,
there has actually been a lot of change to
the vegetation along the path.
Cloudy, rainy morning, October 23rd

GH Glory is tied up at Pier 86 as another
bulk carrier awaits at anchor.

Got lucky and happened to see the National Geographic
Venture moving from downtown to Pier 90.
I'm very tempted to book an adventure with NG!

These trees have changed color dramatically since my
previous walk, a month or so, ago.

Global Pilot, fuel barge, moving to Pier 90 to
refuel the National Geographic Venture.

The Venture at Pier 90.

This really caught my curiosity.
Do you see what I'm looking at?

Zoomed in a bit.

Closer!

This guy is having great fun!
It seems a little bit dicey to me. 😀
Hope he is a good swimmer!

Closing thought ...

Lake Michigan to Puget Sound

Smoky Skies Project

The last month of smoky skies in Seattle, from nearby forest wildfires, has kept me inside working on my collection. I collect things related to the history of the Pacific Northwest, USA. I'm especially interested in the early transcontinental railroads that opened up the country and introduced tourists to our first National Park, Yellowstone.

I'll be including items from my collection today, and in future blog posts. Starting with one of my favorites, a booklet published in the early 1900s by one of the railroad companies. It's Lake Michigan to Puget Sound. The booklet was designed to attract tourists to visit the developing part of the country via exclusive passenger trains. I've scanned it entirely and placed it on the web so you can enjoy it from the comfort of your home. (Back in the days, publishers said things like that about their publications.😊)  Click on the link below the cover image to see the entire booklet.

Click here to view entire booklet

Recent Snaps

Our smoky skies have paused my daily walks.
On the positive side, we've had some beautiful sunsets.
[October 14  4:43PM]

Looking west over Smith Cove Marina
 to the Olympic Mountains just after sunset
on a cloudless day.
[Click on images for larger view.]

I liked the contrails.

Including this just for the fun of it.
Somehow my camera was set to do a "creative" image.
I actually do like it.  😊

Before walks were paused, I snapped this giant crane
at Pier 90. The largest maritime crane I've seen so far!

The Coastal Standard looked good in the morning sun.

The Argosy Salish Explorer provides tours around
Elliott Bay. Notice almost all of the passengers are
sitting on the top deck, despite the smoky air.

Just before sunset the Salish Explorer sails into the sunset.

At times the skies seemed foreboding, reminding me of
Putin's threat to use nuclear weapons.

The sailboat, in lower left, adds a nice bit of scale.

Wonderful break to visit the Oregon Coast for a few days.

This is the view looking south, from US 101, near
Manzanita, Oregon.

Snapped on one of my beach walks at Manzanita.
Just a gorgeous day and very little smoke in the air.

Looking north up the coast line from Manzanita.
Saw lots of birds!

Ocean sunset.
Notice the tiny humans on the beach.
[September 30  4:52PM]

On the drive home I had to snap this picture of the bridge
at Astoria, Oregon. This is the spot where the Columbia
River flows into the Pacific Ocean. Nearby is the spot
where Lewis and Clark camped during their expedition
in the early 1800s. The bridge is high enough above
the water to allow large ships to pass underneath. 

It's a little unusual to see the shadows of the
mountains just after sunset.
[October 4  4:34PM]

Unusual and beautiful color in the sky this evening.
[October 6  4:50PM]

The days are getting short again and this end-of-the-season
cruise ship arrived in darkness.
[October 9th]

Linking up with lots of neat blogs via Saturday's Critters.

Closing Thought ...

Our ultimate freedom is the right and power to decide how anybody or anything outside ourselves will affect us.

       Stephen Covey