If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 768

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Royal Canadian Mounted Policeman on horseback, photo courtesy RCMP

 

Here we have another unused souvenir postcard.  This one features a color photograph of a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.  The card was made in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada by Grant-Mann Lithographers, LTD.  The photograph was used with courtesy of the RCMP.  The space allotted for the stamp on the reverse has a 4-cent stamp postage as needed.  The code:  SS-432 is located at the base of the center line on the reverse.

 

The RCMP is a national police service of Canada, in French “Gendarmerie royale du Canada or GRC.”  It provides police services under contract to 11 provinces and territories, exceptions are Ontario and Quebec, 150 municipalities and 600 Indigenous communities.  Commonly called Mounties, the RCMP was established in 1920.  Today the mounted police use horses only for ceremonial events and certain other occasions.  The red jacket, Stetson hat and boots are also only worn at those times.  The Government of Canada considers the RCMP an unofficial national symbol.  In 2013 a survey taken of Canadians showed that 87% of those interviewed said the RCMP was important to their national identity.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Canadian_Mounted_Police

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 753

 

 

 

 

   

Bloedel Conservatory, Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, ca 1970s

 

Two postcards from the same place are shared this week.  The top card is identified as a Première postcard published by Natural Color Productions, Ltd. Richmond, B.C., Canada.  The unused card features a color photograph by Marty Sheffer of the Bloedel Conservatory.  There is a blurb at the lower left corner on the reverse:  “AW 80B … Queen Elizabeth Park features many colorful walkways.  This photo was taken from above the Quarry Gardens with the Bloedel Conservatory in the background.”

 

The Bloedel Conservatory is located at the top of Queen Elizabeth Park.  One of the Canadian centennial 1867-1967 projects, it opened in 1969.  The architectural design is a triodetic dome.  It is both a conservatory and an aviary, with around 500 different species of plants and 200 birds.  Three habitats are represented: tropical rainforest, subtropical rainforest, and desert.

 

Because the city of Vancouver already held a lease and had built an open air water reservoir on the proposed site for the conservatory on top of Little Mountain in the park, the project faced complications.  A lid was constructed over the reservoir, and conditions were attached to the conservatory, such as, it could not detract from the natural beauty of the site nor jeopardize the quality of the potable water supply to the city.  In 2009 the Vancouver Park Board voted to close the conservatory due to a budget shortfall.  Several groups lobbied to keep it open.  In 2010 the Friends of the Bloedel Association and the VanDusen Botanical Garden Association submitted a proposal to run the Bloedel Conservatory as part of the VanDusen Botanical Gardens.  A joint proposal was accepted.  In 2013 the Friends of Bloedel won the City of Vancouver Heritage Commission Award of Honour.  VanDusen Botanical Garden Association later changed their name to the Vancouver Botanical Gardens Association to reflect the joint management. 

 

The second card is a Majestic postcard also published by Natural Color Productions, Ltd., and printed by Lawson Graphics Pacific Limited, KS 6633.  There is a blurb at the lower left corner on the reverse:  “KM-91  Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, B.C., Canada.  This beautiful floral garden was the outcome of a transformed stone quarry.  To add to the beauty and interest the unique Bloedel Floral Conservatory was constructed.  The Conservatory and Gardens are only a portion of the reason thousands of people visit the park each year.  It features tennis courts, a pitch and putt golf course, walking trails and as the highest point in the city, an excellent view.  Photo by Gammarax Studios.”

 

 

 

Queen Elizabeth Park, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, ca 1970s

 

Queen Elizabeth Park is a municipal part located on top of Little Mountain in the city of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  It overs 130 acres and was once the site of basalt quarry. 

 

The park land was an old-growth forest and spawning ground for salmon before the European settlement.  By the 1870s settle population began exterminating the grey wolves, elk and bears, chopped down the old growth forest and paved the salmon creeks.  In 1936 the B.C. Tulip Assocation suggested sunken gardens could be created in the old quarries.  By the 1940s the site was turned over the Vancouver Park Board and became a park and recreational area.  A gift of $1.25 million by Prentice Bloedel funded open reservoirs and built the domed conservatory.  There are covered walkways, lighted fountains, and a sculpture by Henry Moore, “Knife Edge Two Piece, 1962-65.

 

Both cards come from Bob's scrapbook collection.  Thanks for sharing.

 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloedel_Conservatory

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Queen_Elizabeth_Park,_British_Columbia

 

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 752

   

 

 

 

   

 

Lions Gate Bridge, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, ca 1970s

 

Today’s postcard is another one shared by Bob who found several unused cards in a scrapbook recently.  This card is also a Majestic Postcard with a photograph by Rolly Ford of the Lions Gate Bridge at Dusk.  There is a blurb at the lower left corner on the reverse: “KM-6  … This is the largest suspension bridge in the British Empire.  It is 4,977 feet long; the suspended section is 2,778 feet long.  The height of the towers is 380 feet.  The bridge connects Vancouver proper with the Municipality of West Vancouver and the City of North Vancouver over the entrance of Burrad Inlet.  The North Shore Mountains form the background for this spectacular night view.”  The card was printed in Canada by Lawson Grphics Pacific Limited, Vancouver, British Columbia and published by Natural Color Productions Ltd., Richmond, B.C.  

 

Lions Gate Bridge opened in 1938 and was once known as First Narrows Bridge.  The bridge is the namesake of the locally founded company Lionsgate Films. The bridge has three lanes with the middle lane reversible.  The reversible lane has signals and changes direction to accommodate traffic patterns.  The volume of traffic averages between 60,000 and 70,000 vehicles a day.  Trucks over 13 tons and vehicles with studded tires are prohibited.  In 2005 Lions Gate Bridge was designated a National Historic Site of Canada.  

 

Decorative lights that make the bridge a distinctive nighttime landmark were gifted to the city of Vancouver by the Guinness family in 1986.  There have been improvements and necessary updates over the years to the bridge to replace deteriorating concrete and improve the suspended structure of the original bridge.  In 2009 the lighting system was updated with new LED lights.  

 

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lions_Gate_Bridge

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 751

  

 

 

 

 

Stanley Park Totems, Vancouver, Canada, ca 1970s

 

This unused Majestic souvenir postcard features a color photograph by Gammarax Studios, of totem poles found in Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  The identifying alpha-numerica code, KS-6875, appears at the bottom of the center line on the reverse.  The card was printed in Canada by Lawson Graphics Pacific Limited and published by Natural Color Productions, Ltd. Richmond, B.C.  At the lower left corner on the reverse is a blurb:  “KM-3A  Totem Poles, Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.  Indian carvings on each Totem Pole tell their own enchanting tale.  Each figure, animal, and head depicts some phase of life or belief of the early coast Indians.” 

 

There are ten totem poles at Brockton Point located in the easterly part of Stanley Park.  Four of them were originally brought from Alert Bay and placed at Lumbermen’s Arch in 1924.  Some of the poles were carved in the 1880s.  More poles were purchased in the 1920s and 1930s from the Haida Gwaii and Rivers Inlet.  All were moved to Brockton Point in 1962 when and overhead road at Lumberman’s Arch was built.  Many of the have since been replaced with replicas, the originals now kept in museums for preservation.  The most recent totem pole was carved by a member of the Squamish Nation in 2009.  The Totem Pole Interpretive Center has a gift shop and visitor center near the totem poles.

 

Thanks to Bob for sharing this card from his scrapbook collection.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brockton_Point

https://vancouver.ca/parks-recreation-culture/totems-and-first-nations-art.aspx

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stanley_Park

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 507

 

 

 

 

The Three Sisters, Alberta, Canada

 

Double L. Color Productions, Ltd. Of Canada published and distributed this unused postcard with a photo by Bruno Engler.  At the upper left on the reverse is a small Canadian flag and the identifier L-550.  The picture appears to have been taken from Policeman Creek trail along the Bow River in the foreground.  This card was among several others purchased at a local antique mall. 

 

The mountains, located near Canmore, Alberta and guarding the entrance to Banff National Park, are known individually as Big Sister, Middle Sister, and Little Sister by both the First Nations people and the European settlers.  In native lore, an old man or trickster would promise the three sisters in marriage whenever he was in trouble.  The first mention of the name by a European came in 1883 when Albert Rogers looked out of his tent after a heavy snowstorm and noticed the three snow covered peaks, commenting to his companions, “Look at the Three Nuns.”  Later they were renamed the Three Sisters on the 1886 map made by George Mercer Dawson. 

 

The Bow River’s source is the Bow Glacier, part of the Wapta Icefield, in the Canadian Rockies.  The river winds through the Alberta foothills and then to the prairies, joining the Oldman, South Saskatchewan, and Nelson rivers eventually flowing into Hudson Bay.  The Bow name refers to reeds that grew along the banks of the river and were used by First Nations to make hunting bows.  The Blackfoot people called it “the river where the bow reeds grow.”

 

The river is an important source of irrigation water and drinking water.  It and its tributaries also were engineered to provide hydroelectric power, between 1910 and 1960, primarily for use by Calgary.  This has significantly impacted the river’s flow and some of the ecosystems.

 

The town of Canmore, Alberta, is about 50 miles or 81 km west of Calgary near the southeast boundary of Banff National Park.  A coal mining town, it was named in 1884 for Malcolm III of Scotland, whose nickname was Canmore (Gaelic for “Big Head”), by the then Canadian Pacific Railway director Donald A. Smith.  As coal mining diminished the economic future of the town was uncertain until it was designated as host to Nordic events in the 1988 Winter Olympics.  Today Canmore has become a recreational tourist destination.

 

For additional information, see:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/The_Three_Sisters_(Alberta)

https://en.wikpedia.org/Bow_River

https://en.wikipedia.org/Canmore,_Alberta

 

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 268

The Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, ca 1920s

Recently we went to Victoria, B.C., Canada for a couple of days where I found the two postcards shared this week.  The card above has a vintage photograph of The Fairmont Empress Hotel built in 1904 and opened in 1908.  Two wings expanded the hotel in 1909-1914 and more was added in 1928.  Further restorations and modernization were made in the 1960s and 1989.  Originally built as a hotel for the Canadian Pacific’s steamship line it served business people and visitors.  When the Canadian Pacific stopped passenger service to the city the hotel was re-marketed as a resort to tourists.  Victoria became a tourist destination in the 1920s and the postcard photo suggests that it was taken in the late 20s or early 1930s.   Ownership of the hotel has changed hands a couple of times and when the hotel sold in 2014 the new owners, Nat and Flora Bosa invested approximately 30 million dollars in additional renovations. 

The hotel was known as The Empress until Canadian Pacific Hotels changed its name to Fairmont Hotels & Resorts in 1999.  It has 464 rooms, courtyard gardens; most rooms have views of the inner harbor, the Ivy Ballroom, spas, four restaurants and the Lobby Lounge where the world-renowned Tea is served.  We initially thought we would attend the tea, consisting of small sandwiches and desserts, but ended up being hungry at the wrong time and settled one day for ice cream cones on the pier at this little place below and the next day a regular lunch instead of tea in the afternoon.  

However, we did stop in at the hotel gift shop to look around, which netted the postcards and this small teapot.   

The postcard below shows approximately the same view shown as the top card of the hotel as it looks today.  Both cards are published and distributed by The Postcard Factory and printed in Canada.  The top card has a alpha-numeric of PC57-CST 9450 and the second card is identified as PC57-CST 9452.

The Fairmont Empress Hotel, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, 2016

Francis Rattenbury (1867-1935) was the architect not only for the hotel but also for the Parliament building and several other notable buildings in British Columbia as well as the Burns Manor and Chateau Lake Louise in Alberta, Canada.  He designed the hotel in the Edwardian chateau-style.  

For additional information, see:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Empress_(hotel)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_Rattenbury

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 257

City Hall, Toronto, Canada, ca 1920s

Like some of the other cards produced by different companies this one is titled and numbered.  The title for this card is at the lower left corner “City Hall, Toronto, Canada,” and the number is handwritten in the lower right corner  “113483 (V).”

Reverse

Although this postcard was never stamped nor mailed someone has inked in the date of Aug. 6, 1931 on the reverse shown above.  The logo in the center identifies the company as Valentine & Sons, or alternately as Valentine-Black Co., Ltd. of Toronto with the publishing information along the left side indicating that the card was printed in Great Britain.   

The Valentine Company was a lithographic printing firm established in 1825 in Dundee, Scotland by John Valentine.  By 1860 Valentine’s son, James, was reproducing photographic images as prints and stereo-views.  After James died in 1879 his two sons took over the business and began producing Christmas cards in 1880 then printing postcards beginning in 1896.  As the company expanded branch offices were opened in several other countries including Canada. 

From 1890 to 1902 most of the Valentine cards were printed in black & white collotype.  Later between 1907 and 1923 a variety of different reproduction methods were used.  This card appears to be produced using the Photo-Brown method that implemented two half-tone screens to achieve the look of toned real photos.  Valentine’s closed their Canadian branch office in 1923 therefore it is possible to date this card to the 1920s or earlier despite the inked in date on the reverse.  Postcards and greeting cards continued to be produced by the company into the 1950s.  The company was sold first to John Waddington & Co. in 1963 then in 1980 it was passed on to Hallmark Cards. 

The photograph is of the Old City Hall, as it has been called since a newer replacement building was constructed in the 1960s, was built in 1899 and designated as a National Heritage Site of Canada in 1984.  The largest civic building in North America at that time it was home to the Toronto City Council from 1899 to 1966. 

Three different types of stone were used in the construction, sandstone, grey stone and brown stone.  It took ten years to build and due to cost overruns and construction delays the angry city councilors refused to put a plaque on the building naming the architect, Edward James Lennox and the completion year of 1899.  Lennox then had the stonemasons put his name and the date in the decorative molding called corbels beneath the upper floor eaves around the entire building.  Lennox also designed an annex to the building, Manning Chambers, built in 1900 which was later demolished to make way for the current city hall.

One of the most distinctive features of the Old City Hall is the clock tower at 340 feet or 103.6 meters it was the tallest structure in Toronto from 1899 to 1917.  The clock has three bells the largest weighing 5-½ tons or 5,443 kilograms.  Originally there were carved sandstone gargoyles at the upper corners of the clock tower but they were removed due to erosion in 1938.  In 2002 bronze casts of the gargoyles were reinstalled.  The four clock faces are each 20 feet in diameter with the mechanism sitting in a glass box enclosed by the timepiece.  The manually functioning clock was automated in the 1950s.  The clock was stopped for the first time in 1992 after more than 100 years of operation for repairs and maintenance.  The room housing the clockworks is accessible only by climbing 280 stairs as the original elevator was taken out in the 1920s. 

The Old City Hall has been described as a massive square quad with a courtyard in the middle.  The originally planned large public square to be called Victoria Square never was developed instead a smaller space was allocated in front of the building.  Currently the building is being used as a courthouse with future plans perhaps including a museum for the city.  There is also a memorial to those who died in World Wars I and II as well as the Korean War and Canadian peacekeeping operations at the foot of the front stairs on Queen Street where ceremonies are held on November 11th. 

For more information, see:

http://www.metropostcard.com/publishersv.html
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_City_Hall_(Toronto)

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 236

Hudson Bay Blockhouse, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada, ca 1939
 

This 1939 postcard shows the Hudson Bay Blockhouse, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, Canada and was issued by Photogelatine Engraving Co., Ltd. Of Ottawa.   Photogelatine also called Collotype was a process invented in 1856 by the French chemist, civil engineer and photographer, Alphonse Louis Poitevin, and was used for large volume mechanical printing prior to offset lithography.  The process allowed for very fine detail to be printed the equivalent today might be compared to 1000 dpi. 

Without going into too much detail the process involved a plate of glass or metal coated with gelatin or other colloid, left to harden, then coated with a thick layer of dichromated gelatin and dried carefully, washed in controlled temperature water, then exposed with the negative using an ultraviolet source.  To make prints the plate was dampened with a glycerin and water mixture then blotted before inking with a leather or velvet roller.  The resulting prints required less pressure than stone lithography and could be made by hand but a press was more effective.  Business cards and invitations were also produced using this method since it allowed for fine detail of script lettering.

The Clergue Blockhouse in the picture was originally a powder magazine built of uncut fieldstone around 1819 by the British North West Company.  The simple design was typical of The Hudson’s Bay Company incorporated the stone magazine into their trading post in Sault Ste Marie, Ontario.  The stone walls are the only remains of the North West Company Post in Sault Ste. Marie.  Added in 1894 by Francis H. Clergue, an American entrepreneur, the upper portion of the building is made of logs and designed to look like those constructed during the Indian Wars one hundred years earlier.  Clergue used it as his residence and office.  The Blockhouse was used as a residence for several years but eventually fell into disuse and was burned in 1974.  In 1996 it was moved to its current site and restored as a historic site.

For more information, see:

http://fortwiki.com/Clergue_Blockhouse
http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=5595
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Collotype

If this is Thursday it must be postcards, 101

 The Lions from Mt. Crown, Vancouver, B.C, early 1900s

 Reverse

Since I have been putting up so many blog posts about hiking I thought this postcard of The Lions in British Columbia, Canada might be appropriate for this week’s Thursday card.

The card features a photograph with a white border and has a divided back with the stamp amount given as one cent.  This dates the postcard to between about 1910 and 1930.   No photographer or card publisher is noted on the card.  It is an unused card so there is no cancellation mark with a date and no message to give any additional clues.  The two young men in the picture do not look like they are typical hikers or climbers since they are wearing rather nice street clothes and do not have backpacks or other gear except for the binoculars being used by one. 

The Lions are the two peaks seen at the upper right side of the card.  Located along the North Shore Mountains near Vancouver, B.C., Canada they are referred to as East Lion, 5,269 ft or 1,606 m and West Lion, 5,400 ft or 1,646 m and can be seen from Vancouver, the Sunshine Coast and the Howe Sound Islands.  The Lions Gate Bridge was named in their honor.  The peaks have become one of the most recognizable Vancouver landmarks. 

The Lions are a popular hiking destination, however, most hikers begin at Lions Bay and stop at the ridge which takes about four hours and gains 4,199 ft or 1,280 m.  Going beyond the ridge requires rock climbing equipment and climbing experience.  No hiking or climbing is allowed on East Lion because it is in the Greater Vancouver watershed. 

The first ascent of West Lion happened in 1889 when a group of hunters who were following a herd of goats found they had reached the top of the mountain and had no where to go but down.  East Lion was not scaled until 1903 when three brothers set out to do it.  They had virtually no climbing experience, did not know how to use the rope they took only because they heard that climbers used ropes.  They pulled themselves up the mountain by grabbing hold of small shrubs and bushes.  These same brothers also climbed West Lion.

Originally the native people called these peaks The Sisters and there is a story about them and how they got that name.  The peaks were renamed The Lions around the year 1890 by a Canadian judge, John Hamilton Gray. 

For additional information about the Lions, the naming of the peaks and a more detailed account of the ascents see:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lions_%28peaks%29