OUR COMPLETE COLLECTION…SO FAR
When was the last time someone sent you a post card? A ‘picture post card?’ I honestly can’t recall seeing one of those once iconic symbols of American travelers in years. Maybe even decades. I have a good friend, a former ranger from the good old days named Greg Gnesios, who was still sending me occasional picture post cards into the 1990s, Even better, he only sent vintage cards that had been out of print for years, even then. It was like receiving historical artifacts. But finally Greg’s postcards ended somewhere in the last couple decades. Time is flying by so rapidly now, who can remember. It feels like only yesterday.
According to some company called Global Edge, we Americans at one time bought and mailed more than 20 million postcards each year. But those days are fading fast—even five years ago the numbers had declined by almost 75% to just 5 million. Many publishers have closed or severely reduced their production, in response to the decline in demand. According to Global Edge, for example, “J. Salmon, Britain’s oldest postcard publisher, ceased printing in 2017 and sold their stocks in 2018.” Postcards were once a vital part of the tourist industry and they were available practically anywhere that tourists could be found, or where a community or region, or a small enterprise thought they had something worth promoting for the tourists. The scenes depicted were more numerous than one could ever hope to describe—from the Grand Canyon, or Yellowstone Park, to the local motel or eatery in a town no larger than a postage stamp. It could be the Lincoln Memorial or Martha’s Grill in Chadron, Nebraska. It was the cheapest form of advertising.
But then social media came along and ruined everything—it overtook and conquered the post card industry in less than a decade. Now tourists share their journeys in real time with selfies and tagged locations, all posted on Instagram or facebook or Tik Tok or whatever it is the world is doing this week—the great opportunity to share their banality with everyone else…. it’s that “instant interaction” and “instant gratification” that we now not only demand but expect. And people travel so quickly and try to absorb so many “experiences” in such a short period of time, that nowadays, especially with the pathetic current state of the US Postal Service, tourists can easily be home before the postcards even arrive.
But there was a Golden Age of Postcards, when they not only offered the best way to share a vacation memory and keep friends and family informed as to their travels, they were also, in many cases, true works of art. I’ve been collecting old postcards for decades and it’s time I shared a few with The Zephyr readers. This is just part 1 of this series. This installment concentrates on Southern Utah and the Colorado Plateau (including one of the El Tovar at the Grand Canyon that I could not resist adding (along with an update from the same location in 2022) …JS
Here is the caption from the back of the card: “The Arches National Monument is situated near Moab, Utah in southeastern Utah. The monument covers an area six miles square. It is divided into four sections as follows: The Windows, Devils Garden, Towers, and Steeples. It is filled with grotesque and weird figures cut from the red sandstone by the winds and erosion of the past centuries. It is fast becoming popular with the traveling public.”
NOTE: I have never heard of “The Steeples” by name as a section of Arches. If anyone knows the backstory, please contact The Zephyr. This postcard refers to the monument being about six square miles, or 3840 acres. This it pre-dates President Roosevelt’s expansion of the monument in the late 1930s, when he increased its size to over 33,000 acres.
By the late 1950s, Moab was a boomtown and known as “The Uranium Capital of the World. Charlie Steen found the much sought after radioactive ore in the most unlikely of locations and set off a mining boom unprecedented in modern times. Many of the businesses seen in this postcard were still viable even 20 years later— Note the Canyonlands Trading Post, Sprouse-Reitz, the Amoco Station and the Canyonlands Cafe. All vanished beneath the invasion of New Moab in the 1990s.
A great place to eat in Moab. Right in the heart of Moab at Main & Center Streets. Behind it was the motel that offered rooms for rent at a price that didn’t require you to take out a loan.
This was my place to go 24/7…always open. The best food, the most reasonable prices. The Friday Special: Cream of Potato Soup and a Tuna Sandwich and fries for $2.50. We welcome your memories in the comments section below.
Suggestions re: date from car buffs are welcome here
This image was given to me by Verona Stocks when we published her “History of Moab” memoirs. You can see the Moab Garage in the distance on the far right. The building on the left will always be Ray Tibbetts’ “Budget Family Clothing” to me.
…the mysterious bas relief sculpture carved in 1935 by a man named Ahron Andrew (For the incredibly well-researched story of this man’s tragic life, read Jen Quintano’s account here.
For another excellent story about this unique part of SE Utah’s history, click here.
For more on Albert Christensen and his amazing plan to build a massive sculpture to honor both President Franklin Roosevelt and his opponent Wendell Willkie, and the heartbreak that followed, click here.
When this postcard of Rainbow Bridge was published, the natural bridge was so isolated, very few humans even knew it existed, except for the Navajo residents and few river runners and their guests. Glen Canyon Dam changed all that. The reservoir at one point in the 1980s backed up to a point 30 feet deep, directly beneath the span. But in the last 20 years, the reservoir has fallen to record levels. Once again, it’s a hike to reach the bridge,
even from Lake Powell.
The bridge was built in 1916 and was, at one time, the longest suspension bridge west of the Mississippi River. The Golden Gate Bridge took away that distinction. For decades the one lane bridge was the only way to cross the river between Moab and Colorado. A new bridge replaced the original in 1986. In 2007, a seven year old boy playing with matches burned the old bridge to a cinder. Click here to read more:
This is a scene of the Union Pacific tracks north of Helper and Price, Utah. To the right the old highway is visible as it snakes around the west buttress of the Castle Gate. In the 1950s, when US 6 was dramatically widened, the entire west side of “the Gate” was blown up with high explosives and completely removed, so as to “improve” better highway conditions.
This colorized view of the famous old hotel was taken from just beyond Grand Canyon Village on the West Rim Drive. The El Tovar still stands, though few of us can afford to stay there!
As you can see, the South Rim has changed a bit. You can still see the El Tovar at far left, and a few of the original buildings have survived, but otherwise, like the world itself, is a very different place, (photo credit Google Street View)
For decades Utah has boasted the highest birth rate in the country. Whatever critics might say, even me, about the concerns of over-population, Mormon children in general, even in 2022, are still some of the most respectful well-behaved kids I’ve ever met. For that I am grateful.
I have been researching the life of Harry Reed, who did more to photograph and document the Moab area in the late 30s and early 40s than anyone else. He was also an early custodian at Arches National Monument. But here is a 1940 Harry Reed image of the first bridge over the Colorado River at Moab.
NEXT TIME: Salt Lake City from the 1930s and 1940s via the magnificent colored post cards.
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Was just commenting on this to someone yesterday. The loss is another casualty of the digital age.
I don’t think old emails or texts will have the same effect as a stack of old post cards from friends and family half a lifetime ago. Hell, in half a lifetime email and texts probably won’t even exist. Along with the postcard you get weird stamps from all over, preserved handwriting, the surprise finding it in the mailbox, the memory and pleasure of giving some thought to what you write when sending them. Who doesn’t like going through an old shoe box of postcards?
The memories I have of looking through the display racks of postcards while traveling and trying to find the “perfect” one to send. The digital age has ruined so many things. People don’t send greeting cards any more. Miss the simpler times. Great article, Jim.
Great article, loved seeing the card images.
I recently used a different variation of postcards to communicate with my son in Federal prison. They only allowed prestamped/posted mail so I bought plain white postcards from the USPS. When they arrived at the facility the staff scanned them and only allowed the inmates to view them on tablets.
Excellent! I started making postcards during the COVID lockdown from old photos and affixing stamps from my father’s stamp collection for postage. And sending to friends. Sort of postcard art.
Attached are two examples: the first straight fantasy of a flight from NY to LA in the 30’s; and the second my photos of neon signs from my 2022 road trip to CA and return to VA.
https://eweck1.wordpress.com/2022/09/26/travel-postcard-replicas/
You are an artist. Great idea!!!
I remember the postcard that I got from someone who visited Salt Lake City in the 60’s. It was a view of the Great Salt Lake. The card had a little bag of salt attached to it, that was supposedly from the salt lake. I thought that was really cool when I was in grade school. A real show and tell item.
Thanks, Jim. I have several comments from what I just read:
-The 1930 photo of Moab Main St. shows so many trees! They’re gone in the 1950s-60s photos. I drove that Main Street in 1970 and 71 stopping at the Uranium Building to sign papers for my seasonal ranger job at Natural Bridges National Monument; the street still looked the same more or less.
-I remember the Dewey Bridge from the same time frame. My bride and I drove it a few times while taking the “scenic route” from Moab to Grand Junction. The road bed made such a rattle noise beneath our wheels that we called it the “Clip Clop Bridge”.
-I have a good friend/former colleague in Northern California, now in his 80s, who still sends me vintage postcards that he has collected. He’s still collecting.
Thanks again for the blast from the past.
When my mother died in 2002, her closet held thousands of letters and postcards. Until the last 20+ years, I sent postcards to family and friends from every time I traveled. Miss those days. Thanks for this beautiful article.
I still have a fairly large quantity of old postcards from the SW I picked up during many years of travels–Diamond Belle Saloon in the Strater Hotel, D&RGW Railroad in winter, Knife Edge at Mesa Verde, really old pics of Canyon de Chelley’s inhabitants (ghosts of the long dead & those still eking out a living), plus many more. But the stack is dwindling because I’m now sending them to a dear friend in place of blank note cards. Finally putting them to good use. Thanks for these poignant reminders of the past.
Instagram killed the postcard; cellphones killed the phone booth; video killed the radio star. Who’s the next victim?
Recently my sister and her husband vacation in South Dakota visiting mount Rushmore and all the sites. They stopped in a drugstore along the way and last week she sent me a postcard that had prairie dogs on the front hugging each other. It said hugs and kisses. Not only was it a sweet sentiment it was a postcard! On the rare occasion I get a postcard I will usually put it on the wall over my workbench in the garage. It warms the heart whenever I see them.
Instagram, Facebook, TikTok et al have cheapened that which should be deemed precious and worth preserving. With the evolution of social media has come a change in mindset from experiencing and revering a destination to making it a photo-op designed to garner clicks and followers. Narcissism is killing the West.
I sure would love to get the Zephyr in paper again 🙂
Weirdly enough the last postcard I received was from Ed Abbey, and it was a vintage postcard even then. I think it was an old grand canyon one. Years ago I gave it to Ken Sanders with some other stuff so I don’t remember what it said. I think it was just greetings from fort Llatikcuf, which made me think the place existed, somewhere on the north rim..
until you spell it backwards.
It took me awhile to get that! I actually studied maps looking for the damn place!
Classic Ed Abbey!
Pauline reminded me the postcard was of Toroweap, so like most new ed disciples I had to get there. So we went. Blew a tire but it was a grand trip. Pretty remote in 1979. Thank you Ed for sending me there..
I have a bunch of these old post cards just like you showed I’m wanting to part with, bobbyhondas049@gmail.com
I sent an email to your old account
I always enjoy looking at photos of Moab taken during the 50’s and 60’s. I find myself looking to see if my folk’s vehicles may be parked there or mine later on. I loved the Westerner Grill and it was always a great place to visit with friends and they probably served the best bowl of chili in town! Does anyone remember the Canyonlands Trading Post being called the Sign of the Seven Monkeys? I bought my first custom made hunting knife there in the early 1960’s, a Ruana which I still have today.
I still send postcards – not like I used to but thanks for the reminder. I collected them for years and although they’re not all vintage, some day they will be! 🙂
Really enjoyed this article and links and looking forward to the next one.
my Dad “Pete Carter always went to the western i remember as a kid he drove truck for Chuck Keller hauling uranium ore. my BROTHER Bruce worked at the gas station in Cresent Junction
The pictures brought back a lot of memories. My dad had a brother and two sisters and their families who lived in Moab, so I spent quite a lot of time there in my early years. (In my 80s now). My husband and I, and our older kids loved to stop and eat at the Western Grill whenever we went through Moab. They served some of the best chicken fried steak and mashed potatoes I’ve ever eaten. All home like cooking. We were so disappointed when they closed down. We travelled from Blanding to Idaho to visit relatives when I was young, and I remember the castle gate and the tunnel north of Price.