Promoting the Golden West: Advertising and the Railroad Author(S): Alfred Runte Reviewed Work(S): Source: California History, Vol

Promoting the Golden West: Advertising and the Railroad Author(s): Alfred Runte Reviewed work(s): Source: California History, Vol. 70, No. 1, Railroads in California and the Far West (Spring, 1991), pp. 62-75 Published by: California Historical Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/25158553 . Accessed: 08/12/2011 12:52

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For their to advertise western travel railroad campaigns adventure, companies employed some of the leading commercial artists of the nineteenth and early twentieth century. One of the most prolific of these was W. H. Bull, the creator of this 1898 poster promoting the Southern Pacific Company's famed "Sunset Limited" passenger train between New Orleans and California. Bull's art also graced the advertising materials of the Union Pacific and other western lines. Courtesy Southern Pacific Transportation Company.

62 CALIFORNIA HISTORY the Golden West: Promoting and the Railroad Advertising

byAlfred Runte

In these days of color television and lifelike pho of the Northern Pacific Railroad extension pro of evinced a and interest in rail tography, the unique artistry and elegance ject, strong growing rail travel promotion have long since been for travel promotion. A $500 loan from Cooke to the are gotten. Gone, after all, America's great trains, renowned painter Thomas Moran?allowing the artist to said those whose arrivals and departures excited daily travel through Yellowstone?may be the to comment. Explore carefully, then, following have launched the Northern Pacific's distin pages. Note how it used to be during advertising's guished promotional work.1 golden age, the period from roughly the turn of the In 1892 the Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Rail was Moran west to century through the late 1950s. This the time way also invited Thomas paint when all advertisers, including the western rail the Grand Canyon. Although the Grand Canyon on not receive status as a roads, relied heavily accomplished commercial would protected until 1908 was artists. The railroads' objective simple and national monument, the Santa Fe Railroad, like the straightforward?to persuade tourists, potential Northern Pacific, proved instrumental in bringing settlers, sportsmen, and health-seekers to book another western wonderland to public attention.2 passage on company trains and coastal steamships. So too, in California, the Southern Pacific Railroad on a To encourage wanderlust, railroad art and adver began promotion grand scale in 1898 with the tising called upon many images, from breathtaking publication of Sunset magazine, under the direc scenery to exotic native cultures, to evoke the tion of the company's passenger department. True desired sensations of mystery, adventure, and inno to form, the very first issue, published in May romance. in cent In the promotion of California 1898, featured Yosemite Valley, which the railroad particular, the western railroads reached into the had already been promoting for several decades.3 rooms assur now living of the American public with the Indeed, there is little doubt that the Southern ance that the anticipations of traveling did not Pacific Railroad also figured prominently in the In lapse west of the Rocky Mountains. California establishment of the national park around the valley were wonders galore, from Yosemite and the High in 1890.4 As John Muir himself admitted to the to Sierra to the rugged Pacific Coast. Every train Sierra Club at its annual meeting in 1895: "Even the was a a means to never California indeed magic carpet, soulless Southern Pacific R.R. Co., counted on one of the most varied and exciting destinations for anything good, helped nobly in pushing the on earth. bill for this park through Congress."5 once As railroad executives knew intuitively, the For the next quarter century, the western railroads was a major selling point of their passenger trains loosed flood of stationery, postcards, calendars, much as and in not speed, but rather high adventure. As timetables, guidebooks, advertisements, each were an some sce transportation, western trains experience. way distinctly representative of regional were unaware Accordingly, anything that added to the experi nery and culture. Although people of was ence, most notably the establishment of national it at the time, the peak in railroad travel finally was to win the of parks, almost certain support reached just prior toWorld War I;when rail travel as as war in leading rail officials. Thus, early 1871 and the promotion resumed after the the early 1920s, was discussion of creating Yellowstone National Park, automobile travel already making serious Jay Cooke and Company, managers and financiers inroads into rail passenger service. No matter, the

SPRING 1991 63 '' - :;1iiy[:iiaial:.iL,.dBtiipJL^ . ". ",a"l

Thomas Moran's painting of the Grand Canyon, com missioned by the Santa Fe Railroad, now hangs in the Santa Fe Art Collection at the company's headquarters railroad promotion itself returned in all its color in Atchison, and Santa Fe Railroad more on Chicago. Courtesy Topeka and elegance. Once advertising focused Company. western scenery and the national parks, further as car highlighting the trains themselves magic romance coun pets of and adventure. Perhaps the was new railroads at least held their own during the decade. try's all-time favorite train the California came as a But then the disruption of rail service caused Zephyr, inaugurated in 1949 joint venture of the by the Great Depression and the demands ofWorld Chicago, Burlington & Quincy, the Denver, Rio War II. Consequently, not until the late 1940s were Grande & Western, and the Western Pacific rail the lines fully prepared to attempt recapturing the roads. Its 2,000-mile journey from Chicago to as business they had long since lost toAmerica's love Oakland included such breath-taking scenery car. affair with the private Colorado's Front Range and California's Feather Their efforts were nonetheless sincere and monu River Canyon. Well into the 1950s, the California western trains set mental. By the early 1950s the Zephyr the standard for the restructuring and new western train. had been completely reequipped with sleep redesigning of every classic passenger ers, coaches, diners, and?most significant of on all?vista-dome lounges and coaches. Predictably, [Text continues page 73]

64 CALIFORNIA HISTORY Railroad of the Far West: Advertising A Portfolio

Foundedin 1898 and until1914 theSouth- managed by ([ ll ^1 Cn^ ern PacificCompany, Sunset took the lead in the HH^J jf N fW^ ^Hl^lm to Bj^^^. [\ VC^Î pj railroad'scampaign promote tourism, settlement, I I V^^ L/7 W MB and economic in California and the Far K^K) J ^~^)jj l%\ JIJ development 1k^Mk West. For the the SouthernPacific Hkfi|H ?^wfwmmMmm ^mmBm-BdHH magazine's staff, ^^^^^B Jull^B ^Jh[.H employedmany of the era's leadingauthors and artists to the romanceand ^^^^^B ÊH^H vla^HSmBx depict region's opportunity. ^^^^^H ^p^HHL %'^.^H Ha^HH! CourtesySunset Publishing Corporation. ^^^^^H ::lkî^9.^: i:^HR WKmrnmam \\\\\\\\\\\\mBmmrl^mm 'mmmm

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Trail," the famedCalifornia artist W^?i -f '^KmmW^^B^M^^^^^^ "Apache by ^?^-n3"i MaynardDixon. Early in the twentieth Îh^^^^^^^^H^''^^ century;itwas commonto thinkof Native ^f^^^^f^^Kj^^^^^^^^^^k^^ Americans as a race." py-::^ western "vanishing theSanta Major fcÎll^l^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^Bj^î railroads,especially Fe, supported artists' and photographers' efforts ~^;f?l^ to recordnative culturesbefore -%'^S^^B^B^K/^^^/B^B^B^B^/j^^m they slipped "> away.Often romanticized, such depictions --':;'>"1^|^^^^^^^h^||^^^^^^|^3 nonetheless amore ;!^^^^^^^H^^^^H^^^^^^Hra promoted positive image ^ of Native Americans. Commissioned the ;J^ by Southern Pacific, Dixon's ^y'.^ Maynard painting of an man, which the cover i%WflB$K Apache graced of a 1930brochure advertising passenger jEMa^^^î^^^^^^^^^wl^Sp^ trains southern evokes immW'm^^^^^wt^'^^^^^^^^^^^^ through Arizona, of the Indians' and endur JBHfcMjll|^^ suggestions pride ance, even in the face of conquest and iJHfMfflf^^ cultural loss. In the Dixon MJBaBtf early 1900s, frequentlyprovided art for Southern Pacific |B^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ffiH|^^^Q numerous covers for ^HIIIIHHHHEkHHadvertising, including #I Sunset magazine. Courtesy California ^tateRailroail Museum, Sacramento. ? OUlthCTn. PciCix1C I

CALIFORNIA HISTORY 65 NATIONALPARK f NATIONALPARK * Northern Arizona Northern Arizona

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Railroadadvertising rarely achieved greater color and ^BH^^^^B^^^^^^^^Î^^^^B^Î elegancethan when thenational parks were the objects In ^Hk^^^^^^Î^^^^^^^^^^BIIS^H of promotion. additionto promoting the national ^flSH^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HP*9i parksof California, principally Yosemite, the Southern B9ttH?^^^^^^^^^^^^^^B^^^BiiiSl Pacificsupported the establishment in1902 of Crater B^^^t^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^HS^BIB LakeNational Park, Oregon, and the railroad made l^S^r^^^^fl^l^^^^^^l^HwSRI the new park a favoriteattraction to lure tourists to HB% ^ r^^^^BH^^H^^^^^^BBBII thePacific Northwest, as in this 1916 travelbrochure In theSouthern Pacific and the ^HB^ ^v^^viÎHMh^^^^^^HP^V (right). California, ^^^Bfa^Hm!^^^5^^S!^PÎ^ra^B Santa Fe competed forYosemite-bound traffic,and both roads the In ^5^^^BXBhM1^ w3B^ publicized park lavishly. Arizona, |BI|^|mW^B|||BIm however,the Santa Fe enjoyed exclusive rights to IÎÎUi^^^^^SBlEI^^^^BSH^^B carryrail passengers to theSouth Rim of theGrand ^^^^^^^^^BBBP^VII^ÎIHQQ! Canyonvia itsbranch line from Williams to El Tovar. the Santa means such as this 1953 H^^^^^^^ÎÊ^^tS^ÎI^RSH Accordingly, Fe, by R^Ci^^^H^^HV^^BK^^îwW^^ pamphlet(above), encouraged all of itsCalifornia- *"' bound travelersto include a at theGrand RHE^^^H^^B ^B^HO ^F^^mI9^ stopover E^>^MHB^^mBh3BP^ State Railroad Canyon. Courtesy California Mf?? I^^pJf^^BH^ Museum, Sacramento. |Qma\ j^

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Southern Pacific

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SantaFe Lines i^BShI^^^B l^VC?BB?ra3I^H^^^BI System Q^ jbHH^BBBH' Lje^^Z^B^h E**9!SB * E^BnHr^B tvBfcMiT'? BB Whenever there was a special occasion where large numbers of people would gather?a festival, world's or or ^^^B^HBft'^>:'r **r^yk^>- iflB fair, trade exhibition, major convention?one more of the western railroads was sure to be among its principal supporters and publicists. During the 1915 season, the Union Pacific and other lines saturated the traveling public with advertising for the Panama Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco and the Panama California International Exposition, held simultaneously in the newly constructed Spanish-Colonial-Revival style buildings in San Diego's Balboa Park (left). In 1939, the Santa Fe portrayed San Francisco's Golden Gate International Exposition as a display of all that was progressive and futuristic (above). Courtesy California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento.

CALIFORNIA HISTORY 67 California California the Golden State the Golden State

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mBBB^BB^BBBusBB^BB^BB^KH Among those who produced main-line landscapes for themajor western railroads, few are better remembered than the artist Maurice Logan, who worked especially for the Southern Pacific, as in this painting of a South west Indian woman he did for the cover of a lavish [BW ."I '^LaaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaB^SaBBaBa^aBaBaBaBaBBin B^H J*-!laBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaR^BaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaHB^B^BaBaBaBaBWaBaBaBaa^ large-format pictorial "View Book" (right) of scenes along the railroad's famed "Sunset Route" between New and San ca. con bL^ib^b.Bw^9b.b.b^1^b.bRb.b.?b9bSBbV^b^ Orleans Francisco, 1920. Logan tributed paintings of numerous other California and farwestern subjects for railroad advertising pamphlets Rocklsland Lines Rock Island Lines in the 1920s and 1930s, including one of Arizona dude ranches (lower left, 1928) and one of the coast along the Santa Barbara Channel (upper left, 1927). Courtesy California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento.

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68 CALIFORNIA HISTORY SUNSE^O U T FI

CALIFORNIA HISTORY 69 Overland

Perhaps themost lavish of railroad advertising LIMITED art promoted the famous passenger trains EXCLUSIVELYFIRST CLAS&r^ that carried travelers to the FarWest, often ELECTRICLIGHTED, in the lap of luxury. Above is the cover from THREEDAYS **fS^N an early-twentieth-century pamphlet 9? depicting the "Overland Limited," a cross CHICAGO^ SAN country train jointly operated by the FRfNCISCCf Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railways, as it traversed the Lucin Cutoff across the Great Salt Lake. Below is a brochure (ca. late that tried to lure "''' 1930s) passengers fciadstfattte^^vv^?^ 7>^^%u^alHHIiB.B.B.BHlffiil^^ s&Ha! aboard one of the new streamliners of the period, the "City of Los Angeles," operated jointly between Chicago and Los Angeles by the Chicago & Northwestern and the Union Pacific. In addition to sumptuous food and sleeper service, the train offered passengers the comfort of air conditioning, the convenience of a passage of a mere thirty-nine and three-quarter hours, and such amenities as valet service, clothes washing and drycleaning, haircuts, shampoos, facial massages, and attendance by a registered nurse/stewardess. Courtesy California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento.

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Industrial design, like experience advertising, is a nearly-forgotten art. During the height of the streamliner era (1935-1965), the western railroads celebrated the aesthetic beauty, not just the efficient operation, of their ^^^VaaB^laBl^^^^^^^^^T^feBafel^Ba^^îaSa^Baa^â^BB^SaBaafiMBaBa^^^^^^l passenger trains. Top: The conviction that technology might complement the western landscape is gloriously represented on the cover of this 1949 pamphlet inaugurating the Western Pacific's famed "California Zephyr," while the advertising text proclaimed that "Every mile is a scenic thrill, when you ride the California Zephyr." Bottom: A 1950 KsSaBaBaBaBâW^^^âW. ^^îaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaBaW^âSaBaSSSBaSaaaBaBaBaB^^Ba^^^^^lSouthemPadficbrochurepromised California ES3?9aB.B.B.B^BW.^^^^L^ ''^^^laBlla.B.B.B.B.B.B.B.^^^^!BBa^SKiS9aa.B.^B^B.BtBfJ a travelers choice from the company's many sleek streamliners. Courtesy California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento. CA ^^SSHaâ^âW^^8S8SSa^gB^^^^^^^^NaW^

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Railroad commercial art depicting the varied attractions of California was certain to include - - the romance of early Spanish colonial settlement, MPhf^Ntf HBP>' --T" I as suggested by a 1950s Southern Pacific pam phlet featuring restored Mission Santa Barbara and cultural survivals in the ? -

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72 CALIFORNIA HISTORY was By I960, the vista dome in particular standard Washington, D.C, and Boston, it is barely 100. In on equipment every major route. "Look Up; Look other words, ridership in the West is ten times more Down; Look All Around," the Zephyr itself proudly lucrative per passenger than ridership in admonished its patrons. Truly, in the invention of the Northeast. To be sure, the twenty percent of the vista dome, the western railroads had found Amtrak's business that generally travels in the West the perfect marriage between the best in regional and South is worth far more to the company than scenery and the best in rail passenger design.6 all of the rest of Amtrak's riders combined.7 were a But suddenly, that heritage became history. IfAmtrak private corporation, its response a Virtually overnight, America's railroads had would be obvious?to place its greatest emphasis on are change of heart about their passenger business. the long-distance trains, those that the least a on to Put simply, the trains failed tomake profit all sensitive delays, operating constraints, and air was but the most popular routes. It partly, critics line competition, but that still generate the largest own revenues. charged, the railroads7 fault. They scrapped But Amtrak is quasi-public, not private. many basic amenities and the lure of adventure Its management feels compelled to invest in poten as new tial voters as as advertising just their equipment and pro well self-supporting riders. As long motions were to work. In even as starting either case, half of Amtrak's total ridership comes from the western more among the few railroads still committed to Northeast Corridor, politics than economics one or name rail passenger service, only two pas will determine which portion of the country receives senger trains survived by the end of the 1960s. the most service.8 a Since May 1, 1971, nationwide rail passenger Perhaps this scenario was inevitable; still, rail has survived under the National Rail network passenger enthusiasts cannot help wondering what as road Passenger Corporation, popularly known would happen if Amtrak gave the western trains Amtrak. In testimony to the continuing popularity the attention their historic significance suggests its western routes?now in are of long-distance rented they fact deserve. The western trains already from the original railroads?fully three-fifths of all sold out for the summer season months in advance. revenues are Amtrak generated outside city corri No less than in the past, tourists heading west by dors. In the West, the average distance traveled is rail revel in the beauty of the landscape, in the life 1,000 miles; in the Northeast Corridor between and changing kaleidoscope of new people and

Typical of early graphic art used by California railroads is this 1880 brochure produced by the Central and Southern Pacific railroads to advertise the tourist attractions of central and northern California. Courtesy California State Railroad Museum, Sacramento.

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SPRING 1991 73 are places. Granted, the riders modern, but their Canyon, Donner Pass, Donner Lake, and the are emotions and expectations very much the same. Truckee River Canyon in grand compensation for It follows that the heritage of discovery, not simple its historical passage of the Sierra farther north. economics, is Amtrak's true hope for profitability Similarly, the Coast Starlight, operating between come. and viability in the years to Los Angeles and Seattle via Oakland, parallels the California in particular is still fortunate to enjoy rolling breakers of the Pacific Ocean for 110 miles some of the best of Amtrak's trains. Although bear between Oxnard and Surf, California. Sixty and more evoca ing little resemblance to the original configuration years after Maurice Logan produced of five vista domes (and no longer routed through tive paintings for Southern Pacific Railroad pam the Feather River Canyon), Amtrak's version of the phlets, the coast route continues to thrill more one than a half California Zephyr remains of the most popular million rail passengers annually.9 in rides the country, offering the American River The point again is that traveling by rail is still

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Sunset Magazine booth of the Harriman Lines (Southern Pacific and Union Pacific railroads) at the international exposition in London, 1909. Since their founding in the early 1860s, both the Southern and Union Pacific companies provided patronage for important western artists to document construction and to furnish images for advertising. The great photographers Alfred Hart and Carleton Watkins often worked for various Southern Pacific lines, while Andrew J. Russell photographed the building of the Union Pacific's portion of the first transcontinental railway. Later, in 1898, the Southern Pacific founded Sunset as its leading instrument of regional advertising. The magazine commissioned or purchased work by the best writers and artists. To lure tourists to journey to the American West, the magazine's 1909 London booth displayed a Watkins photograph of Vernal Falls in Yosemite National Park (framed and hanging above the doorway) and two paintings (the cowboy and the Indian mounted on a horse) by the great western artist Maynard Dixon, a frequent contributor to Sunset. Courtesy Southern Pacific Transportation Company.

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A billboard along San Francisco's Main Street in 1949 advertised the Southern Pacific's new streamliner service to for a fare that an Portland, certainly evokes considered its to be an So by patrons experience. earlier era. Courtesy California State Railroad Museum, on Sacramento. too, the examples of railroad art reproduced as these pages have long been referred to "expe rience advertising." The financial motives of the uses knew how to market such rather railroads and the practical of rail travel for the intangibles, profits are or than losses were the rule. the passengers deliberately absent understated. consistently Only are commitment to not the It is the scenes, the experience, that meant to imaginative advertising, of has somehow do the selling. public's appreciation it, slipped at are It follows that the road back to Such attempts understated selling still away. profitability common ?and adventure?lies in the truth of that once to the travel industry; however, color pho as familiar there is half the fun."@ tographs have replaced paintings the primary slogan: "Getting means of illustration. Lost, as a result, is some of that former sense of that thing anticipation, on See notes beginning page 138. wonderful feeling of fantasy that only works of art can arouse. fully Unlike modern photography, the Runte is a historian and author in Seattle. paintings of yesteryear heightened one's expecta Alfred public living A on the tions of and romance. can specialist national parks, he received his Ph.D. mystery Photography in the Santa Barbara. be too revealing, robbing its subject matter of all history from University of California, His highly-acclaimed National Parks: The American Expe powers of suggestion. rience (University ofNebraska Press, 1979) has now appeared Such is the of accuracy. Indeed, with tour a price in second, revised edition (1987), and he has also recently ism on the rise, everywhere transportation compa revised his popular Trains of Discovery: Western Railroads nies might well reconsider those colorful lessons and the National Parks (Roberts Rinehart, 1990). Runte's from the past.10 Tourists still seek romance and high latest work is Yosemite: The Embattled Wilderness (Uni adventure. When the railroads of North America versity of Nebraska Press, 1990).

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