SceneOGraph Postcard of Snoqualmie Falls, Washington

To paraphrase Laura Palmer, life is full of mysteries and this story contains an interesting one. As part of my continuously growing postcard collection from the real Twin Peaks of Snoqualmie Valley, Washington, I discovered this black and white SceneOGraph postcard of the iconic Snoqualmie Falls in Snoqualmie. The challenge is that little to no information currently exists about the company who produced the card. Yet I discovered a few clues that paint a picture of how and possibly when it was created.

SCENEOGRAPH POSTCARD OF SNOQUALMIE FALLS, WASHINGTON

The front of the Snoqualmie Falls, Washington postcard featured a black and white real photograph of the majestic 268-foot waterfall. The flow cascading from the Snoqualmie River is rather intense.

A similar heavy flow for White Tail Falls (the fictional name given to Snoqualmie Falls) is seen in Twin Peaks episode 1.003. This Setting the Stage article about White Tail Falls offers a great look at how the falls’ establishing shots change throughout the series. I created the image above by combining several images from the third episode.

The back of the postcard contains virtually no information about when or where it was manufactured. There is a company logo for Sceneograph which was located in Seattle. Based on initial research, it appears the card was made at some point in the 1920s by the Scenic Photo Publishing Company.

WHO IS THE SCENIC PHOTO PUBLISHING COMPANY IN SEATTLE, WASHINGTON?

The Scene Photo Publishing Co. in Seattle, Washington was incorporated on Jan. 20, 1922 in Olympia, Washington. An initial capital stock investment was made of $6,000 according to a brief mention in The News Tribune on Jan. 21 that year. H.B. Jones and W.L. Grill are listed but it’s unclear if they were founders or simply the lawyer and insurance agent respectively. Jones may have been the son of United States Senator Wesley L. Jones and was a lawyer with Bronson, Robinson & Jones.

In 1926, Mr. Paul Denison, who was formerly associated with the Home portrait studio, bought the controlling interest in the Scenic Photo Publishing company. The Daily Herald reported on Mar. 15 that he moved from Everett, Washington to Seattle with his wife to run the business.

The company was reinstated for $6,000 on Sept. 19, 1929. This was either a new business or it could have been related to a fire that destroyed their building on May 24, 1929. A “spectacular fire” that swept the Rialto block on Second Avenue in Seattle. On April 3, 1931, The Seattle Star reported a “federal court jury had returned five verdicts for damages in the total of $149,502 against the company named Pig’n Whistle for allegedly connecting an old air vent in the building with the hood over its large kitchen range.”

By May 12, 1936, the Scenic Photo Publishing Co. is located at 401 Bay Building, which was home to the Pierson Photo Company in 1925.

That’s the last time the company is mentioned. They just disappear from newspaper reports – an unsolved mystery.

Additional internet searches, however, turned up a series of Real Photograph SceneOGraph postcards sold together in paper envelopes. Collections ranged from 8-16 cards in a set and they sold for around $.50 a set. Paperwork in this set lists the company at 321 Seneca Street in Seattle.

The set above contained images from Seattle to Skagway. but they also sold photo sets for places in Washington, Alaska, Colorado, California, Oregon, Montana and Hawaii. Sets were also produced for numerous cities throughout Canada.

My gut tells me the Snoqualmie Falls card must have been included in a Seattle or Washington state set.

One thing is certain – more than 100 years later after the postcard image was taken, Snoqualmie Fall is still just as beautiful today!

Download a high-resolution image of the SceneOGraph postcard and many others from my Flickr account: https://www.flickr.com/photos/aloha75/albums/72177720331531617