1904 Western Canada Postcards, Maps

Here are a few maps from circa 1904 showing railways in North America, in the provinces and territories of western Canada, and in Manitoba & Winnipeg. Also included are some western postcards of the same period. 

The originals of the larger map images are about 6 x 8 inches. This small but high quality British atlas shows the world before World War I - so the maps of Europe and Africa are quite interesting to contrast with all the changes which occurred since then. As only telegraph messages moved instantly across the ocean back then, you can imagine how cumbersome and difficult it must have been to update an atlas showing all the rapidly-evolving changes across North America.

This hand-coloured, undated, unmailed postcard was published by Stedman Brothers of Brantford. 

It was printed in Germany. Germany had most of the world's market for colour postcard printing - but World War I ended their dominance.

All the maps below show railways. Roads between settlements had not developed significantly.

This postcard was produced by the Advance Culture and Post Card Depot, 537 Main Street, Winnipeg.

It was mailed to Youngstown, Ohio, but the postmark is not legible.

Finally: Oak River is 11 miles north-west of Rivers, Manitoba and was on the CPR Miniota Sub which ran from Brandon to Miniota (1967 data). 

This card has no manufacturer indicated. It was mailed from Walkerton to Greenock Ontario in 1908.