Cape Breton, Postcards x5 +1

Rails and wires from the Strait of Canso to Glace Bay. 

Two RDCs wait at the absolute signal protecting the swing span of the Canso Causeway.

The causeway opened in August 1955, replacing the ferries (railway car ferries) which had previously connected Cape Breton with the rest of Nova Scotia.

The original (below) is very dark and was difficult to process.

After over an hour and countless iterations, I settled for three, quick processing steps (above).

The double road guardrail and the track lead to the ferry dock are both gone today.

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The track beyond the bridge leads to Truro and Halifax, with Sydney and Glace Bay behind the camera.

The Cape Breton Eastern Extension of the Intercolonial Railway was completed in 1890.

It is shown on the map which follows.

The Valentine Co serial number suggests at 1906 postcard issue date.

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When we first visited Glace Bay in the autumn of 1980, 

the familiar 'locomotive smell' of suphurous coal smoke was in the air because it was used for local space heating. 

Regarding working conditions in the Glace Bay mines during this era ... A Kingston coworker said that on dark, bitterly cold winter evenings her aunt could sometimes hear her uncle returning from work before he arrived. His wet work clothes would freeze up on the walk home. As he moved, the noise of his ice-hardened coat sleeves and pant legs could be heard for some distance.

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The first regular Marconi trans-Atlantic wireless telegraphy service (to Ireland) began in 1907. Guy wires and internal aerial elements are not shown in the image. Of course, with trans-Atlantic cables already in service for decades, wireless telegraphy would quickly find its true calling aboard ships - in peace and war.

Why Glace Bay? The Glace Bay station was located near a railway and easily linked to the existing wired telegraph network of North America. Glace Bay was only about 3600 kilometres (2300 miles) from Clifden, County Galway, Ireland. The aerial system was unobstructed by nearby land formations. 

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from: Atlas of Canada; 1916; Minister of the Interior, Canada.

This map from 1916 shows the railways.

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The Wild Card ...

I regret buying postcards with the stamps removed because the postmark and other dating information is often lost on the stamp.

With this particular postcard, the stamp was included and this week I wondered about the significance of the date and the person pictured on the stamp. For fun, I checked my childhood stamp album and found no stamps for Bavaria - nor any Bavarian stamps on the album pages for Germany. (There is one stamp of Hitler ... he got a royalty each time his image was printed on a stamp. Scammers gonna scam!)

My cursory research on the stamp's story, via Wiki, has yielded some key dates and point-form notes. I'm presenting the information without any cautious historical nuance - there are both heroes and politicians in this story.

Essentially, in the time between Canadian confederation and the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway ... skulduggery was going on in Bavaria. If it were possible, both Ludwig II and Otto would be two people I would be particularly interested in speaking with at length. They saw and made a lot of history ... and also created famous tourist attractions.

A detailed map of all your favourite Germanic states, circa 1904, is presented in the usual convenient wallet-sized format at the end.

Overview: King Max had two sons Ludwig and Otto. Luitpold (Max's brother) is on the stamp.

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King Maximilian II of Bavaria - 1811-1864 (Died at age 52)

Reign: 1848-1864

King Max attempted to keep Bavaria free of Bismarck's Prussian-centred pan-Germanism. 

Considering all of Bismarck's European activities as diplomat and power-broker after 1862, his interest in Bavaria was probably more like an occasional distraction. Prussia became known as 'the army with a country'.

Died after sudden three-day illness.

His younger brother Luitpold appears on the stamp - which commemorates Luitpold's 90th birthday. By the time his stamps were used on this postcard, Luitpold had been dead for 7 months.

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King Maximilian II had 2 sons who succeeded him:

Ludwig II & Otto

Probably with some justification, both Ludwig II and Otto despised: 

Prussians; Prussian Minister President, later German Imperial Chancellor Bismarck; psychiatrist Dr Bernhard von Gudden; and their uncle Luitpold.

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King Ludwig II of Bavaria - 1845-1886 (Died at age 40)

Reign: 1864-1886

Ascended, age 18.

Introverted, avoided marriage, gay ... in traditionally-Catholic Bavaria. Interests: Art, music, architecture. For a while, the generous patron of composer Richard Wagner. Expected that Otto would eventually take the pressure off him and produce the necessary heir to the throne. Sadly, by the time Ludwig was age 26, Otto was out of the picture for good (see below). Had no interest in politics and power and preferred to be away from the capital and out in the countryside.

Spent his own money on the arts and building castles, including Neuschwanstein - which is cited as the inspiration for the Disneyland castle. Got into significant personal debt.

Prussia won the Austro-Prussian War of 1866 (this involved Bavaria fighting alongside Austria) and consequently Bavaria lost much of its independent status but retained some of its rights in the new German federation. Bismarck generally knew when it was time to stop 'pushing'.

So that co-operative Luitpold would agree to take over as regent, government ministers concocted 'proof' that Ludwig II was 'helplessly insane'.

According to a Psychology lecture I once attended, the single largest 'curing of mental illness' in history occurred when ... the 1974 Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders was published and 'no longer listed homosexuality as a category of disorder'.

Even Bismarck thought the Bavarian government ministers were condemning Ludwig to save themselves. That is, Ludwig was in personal debt, but the ministers were trying to use him as a scapegoat for the consequences of their own overspending.

Murdered along with 'his doctor' - psychiatrist Dr Bernhard von Gudden - on the night of 13 June 1886 at Lake Starnberg.

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King Otto of Bavaria - 1848-1916 (Died at age 68)

Reign: 1886-1913

Ascended, age 38, but deemed not mentally competent.

Born two months premature - like Ludwig he was ignored and avoided by his parents.

Fought as captain in the 1866 Austro-Prussian War (against Prussia).

Fought as colonel in the 1870-71 Franco-Prussian War (with Prussia).

Criticized (in a letter to Ludwig) Kaiser Wilhelm I's 1871 'upgrade' at the Palace of Versailles from King of Prussia to German Emperor as ostentatious and heartless. Ludwig had refused to attend and was represented by Otto and Luitpold.

Otto's personality was changed during the Franco-Prussian War - probably from untreated PTSD.

PTSD was also known as: Soldier's Heart in US Civil War, Shell Shock in WWI, Battle Fatigue in WW2. 'No one can be brave forever.'

Otto was declared mentally ill by Dr Bernhard von Gudden in 1872 and Bismarck was kept informed of his condition.

Confined in medical seclusion for the rest of his life.

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Luitpold, Prince Regent of Bavaria - 1821-1912 (Died at age 91)

Tenure: 1886-1912

Joined the army at age 14. He was the younger brother of King Max, as you recall. Continued with the army as required until the 1870s. Needed to perform more and more duties of the absent Ludwig.

Led/oversaw governments for both of his nephews Ludwig II and Otto because of their mental illnesses ... both, as diagnosed by psychiatrist Dr Bernhard von Gudden (1824-1886).

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Luitpold was succeeded by his son: King Ludwig III of Bavaria - 1845-1921 (Died at age 76)

Reign: 1913-1918 (he formally deposed Otto as the result of government legislation). 

Dismissed by the Bavarian republican government of Kurt Eisner on 12 November 1918. 

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The wonderfully complex German federation appears below, circa 1904.

You know ... if the Kaiser or somebody could get something organized ... Germany could really get its place in the sun ... it could get some living space!

from: Handy Reference Atlas of the World; JG Bartholomew; 1904; John Walker & Co.

... showing more detail and all the railways ...

from: Handy Reference Atlas of the World; JG Bartholomew; 1904; John Walker & Co.