What:

The United States Postal Service feature Transcontinental Railroad Stamps with special Pictorial Cancellation.

The USPS will be an exhibitor at the 2019 Annie and Mary Day Festival hosted by the Blue Lake Chamber of Commerce. Attendees will have the opportunity to purchase the Transcontinental Railroad stamps and get free pictorial cancellations with purchase. Attendees will have the pleasure of partaking in numerous games and festivities that are a regular feature to the semi-centennial event. Admission and parking is free to the community.

When:

Sunday, July 14, 2019
Noon to 5:00 PM

Where:

Perigot Park
317 S. Railroad Ave.
Blue Lake, CA 95525

Background:

In an effort to celebrate the history of the railroads in California locations both big and small including the Arcata and Mad River railroad, USPS will feature the Transcontinental Railroad Forever Stamps.

Building the transcontinental railroad during the 1860s was one of the great achievements of the era. The completion was marked by the “Golden Spike Ceremony,” held on May 10, 1869, when rail lines built by the Central Pacific from the west and the Union Pacific from the east were joined at Promontory Summit in Utah A large immigrant labor force totally more than 20,000 at its peak

The forever stamp features three distinct designs in a traditional 19th century oil painting technique, evoking the spirit of the era. Two separate stamps feature the Jupiter and the No. 119 locomotives that powered the trains carrying the officers and guests of the two train companies to the “Golden Spike Ceremony.” Centered between them, a third stamp portrays the famous golden spike that was a prominent part of the ceremony.

Local Blue Lake Artist, Elaine Benjamin created the special pictorial postmark design which incorporates the two key figures of the Annie & Mary day’s festivities, Annie Carroll and Mary Buckley. The event commemorates the historic Arcata and Mad River Railroad, and two bookkeepers, Carroll and Buckley that were employed by the railroad in 1907. The Arcata and Mad River Railroad was established in 1883 by the Korbel brothers, Francis, Anton and Joseph. The Railroad extended their existing line from north Humboldt Bay through town to their Humboldt Lumber Mill Co. upstream of Blue Lake, a mill-town later to be known as Korbel.

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