One Cent – Dark Green - Marquette on the Mississippi

 

The design was inspired by a painting by William Lamprecht currently in the library of Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Originally this was to be entitled “Marquette discovers the Mississippi” however it was erroneous as the French fur trader Louis Jolliet discovered the upper Mississippi and De Soto, a Spanish explorer, discovered the lower Mississippi. The error was corrected before the printing.

 

The one cent rate was mainly used for post cards frequently with a Flag Cancellation which has the date on the left. Consequently stamps off cover normally do not show the date. Some also have cork cancellations which are fairly scarce as those cancellations were largely no longer being used.

 

 

 

Two Cent – Copper Red – Farming in the West

 

This design was inspired by a 1893 photograph taken on the Amenia and Sharon Land Company’s Bonanza Farm near Amenia, North Dakota. It is the first depiction of living men on a stamp. Originally the 2-cent design was to be the one which is the 2-dollar design. However the designs were switched as it was thought that this design gave the best impression of the West and it would receive wider circulation as the 2-cent rate was for 1^st class letters.

 

 

 

 

Four Cent – Orange – Indian Hunting Buffalo

 

The design was taken from a drawing entitled “Buffalo Chase” in Captain S. Eastman’s 1854 book “Information Respecting the History, Condition and Prospects of the Indian Tribes of the United States”.

 

The ink on this stamp has often oxidized making it difficult to find fresh examples.

 

Five Cent – Dark Blue – Frémont on Rocky Mountains

 

This design is a composite of three designs, one of which was John C. Frémont’s 1856 campaign poster. He was the first presidential candidate of the Republican Party. This design was originally proposed for the 8-cent issue, then for the 2-cent and finally for the 5-cent.

This rate was used for registered letter and heavy letters hence the cancellations are frequently heavy and ugly.

 

 

Eight Cent – Violet Brown – Troops Guarding Train

 

The design was taken from Fredric Remington’s painting “Protecting a Wagon Train”. After the Civil War, the US was awash in soldiers. Consequently many were stationed in the West as part of cavalry units to protect the immigrants flooding in to West. Two units of African American soldiers, known as Buffalo Soldiers, were stationed in the West.

 

 

Ten Cent – Slate – Hardships of Emigration

 

Based on a 1892 painting by Augustus Goodyear Heaton. The migration west was often by inexperienced people who loaded their Conestoga Wagons with possessions instead of food for the horses. Consequently when they arrived in the desert areas in the west, the animals died for lack of food and water. By then the emigrants were also low on food consequently they carved up the dead horse. As one horse could not pull the wagon, it had to be abandoned. Wagon trains typically travelled two miles per hour slowing to one mile per hour in the mountains.

 

The painting was burned as a result of it having been stored in a tin-roofed barn in the Black Mountains of North Carolina. The heat caused the painting to blister to the extent that it was unable to be restored. No photographs of the painting exist.

 

This rate was used for registered letters and heavy letters hence the cancellations are often heavy and ugly. As revenue stamps were in short supply, some of these stamps were used as revenue stamps. They have IR written on them.

 

 

Fifty Cent – Olive – Western Mining Prospector

 

Based on a painting “The Gold Bug” by Fredric Remington. Although the California gold fields were played out by this time, those in Oregon were still attracting prospectors.

 

This rate was used for registered letters and heavy letters hence the cancellations are often heavy and ugly. As revenue stamps were in short supply, some of these stamps were used as revenue stamps. They have IR written on them.

 

 

One Dollar – Black – Western Cattle in Storm

 

This stamp is considered one of the finest US stamp ever issued. The stamp was apparently chosen to represent the ruggedness of the American West. When it was chosen, it was apparently being used by an American cattle company as a trademark, having been copied without permission from a painting. In reality it was a 1887 painting of cattle in a snow storm in the West Highlands of Scotland by James McWhirter entitled “The Vanguard”, which was owned by Lord Blythswood. A full apology was subsequently issued to the owner when the error was discovered.

 

This rate was used for registered letters and heavy letters hence the cancellations are often heavy and ugly.

 

 

Two Dollar – Orange Brown – Mississippi River Bridge

 

This design is based on the Eads Bridge in St. Louis, Missouri, which was completed in 1874. It was built to assert St. Louis’ claim as the gateway to the West over that of Chicago. It was built by James B. Eads and was the longest arch bridge in the world at the time; 6,442 feet long. It was also the first bridge to use true steel instead of iron, the first to incorporate cantilever supports and the first to use pneumatic caissons. Fifteen workers died during its construction from “the bends”. It was an expensive project due to the need to place the footing on bedrock deep below the embankments and to raise it high enough to allow riverboats to pass under it. The company that built it was bankrupt within a year of its completion as a result of the lack of vehicle and rail traffic.

 

The actual design was taken from the 1896 Republican National Convention tickets. As mentioned above, originally this design was to have been on the 2-cent issue.

 

Very little mail at the time would have needed a $2.00 stamp. It essentially was created to sell to philatelists. A most uncharacteristic thing for a post office to do!