DOI: 10.25549/chs-m24142
title: Advertisement using Kit Carson to advertise Southern Pacific's Four Great Routes, [s.d.]

description: Photograph of an advertisement using Kit Carson to advertise Southern Pacific's Four Great Routes, [s.d.]. A drawing of a fur--clad trapper depicted near a saddled horse at Lake Tahoe can be seen at top, while an etching of two women sitting at a boudoir is visible at center. Four maps of travel routes across the United States can be seen side-by-side across the bottom. Photonegative sleeve reads, "S.P. Lord Thomas J. Logan. Printed".; Advertisement reads [part 1 of 2]: "Kit Carson knew the 'four great routes'. This pioneer chose frequently to 'go one way, return another, see the whole Pacific Coast.' Kit Carson! Back and forth over a stage 1500 miles square, routing Indians, leading Fremont through the mountains, crawling barefoot over cactus needles to save Kearney's army in the conquest of California, spiking Spanish cannon at San Francisco, and dashing away again over Arizona and New Mexico to honeymoon with Josefa Jaramillo, his dark-eyed bride -- here was a man who knew the West and all its trails! Kit Carson passed from the scene just as the first overland railroad (Central Pacific, forerunner of Southern Pacific) built eastward from the western ocean in 1867. The rails of Southern Pacific's Overland Route today follow close to the path made by Kit Carson to California. Sunset, Golden State and Shasta Routes also follow many a league of Kit Carson's gallopings. At Klamath Lake, in Oregon, Carson and Fremont fought a famous Indian battle near where the Siskiyou and Cascade lines of Shasta Route divide to embrace Crater Lake. Southern Pacific's four routes to California are pioneer western lines and inheritors of the best natural routes as found by early-day frontiersmen. These four routes give you a splendid chance to see the epic West and the whole Pacific Coast. Only Southern Pacific offers four routes. You can go one way, return another. Stop over anywhere. Be sure to send your name and address to E.W. Clapp, traffic manager, 310 South Michigan Boulevard, Chicago, for free travel book with illustrations, entitled 'How Best to See the Pacific Coast'."; Advertisement reads [part 2 of 2]: "Southern Pacific. Four Great Routes. -- Sunset Route: New York to New Orleans by Southern Pacific steamer (berth, meals included on steamer), or by rail. Thence Houston, San Antonio and El Paso to San Diego via Carriso Gorge, Los Angeles and San Francisco, without changes. Apache Trail motor highway in Arizona, delightful one-day side-trip. 'Sunset Limited.' -- Overland (Lake Tahoe Line) Route: Straight across midcontinent from Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Denver. Across Great Salt Lake by rail, through Nevada's mountain-rimmed basin, down American River Canyon and across central California. Rock-ballasted roadbed, oil-burning locomotives and excellent cuisine, as on all four routes. 'San Francisco Overland Limited.' -- Golden State Route: The direct line, Chicago to Los Angeles, San Diego and Santa Barbara, via Kansas City. Joins Sunset Route at El Paso. Stop over there to see Juarez, Old Mexico. Apache Trail highway side-trip in Arizona. Through sleepers from Minneapolis, Chicago, St. Louis, Kansas City and Memphis. 'Golden State Limited' -- none faster nor finer. -- Shasta Route: For travelers to California via Portland, Oregon. Choice of two lines through Oregon: Siskiyou Line, through river valleys, or new scenic Cascade Line through alpine forests and lakes. These embrace Crater Lake and rejoin near Mount Shasta: thence to San Francisco. Optional motor coach detour through California's Redwood Empire. 'The Cascade.' -- Lake Tahoe. 6200 feet high, near the Sierra Nevada summit, is accessible by Overland Route."