Wonderland 1901

the long version

From 1884 through 1906, the Northern Pacific Railway published a promotional booklet, each year, mainly extolling the wonders of Yellowstone National Park. Although NPRR brochures and annual Wonderland guidebooks initially focused upon the virtues of Yellowstone as a resort destination they were expanded to extol the sights, natural history, and increasing development and opportunities along the northern transcontinental railway. With the extension of steamboat service to the Klondike gold mines, NPRR's Wonderland came to include the entire Canadian west coast and lower Alaska. There is within the covers of this book much historical matter, some of it new , some old, as well as purely descriptive narrative. This booklet for 1901 featured artwork of modelled clay on the front and back covers, as well as several section headers inside the book. The designing artist was Alfred David Lenz (1872-1926), New York Hall of Fame metal sculptor and inventor of a new "lost wax" metal casting process that surpasses the quality of work done by master craftsmen of the Italian Renaissance.