Towering salmon-red sandstone spires jut skyward from a carpet of pine-green valley floor in this sweeping panoramic view of Garden of the Gods, the geological showpiece outside Colorado Springs whose formations — up to 300 million years in the making — drew tourists by rail and early automobile in equal measure, and whose image graced countless souvenir cards like this elegantly hand-tinted early linen-era example. Copyrighted by Sanborn Souvenir Co. of Denver and carrying a "Place One Cent Stamp Here" box, this card dates to the period when a penny still mailed a postcard across the nation. The reverse text rhapsodizes that the soft red sandstone "has been carved by nature into thousands of fantastic figures resembling animals and many other objects" — the breathless promotional register of early American tourism writing at its most earnest. Catalog number 578 / 5670-29 places it in a large Sanborn Colorado landscape series. Light toning and minor foxing on the reverse speak to its age with grace.