There's some very faded printing on the bag that says Great Salt Lake. The postcard photo shows people disembarking from open-air curtained train cars, with the first Saltair Pavilion in the background. The pavilion was built in 1893 and burned down in 1925. A replacement was built, but it also suffered from fire damage in 1931 and then burned down completely in 1970. Although a third pavilion was built, it was plagued by various problems, including unpredictable water levels. In a good year you might be on the edge of the water, but the next year might be a different story.
You can see by the back of the card that moisture has wicked out some of the salt.
Here's a close up of the text on the back.
The Salt Lake is also a valuable habitat for birds. Here's an earlier post on bathing at Saltair.
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Oh! What a great postcard! Any idea of the date it was printed? How fun it must have been for someone to receive that postcard in the mail!
ReplyDeleteMy guess on the date 1s 1910-1915.
ReplyDeleteIt must have been very grand back around 1900, imagine arriving by train right at the pavilion. Great postcard.
ReplyDeleteI love that idea of sending a souvenir of the place attached to a card. Someone sent me some sand from Oahu attached to an artist trading card a couple of years ago.
ReplyDeleteUnexpected little bonuses that come with the Mail, whether it's attached to a postcard or enclosed with a letter in an envelope, always thrill me. My sister used to paint greeting cards that had real tea bags inserted into (painted) teacups. The teabag was still in its wrapping, so you could remove it from the card and make yourself a real cup of tea.
ReplyDeleteI like that cup 'o tea idea! I got a bag of ash from the Mt. St. Helens eruption from a friend visiting the Northwest when I was a teenager in NY, but it wasn't something I could drink...
ReplyDeleteHow cool. Nowdays that wouldn't fly, both because of security reasons and also because that would get stuck in the sorting machines...
ReplyDeleteThat looks like a Curt Teich code number on the back, so it should be possible to date the card from that. I can't see it very clearly, but it looks like it starts with 29 which would probably be 1911-1912.
ReplyDeleteI have a linen one with Saltair and a bag of salt. I've never seen an old one with the card shaped like a tag.
Always so fun to see a "new" type of card. I didn't know this kind even existed!
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