The Flood in Grafton, Illinois

Grafton is located at the confluence of the Mississippi and Illinois rivers. I wanted to get an idea of the year these postcards were printed. Good luck! When I searched Google for "flood in Grafton", I got all sorts of information on the Great Flood of 1993, and the one in 1995. I also found information on the big flood in 2008. A little more delving and I found there was also a great flood of 1844, after which many people left for good. I guess the waters recede and then we forget it ever happened and rebuild. In fact, it looks like flood levels exceeding 27 feet occur about every three years in Grafton. You'd think it would be hard to forget...and hard to rebuild.

After the flood of 1993, the federal government (with a 25% match by the State of Illinois) offered a buyout program for residents in the flood area as part of the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program. The offer was accepted by 120 residents and the project cost $110 million.
Here's another card from whichever flood this was (1930?) it's a grainy picture, but I think I see a couple of chickens.

Adderley Street - Cape Town, South Africa

This postcard of Cape Town, South Africa dates from around 1910.  Adderley Street is still Cape Town's main street, with banks, business centers, the American Embassy, and a convention center at the end of the street. Although some old buildings remain, you wouldn't recognize the street from this picture. However, the flower market, shown below, continues to operate in the same location. Nice double-decker trolley.

Adderley Street was named after Sir Charles Adderley in 1850 because of his success in preventing the British government from establishing a convict colony at Cape Town. The ship full of convicts was instead sent to Tasmania. In recent years, there has been a move to change the name of Adderley Street to Mandela Street, but nothing has come of it so far.

Another Fish!

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It's been almost a week since I posted the last April Fish postcard. You have been deprived too long. This cannot continue.

So here's your fish; the message says "eat heartily." For more information on the origin of the April Fish, take a look at the earlier post.