Streetcar Sunday -To Echo Mountain via Castle Canyon

This postcard remains a bit of a mystery to me. Maybe some wise person can add some clarification.
It would appear that the horse is set to push the sightseeing car. More likely, he is just turned around so he can follow behind on the trip downhill. If so, I hope there's also a brake.

I wouldn't have a clue to where this is, except for the sign below. Here it is magnified several times.

It says, "To Echo Mountain via Castle Canyon 34 miles." That should give a good clue. Echo Mountain is located in Los Angeles County in the San Gabriel Mountains. It's called Echo Mountain because of the great echoes you get when you yell into Castle Canyon. And there was a railway there too, the Mount Lowe Railway, which was powered by overhead trolley wires and transported passengers from Altadena up the hills to Rubio Canyon, where there was a small hotel. From there, passengers could take a funicular up to Echo Mountain, where there was an elegant 70-room Victorian hotel and a chalet. There was also a casino, a dance hall, and the opportunity to transfer to yet another trolley line to Crystal Springs.  The entire venture constantly ran into hard times and disasters, including fires, torrential rains, and gale-force winds. It opened in 1893 and was abandoned in 1938.

This horse-drawn car may have connected to the Mount Lowe Railway, but I don't think it was part of the system.  The former owners of this postcard were thoughtful enough to write a date on the back though. These were the same people who visited Gayle's Lion Farm and nicely dated those cards as well.

Update 3/8/11: I happened to see a very similar card today taken at the same location. The people who took that picture wrote on the back: Mule train, Inspiration Point to Picture Rock, Mt. Lowe.

Here's the back of the card.

Tracy Has Changed His Color

Often, my favorite part of a postcard is the message written on the back. And sometimes, if I have a  number of postcards to and from one person or a family, I start to think I know them. But there are always so many gaps. You wonder what they looked like and what became of them. Did they have children? grandchildren? There is always an element of mystery. And so it's been with my most compelling postcard character, Tracy Graham, whose postcards really stood out with their humor and inside jokes.

If you've been following the Tracy Graham story and all of his postcards, you may be curious to know what Tracy looked like. I know I was. Thanks to his daughter, Bernice, I now have some xerox copies of photos. Please welcome Tracy Graham, born Jan 20, 1885:

This picture was taken in 1906. He looks so serious, but we know better!
Here's a card he received in 1908.

Tracy must not have been feeling well in early December of  1908.

Here's the back of the card:

The message reads:

I hear you have changed your color. But I hope you will soon be better.  W.M.

c/o L. Graham

I will be post some of the other photos Bernice sent me along with other postcards. Be sure to check out the other Sepia Saturday posts today for an interesting collection of old photos and stories.

Little Edith Bee

I wonder whatever became of Edith Bee of Edinburgh, Scotland. Edith appears to have been the youngest child in the Bee family.

Here's the back of the card, sent in 1917:

The message reads:

Dear Edith

Do you like this little dog. How many days have you been at school. I hope you have a nice teacher and that you will soon learn to read and write and count and ever so much more.

With love from A.M.

You can go online and look at the Rosemount Buildings where Edith and the her family lived. The buildings are still there and are listed with The Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Scotland. The building is a three-story industrial tenement building, built in 1860 and designed by William Lambie Moffat. It was built around a quadrangle with corner towers. Click here to see a nice aerial view.

And here's what it looks like from the street.

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