Clean Elections

Interesting to pair an advertisement for soap with election results! The front of this card from  1880 is lovely, but the back is really more interesting.

Look at all of those forgotten political parties!

The Whigs were only around for a short time. They objected to Andrew Jackson in particular and supported the supremacy of Congress over the President.

The Free Soil Party also wasn't around for long, because their primary objective was to oppose the expansion of slavery into the western territories. Once slavery was abolished, there was no real reason for the party to exist.

The Union Party only existed for one election (not including the Union Party from the 1930s.) The Union Party consisted of both Republicans and Democrats who were united in the North's war effort during the Civil War.

The Temperance Party consisted of a bunch of fun spoilers who wanted to meddle in other people's lives. Ha, see how many votes they got in 1872. They didn't give up though, and were back and somewhat stronger as the Prohibition Party in 1876.

The Greenback Party was a populist party that supported government control of the monetary system and supported labor rights (8-hour work days) and women's right to vote.

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.