We'uns At Westlake

The message is visable, but since it's sideways, "We'uns the two next the bank.. Taken at West Lake Park Los Angeles, Cal. Jan. 7.  Many thanks for the present comes in handy.  K. H. Gelleus, Ash Fork, Ariz."  It was mailed from Ash Fork on February 26, 1906 and made it to Miss Jesse Wilson in Caney, Kansas on the 28th of the same month.  I'm not sure the post office could make the same quick delivery today.

So, a few things.  It was actually Westlake Park, named for Dr. Henricus Wallace Westlake, a Canadian doctor who moved to L.A., was a successful physician, bought  and sold real estate, and was the president of a couple of no longer in existence companies.  He donated the land to the city for a park.  Today we would call it a wetland, but at the time it was considered a swamp, and a good place to dump garbage. It's name was changed to MacArthur Park after World War 2.  Yes, the same MacArthur Park of the weird, stoner song of the same name.

 Ash Fork is the self proclaimed flagstone capitol of the world.  I've been there.  It's in northern Arizona along one of the few remaining bits of old route 66, and I-40.  Truthfully, I have no real memory of the place, but I've driven the route.  Caney, Kansas is just a small town in the middle of the prairie.

I wasn't quite sure of the spelling of the Gelleus name, but after trying a few variations, I found it on Ancestry.com.  I wasn't willing to break out the credit card to do a detailed search, but in 1891, there was exactly one Gelleus family  in all of Great Britain.  They lived in London, and it's interesting to speculate that they ended up in northern Arizona, working at a flagstone quarry, or perhaps the Harvey House at the Ash Fork,  Santa Fe Station.

This card really shows how photographs travel.  The original photograph was taken in Los Angeles.  It was made into a postcard and mailed from Ash Fork, Arizona to Caney, Kansas,  I bought it at an antique store in Pasadena, in L.A. County.  How did it get back to California?

The Epworth League Album 10, Life on the River

I wrote in an earlier Epworth League post that the pictures in the first part of the album had a mid-western feel to them. Well, here's a bit more of that feel. A river this wide, in the United States, is probably the Mississippi, the lower Missouri or the lower Ohio. There might be some other candidates out there, but those three are the most likely. I spent some time, on line, searching for images of old bridges along those rivers and couldn't find a match. But someone out there must be able to recognize these locations. As always, click on Epworth League in the labels section to bring up the lot.

Iowa By Canoe

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Stamped on the back, "GEPPERT STUDIOS STAMP of QUALITY DES MOINES, IOWA." Des Moines is on the Des Moines River. Is it just me, or is the blond wearing a somewhat revealing swimsuit? Fun fact, in the first decade of the twentieth century, in most states, men could be arrested for going topless at the beach.

Chautauqua

I don't know if these photos are from an actual, real Chautauqua or not. The Chautauqua movement started in nineteenth century America. Usually held in a rural area, near a railroad stop, Chautauquas were a combination of group camps, lectures and entertainment.

Canoe From Glass Negatives

I've always thought of myself, not as a photographer, but as a printer. One of the frustrating things about no longer having a job at a photo lab, is not having access to large format enlargers. Like the Montana glass negative photos, (see the first post from this blog, published June 9, 2009.) I made these prints, not by making contacts, but by placing the negatives in an 8x10 enlarger and making blow-ups. Probably shot in the late 19th century, these two images show someone who is very likely using a canoe for recreation.