Letters Across Time: A Postcard from Eureka, 1911
The Humboldt Project is not just an Instagram account—it’s a living archive of Humboldt County’s rich history, brought to life one postcard at a time. For over two years, Steve Lazar has been sharing his vast postcard collection, each post carefully timed to the anniversary of its original postmark. But this project goes beyond mere nostalgia; it’s a call to the community to help decode the past.
Every postcard tells a story, and with each post, we’re inviting you to join in uncovering the details that might otherwise be lost to time. Whether it’s identifying a location, a person, or unraveling the story behind a photograph, your knowledge could help piece together Humboldt’s history.
Do you recognize this stretch of the Eel River? Or has time left it unrecognizable?
Take a look at this postcard from December 29, 1911—nearly 113 years ago today. It features a serene image of the Eel River, a view still familiar to many locals today. But it’s the handwritten message on the back that offers a poignant glimpse into the lives of its senders:
“Eureka, Dec. 29, 1911 Dear Cousins: Thank you for remembering us. Too much sickness in our little home & have much of the feeling this year. Holidays are sad days, too, because we miss our dear ones so. H – is very poorly. Courage from tho – But I have been greatly worried. Have to appear cheerful. The spirit of youth is strong in him. Will write soon. But don’t wait for us. Cousin F, think the Sherwood bill will pass? Fine weather here. Oh for a sight of your dear faces. Sincerely, M. & C. T.”
Addressed to Mrs. Fred L. Ricker in Haverhill, Massachusetts, this postcard captures a bittersweet moment in time—a mix of gratitude, worry, and longing across the miles. It’s a reminder that postcards weren’t just souvenirs; they were lifelines, carrying fragments of life and emotion across great distances.
A message across the United States, the sender shares the heartache of the holidays away from family, a parent’s concern for an ailing child, and national politics.
The mention of the Sherwood Bill reflects an awareness of a significant piece of legislation at the time. Introduced by Representative Isaac R. Sherwood in 1911, the bill aimed to provide pensions to aging Union veterans of the Civil War and veterans of the Mexican-American War upon reaching the age of 62. It was a topic of national conversation, and its passage in 1912 marked a major step in veteran support.
What do we know about the Sherwood bill mentioned here? And who were M. & C. T.? If you have insights or connections to this story, we’d love to hear from you. Every detail helps us understand the past a little better.
For more information on The Humboldt Project, click here.
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Looks like a view from up the South Fork Eel River just a bit, (Leatherwood Bridge area), looking downstream towards the confluence with the mainstem Eel River…???
Founders Grove would be the mature trees on the right hand side…???
It’s hard to say I was thinking it may be the main fork. Fort Seward, Dobbins crk or witlow Valley or McCann. I was wondering if their is railroad tracks on the far bank in the picture.
That’s a good call.
I have the same opinion. near Dyerville scenic overlook. Nice parking lot, picnic spot and a porta-potty, at least in the summer. Right off US 101 and worth a stop when driving south.
I’m not sure what roads would exist 1911, but the dyerville loop rd was a stagecoach rd. The avenue of the giants didn’t exist yet the main fork had the train station in fort Seward also. I would think most travel went up the main fork back then.
I took that photo and did a Google Earth overlay of what I think it is: confluence of N and S forks of the Eel, looking east from where 101 is now, with the RR bridge in the distance, which would not have been there before 1911. They they are very close, minus the bridges.
Yup, that’s it. The fence is probably part of safety features of the public Dyerville overlook where you can park and stretch your legs. Technically, I think, it is The South Fork and mainstem confluence, but why be pedantic and picayune? Because it’s fun! I never knew! The Eel drains over 2500 sq, miles and branches and forks all over to the point where even old-time locals can get confused on which stem or branch they grew up on! Amazing stream, a pale glimmer of its historic glory and fecundity, its fading splendor remembered by a lucky few from their childhood. Sighs matter.
This one is the Ave bridge using Google Street View. The 101 bridge gives a little different angle so I matched it to include some more obvious landforms, like 2 slight bumps on the hill, the river trailing off to the right in the distance and the escarpment just behind the RR bridge is in view in the 1911 photo (it’s a slab of granite if I’m not mistaken, been a while since I’ve gone up to the bridge). The old growth redwoods are since long gone and replaced with new trees but I think there was enough to be confident of the spot, short of holding up the photo to it while standing on the river bar. But yeah, if one hadn’t been by it a thousand times it could look like any fork on the river.
Now that I think of it a little more, the picture from 1911 could have been taken from a little further upstream on the South Fork, from the Bull Creek side…
Was Bull Creek Road a thing in 1911…???
(That’s the year that Fernbridge was completed…)
The gravel bar on the right hand side would be the Leatherwood River Bar, just above where either of the SF Eel Bridges now exist…
Ferry crossings were all the rage back then, and it almost looks like a small ferry boat on the right hand shore on what would be Leatherwood Bar…
Was there a ferry at Leatherwood to cross the South Fork at the Forks…???
The railroad bridge at Dyerville was completed in 1910, so either that isn’t the correct location, or it was a “dated” old postcard, with a photo of the area taken prior to 1910, then sent in 1911…
?♂️
I’m confident it’s the spot, if within a 1/2 mile anyway. But certainly a little dated as when the photo was actually taken and printed and mailed to someone. Could have been a decade for all we know but the RR bridge (being started, not completed) is a certainty of the latest it could have been taken. Bull Creek mentioned above had a road, if you can call it that, for some time, being created and used by pack mules hauling tan bark out of the Mattole and other places. In times when it couldn’t be navigated I’m told that Grasshopper peak was a back up trail to follow to the Eel and wasn’t much better until the fire lookout was put up there.
i am talking about a public overlook visible and accessible directly off US101 referred to as Dyerville overlook or something similar. Dyerville Loop Road is a different deal. The confluence of the South Fork Eel River with the main stem is clearly visible from the public, graveled parking lot like in the picture but elevated on a scenic bluff, well-defined. Get a map and run your finger south down US 101 from Fortuna until a bit before Weott and look for “Dyerville” right off 101 near the South Fork, Mainsten Eel confluence. That’s it. A former town, not Loop Road.
i’m still voting with “The Real Guest.”
The lovely handwriting of that era. My grandparents and my mother could write beautiful script. They don’t even teach cursive anymore.
>”They don’t even teach cursive anymore”
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Think they educational lobby has somehow ‘resurrected’ teaching cursive.
Likely diverting millions of dollars into it.
Committees, then still more committees and probably a new superintendent for cursive.
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Nobody uses cursive anymore.
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Primary grades… should teach:
Good legible printing.
Teach basic math.
Teach English.
Teach basic geography.
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Oh well…
People don’t use cursive as much but still the whole world is not automated yet so writing and reading cursive is still useful. Writing has a long history in legal matters, in government and in social events. The ability to read pre-digital writing, from grandmother’s diaries to graffiti, is still useful. Its still too much present to be eliminated.
People still make quick notes to leave for others. No one has yet made a digital interface as sure proof of ID as a signature is. So while much less time is needed for teaching it now, it is not yet extinct. Besides why is there more value in teaching “Good legible printing” than teaching cursive in a digital world? Reading yes, writing no. If printing is frequent, it would soon decays into some individual form of cursive anyway.
In days of yore, handwriting was also a way to tell how someone was. You could see the style changes over time. You can’t do that with digital writing, unless you look at context over time. Shaky handwriting was one way to tell that a late grandmother of mine Parkinson’s was setting in. Style can say a lot about your health.
Here is another Jesse Meister “Foto” from the Dyerville Ferry area from that same era that lends credence to the Jesse Meiser Foro from this article having been taken in that same area…
This tree still stands, I believe just across the Avenue of the Giants, from where the clear remnants an old access roadbed to the river bar and what would have been the location of Dyerville Ferry, still remains to this day…
It’s just North of the lookout a ways, on the Avenue…
The photo is misidentified in the caption as “likely the McCann Ferry”, but is marked as the “Dyerville Ferry”…
Here is another Jesse Meister “Foto” from the Dyerville Ferry area from that same era that lends credence to the Jesse Meiser Foro from this article having been taken in that same area…
This tree still stands, I believe just across the Avenue of the Giants, from where the clear remnants an old access roadbed to the river bar and what would have been the location of Dyerville Ferry, still remains to this day…
It’s just North of the lookout a ways, on the Avenue…
The photo is misidentified in the caption as “likely the McCann Ferry”, but is marked as the “Dyerville Ferry”…
Here is another Jesse Meiser “Foto” from the Dyerville Ferry area from that same era that lends credence to the Jesse Meiser Foro from this article having been taken in that same area…
This tree still stands, I believe just across the Avenue of the Giants, from where the clear remnants an old access roadbed to the river bar and what would have been the location of Dyerville Ferry, still remains to this day…
It’s just North of the lookout a ways, on the Avenue…
The photo is misidentified in the caption as “likely the McCann Ferry”, but is marked as the “Dyerville Ferry”…
“Meiser Foto”, in writing, is barely discernable, “beneath” the vehicle…