On the back of this postcard is written: "Terra Bella Cal. Oct 12 -1911. Dear Dora: Here is a photo of Eleanor, Waller and Ruth on the way back from the Mts. I suppose you will hardly know them...".
The card is signed "Clara and Family", and addressed to: Miss Dora Haar, Adair, Iowa.
From a small carte de visite portrait. The photographer's stamp on the back of this picture states: "From S.W. Watrous' Photographic Rooms, Main St. Visalia Cal.". (Circa 1882). I've read that during the Victorian era, little boys typically wore dresses. Queen Victoria herself may have started this fashion trend by placing all of her young children in kilts.
Cabinet Card photo from Traver, CA. (Mid to late 1880's)
The photographer is C.C. Curtis (Charles Clifford Curtis).
Traver was an agricultural boom-town, its growth built around improved irrigation and the growing & transportation of grain.
Traver was created on April 8 1884, when town-lots were auctioned on undeveloped land. Within 60 days of this auction, the town-site went from 'nothing' to having : Two hotels, a post office, one drug store, an agricultural equipment store, two lumber yards, a couple of merchandise stores, two barber shops, two livery stables, an express office/railroad depot, and three saloons.
But due to alkaline soil and poor land management the town went bust within 10 years or so.
None of the old 19th century buildings still remain in the present town of Traver.