Friday, November 21, 2014


 Photo postcard by Hammond's Studio of Porterville, circa 1920.  An image from the granite quarry which was located about 4 miles east of Porterville.        Ina H. Stiner's book  Porterville, California: An appreciation of the past (1956),  identifies the man in this photo as Omni Koskela and the little boy as Wayne Laakso.    Many of these quarry workers were of Finnish ancestry.
 Close-up of Wayne Laakso:



 Photograph by Beck Studio of Visalia, circa 1896.


 Zante Citrus Association of Porterville.  Photograph taken circa 1912.
 Close_up:
At that time they were packing citrus under the  Hiawatha  and  Pocahontas labels.
Some of the boxes here are stamped with the Tulare County Citrus Fruit Exchange logo.