Santa Clarita Valley History In Pictures
> LAKE COMMUNITIES
Elizabeth Lake Postcard
Roosevelt/Lake Hughes, California

Click image to enlarge | Download archival scan

Souvenir penny postcard showing Elizabeth Lake. Color halftone. Postally used; postmarked at Roosevelt on July 27, 1921.

According to Frickstad (1955), the Roosevelt post office was officially established December 26, 1902, in the Lake Hughes area. Teddy Roosevelt was president, but we don't know if that had anything to do with it.

The Lake Hughes post office was established almost a quarter-century later, on June 19, 1925. On August 15 of the same year, the Roosevelt post office merged into the Lake Hughes post office, and the "Roosevelt" name went away.

It was slow going for the Roosevelt postmaster at first. Patera (1994) acknowledges 1902 as the starting year but, for some reason, lists a 1901 salary of $15.35 (for all of 1901). Even if that's an errant notation, the Roosevelt postmaster still earned just $25.87 for the entire year of 1905. Then things started to pick up. Just a guess, but increased postal activity probably resulted from an influx of construction workers on the Los Angeles Aqueduct in the area after 1907. According to Patera, the Roosevelt postmaster earned $84 in 1907, $86 in 1909 and $190 in 1911.

In comparison, at the Surrey (Saugus) post office, which had an aqueduct construction camp right down the road, the postmaster's salary jumped from $227 to $625 and $840 in 1907-1909-1911.

Aqueduct construction had less of an impact on Newhall, where the postmaster earned $453, $639 and $680 in those years.

Our postcard was mailed by someone whose name is illegible to a Mrs. E. Johanson of the Boyle Heights section of Los Angeles. Message reads:

7-25-21

My Dear Flora —

Just thot I'd drop you a card of the surrounding country where I'm visiting. Had a lovely ride over the Ridge Route. The weather here is really quite pleasant. Please don't forget to send me the last films to S.F.

Love & Best Wishes

[E?]



Click image to enlarge | Download archival scan


LW3480: 9600 dpi jpeg from original postcard purchased by Leon Worden.
LAKE HUGHES

thumbnail

Elizabeth Lake; Roosevelt Postmark 1921

thumbnail

Canoeing ~1940

thumbnail

Boating ~1940s

thumbnail

Boating ~1940s

thumbnail

Boating 1940s

thumbnail

Camping 1947

thumbnail

Spring Valley Ranch 1950s

thumbnail

Canyon Meadows x5

thumbnail

Powerhouse Fire x105

RETURN TO TOP ]   RETURN TO MAIN INDEX ]   PHOTO CREDITS ]   BIBLIOGRAPHY ]   BOOKS FOR SALE ]
SCVHistory.com is another service of SCVTV, a 501c3 Nonprofit • Site contents ©SCVTV
The site owner makes no assertions as to ownership of any original copyrights to digitized images. However, these images are intended for Personal or Research use only. Any other kind of use, including but not limited to commercial or scholarly publication in any medium or format, public exhibition, or use online or in a web site, may be subject to additional restrictions including but not limited to the copyrights held by parties other than the site owner. USERS ARE SOLELY RESPONSIBLE for determining the existence of such rights and for obtaining any permissions and/or paying associated fees necessary for the proposed use.
comments powered by Disqus