... that I found (quite accidentally) awhile back. It's actually a little late now (just past midnight, so no longer the anniversary of the quake), but this is an interesting historical item.

The SF earthquake was April 18, 1906. The epicenter of the quake was actually in Marin County, north of San Francisco and not far from where I sit at this very moment.

I got this postcard in a group of 30 Marin County cards that I bought on eBay for about $1 each. I was looking for postcards showing the Mt. Tamalpais & Muir Woods Railway, for display with a Mt. Tam RR stock certificate that I got on eBay last year. Instead, I found this!

The card is a very common photo card of the observation station on the top of Mt. Tam and I passed over it quickly when it first arrived. Sometime later, I was looking at the cards again when I noticed that the handwritten note on the front was dated April 17th, 1906. I realized that was the day before the big quake; then I turned it over and found it is postmarked "APR 18 PM 1906" at TAMALPAIS CAL.

I haven't yet been able to determine exactly where the "Tamalpais" post office was located, but it must be somewhere in Marin County. Which means this card was postmarked the afternoon of the earthquake at a post office very near the epicenter of the earthquake. I guess the post office of the time could have said, "Neither rain nor sleet nor the biggest damn earthquake you ever saw ...."

The handwritten note on the front reads: "1906 Apr. 17 -- We are having a delightful time up here today - Isn't it a beautiful trip. With love, Jane."

The caption at the bottom (in VERY small print) reads: "Marine Exchange on summit of Mt. Tamalpais, California. Established by S. F. Examiner for sighting vessels far out at sea. On clear days vessels can be sighted 60 to 75 miles and reported by wire in San Francisco two hours before they can be seen from the Cliff House."

The card is addressed to Miss Nellie M. Cushing, Prospect St., Fitchburg, Mass. In addition to the Tamalpais, Cal, postmark, it is also postmarked April 25 in Fitchburg, Mass. So took just seven days to be delivered, despite the earthquake. They don't do much better today!

----- jim o\-S