1907-1910 Weiser Wonder - Walter Johnson PC, new to the hobby

[prewarsports]

Hank

I respectfully disagree. I dont think there is any way this was made in Idaho. I collect Idaho postcards and they almost all have Idaho postmarks, people bought them locally and mailed them from the area they bought them. These were tiny rural and mining areas and before mass transit there is not really any way someone buys a Walter Johnson postcard in Weiser, Idaho in 1907 and then somehow gets it to Chicago to use three years later. To my knowledge not a single one has a Wesier postmark or Fruitland or Payette or ANY of the other towns in the area. I dont even know off hand of a single one with an Idaho postmark at all (there could be though).

There are literally thousands of paostcards issued in the 1910's and 1920's that harken to the roots of famous people, especially politicians and celebrities like Lindberg etc. It would not be at all unusual to make a postcard of Walter Johnson touting his humble beginnings in Weiser to sell to the people around the World that were fascinated by star power.

I know you have been to Weiser, but to those that have not, you have to understand how rural and how isolated these little towns in Western, Idaho are and to get there in 1907 was no small feat and I can absolutely promise you that if these were made locally, they would have been mailed locally, and if they were mailed locally the vast majority would have Western Idaho or Eastern Oregon postmarks and they simply dont. The example posted here is the only one I know of with an Idaho postmark.

Just my opinion from the resident Weiser, Idaho area amatuer historian.

Rhys