Oblong Folio album ca. 26x34,5 cm (10 x 13 ½ in). 18 card stock leaves + 11 black paper leaves at rear (blank). With 104 original gelatin silver photos and real photo postcards, from ca. 11,5x15,5 cm (4 ½ x 6 ¼ in) to ca. 6x8,5cm (2 ¼ x 3 ¼ in). Ca. 80 photos with period white ink captions on the mounts (some captions relate to several images); several studio photos captioned in negative. At least two photos with printed copyright of “Putnam & Valentine, Los Angeles, Ca.” on verso; at least one photo with a period ink caption on verso. Period custom made brown full calf “Heinn Co.” album fastened with metal bolts. Album rubbed on extremities, the back cover with a stain, a couple of photos mildly faded or with mild silvering, two photos previously removed, but overall a very good album of strong interesting photos.

Attractive album with early original photos of California, including over forty images of the logging town of Hobart Mills and nearby Prosser Creek, Independence and Tahoe Lakes (all in the Nevada County, Northern California). Hobart Mills was established in 1900 as a settlement for workers of the sawmill of Walter Scott Hobart Sr., who started logging in the area in 1897. The town existed for about sixty years until the sawmill closed in 1938. In its heyday, Hobart Mills, with a population of about 1500 at peak season, had a school, a hospital, and several social clubs. The photos of Hobart Mills show logging operations (“skidding,” “clearing for track,” the “First Engine to go over the Summit at Truckee on Hobart Estate, 1909”), the town in winter (one photo features a skier going downhill towards the settlement), a wooden bridge over a creek, and nearby forests and roads. Several photos of Prosser Creek show the compiler’s family and friends fishing and resting. There are also images of Independence Lake and Lake Tahoe (all dated 1909) with cottages, rail tracks and family members. Another photo shows the railway station in Truckee in winter.

The other photos show Los Angeles (Westlake Park, Eastlake Park, Echo Park), San Francisco (Union Square from the window of St. Francis Hotel, a beach), San Gabriel Mission, the bells at Mission San Juan Capistrano, a sugar beet factory, a rice field, a site of seepage irrigation, railway tracks, dams, mountains, &c. Four photos portray lifesavers at Long Beach posing in tank tops with the signs “Life Saver” and with lifebuoys with the signs “L.B.B.H.Co.” (“Long Beach Bath House Co.”). Over twenty photos (mostly by the Los Angeles studio of “Putnam & Valentine”) show the Yosemite valley and waterfalls.

Overall an attractive collection of early original photos of California, including the now non-existent town of Hobart Mills.