EVERY PICTURE TELLS A STORY

Author's Personal Collection

This photograph, which I recently added to my collection, shows members of the Buffalo Council of the Knights of Columbus during their June 4, 1905 visit to Big Trees Grove.

 

"… [T]hey come to the coast for the National Council at Los Angeles. Santa Cruz was at first omitted from the itinerary, but through T.W. Kelly [local committee chairman] this city and the Big Trees are now on the trip, and Sunday, June 4, is the day they will be here. They will come on a special vestibule train and number three hundred [including six priests]."

 

In downtown Santa Cruz, the Knights were met in the early morning at the depot by the Thirteenth Infantry Band, the local council of Knights of Columbus and members of the Board of Trade. The Knights were then taken by electric cars to Holy Cross Church where they attended the 8 o’clock mass. After mass, most of the Knights boarded the narrow-gauge train destined for the Big Trees.

 

"Those who did not go on the train went up the canyon by carriage. The visitors showed their appreciation by the many exclamations of delight over the monarchs of the forest. Their train was scheduled to leave in the afternoon at 2 …" 

 

It’s always exciting to locate an image showing a group visiting Big Trees Grove. It is even more exciting when one image can help identify other images.

 

In my group photograph, there is a gentleman kneeling in the front row, just to the right of center. He is wearing an English driving cap and holding a camera and tripod. 

 

This same gentleman appears in a stereoview which is part of the collection of my friend and fellow, local historian, Ross Eric Gibson.

 

Courtesy of Ross Eric Gibson

Ross let me use his image in my book, Historic Tales of Henry Cowell Redwoods State Park – Big Trees Grove. His photograph showed three gentlemen standing at the base of the Giant. The gentleman on the left, wearing an English driving cap, with a camera and holding a bullhorn, is the same gentleman in the group photograph of the Knights of Columbus that I recently acquired. Ross also had a second stereoview showing several gentlemen also seen in the other two images. 

 

Courtesy of Ross Eric Gibson

Interestingly, my friend’s two stereoviews were produced by the Century Photo-View Company of Traverse City, Michigan. The Knights of Columbus group in my photograph were from Buffalo, New York. Perhaps the gentleman with the camera and bullhorn was not a member of the New York organization, but rather, hired by the group to take their image and perhaps also act as a guide. We may never know for sure. But I’m glad that the acquisition of my group photograph helped Ross more fully identify his stereoviews.

 

Sources: “A Big Event – That Can Be Scheduled for Next June,” Santa Cruz Surf, March 8, 1905; “Knights of Columbus – Big Excursions to Stop Over at Santa Cruz,” Santa Cruz Surf, April 8, 1905; “Eastern Knights of Columbus – Discover the Garland City of the Pacific Slope and Spend a Day of Delight,” Santa Cruz Surf, June 5, 1905; “Visiting Knights to See Big Trees,” June 3, 1905, newspaper unknown.