VIEWS OF THE SANTA CRUZ MOUNTAINS

Author's Personal Collection

The cover of this postcard packet, "Views of the Santa Cruz Mountains, California", highlights the famed Jumbo Tree at Big Trees Grove. The packet is composed of 24 images covering scenic areas throughout the Santa Cruz Mountains. It includes three other images from the Cowell's Big Trees side of the grove: the Club House, Calling Card Tree, and the luncheon pavilion/dance floor. 

In addition to Big Trees Grove and Cowell’s Big Trees, the packet features images of Big Basin, Glenwood, Boulder Creek, Brookdale, Ben Lomond, Felton, Alma and Wrights.  

The postcard packet was published by Edward H. Mitchell Company located at 225 Post Street in San Francisco. Mitchell was born in San Francisco on April 27, 1867. Once the manager of a stationery store, Mitchell entered the postcard business in 1898 when he purchased a company producing "California scenes and one set depicting Yellowstone National Park published by Albert Kayser of Oakland." An able businessman, Mitchell soon became one of the most prolific publishers of postcards of the American West. His company operated a factory on Army Street (now known as Cesar Chavez Street) where they printed postcards for both the U.S. and German markets. The publishing operation closed in 1923 when Mitchell decided to devote more attention to his oil investments. The firm’s three and a half million card inventory sold for $500. 

Sources: California Views: The Pat Hathaway Photo Collection, 2019,  http://caviews.com/EHMitchell.html; Metropostcard.com, “Publishers,” by Alan Petrulis, 2006-2018, https://www.metropostcard.com/metropcpublishers.html.