Mrs. Mollie Jacoby lived in New Oxford, a borough of Adams County in south-central Pennsylvania.
Today, the community boasts several food-processing plants, but is also well-known for the variety of antique shops in the surrounding area.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Oxford,_Pennsylvani
In June of 1931, Mollie received a postcard from her brother, Al.
The postcard was mailed from Phoenix, then a center of agriculture and cattle ranching in the southwestern United States.
The desert area in which Phoenix arose is watered by an extensive canal system that enabled the city to grow.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix,_Arizona
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The face of the postcard is a photograph of a rock formation with columns of colorful strata.
Deep crevices separate the rock columns and a printed title names this “Devil’s Cave”.
In other postcard stories, we have seen images of dark or mysterious natural formations ascribed to the Devil.: “The Devil’s Oven”, “The Devil’s Frying Pan”, and the ”Devil’s Fireplace”.
While there are numerous postcard views of “Devil’s Cave” on the web, there is no location near Phoenix known by this name today.
Other trails and natural features in Arizona are termed, “Devil’s Bridge” and “Devil’s Slide” and there are caves associated with these places – but they are not near Phoenix.
This postcard was published by the E. C. Kropp Co. of Milwaukee.
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On the reverse, Al greets his “Dear Sister” and reports, “We arrived here Sunday eve.”
Unfortunately, Al finds, “the weather is awful hot 110 (degrees).”
Al and his party will leave Phenix “in a few days”.
Mollie is instructed, “Don’t write me here”.
The mail service, Al has experienced, is “awful poor”.
Al promises to write to Mollie “later”.
One hopes that Al and his party are able to move on as planned, that Al sends a new address to Mollie, and that the siblings remain regular correspondents for many years.
