Miss Sarah Kelley lived in Spring Forge (now Spring Grove), a borough on the Codorus Creek in York County – between Hanover and York.

This site of Spring Grove was first surveyed and laid out in 1747 when the area was still within Lancaster County.

The discovery of iron ore in the Pigeon Hills led to the development of the first iron forge west of the Susquehanna at Spring Forge.

When the iron industry was superseded by the larger, more efficient operations in western Pennsylvania, the abundance of wood and water at Spring Forge led to the replacement of the iron forge with paper mills.

The end of the iron forge led to the general use of Spring Grove as the name of the community.

In October of 1905, Sarah received a postcard from Petaluma, California.

Petaluma is a city on the Petaluma River in Sonoma County, north of the San Francisco Bay.

The postcard features an original ink sketch of two chickens pecking the ground.

The legend reads, “A Few Scratches From”.

The sender adds initials which, we assume, were recognized by Miss Kelley.

I could not find an indication of the artist; the postcard was published by J. T. Sheward of Los Angeles.

This publisher offered many humorous postcard designs in the early years of the twentieth century.

One hopes that Sarah enjoyed hearing from her friend in California and that they both enjoyed the Autumn of 1905.