Old Postcard from North Dakota

One of the oldest pieces of mail I own is a postcard that was sent to my great-grandmother, Alma Olafson (below), before she married my great-grandfather, John Holen in 1912. This photo was taken in the 1950s. Alma was the recipient of the postcard below.

 

The front of the card has about an inch of white to the left of the photograph. I'm unsure why this is or if it was done on purpose or accidentally.

You can clearly see the year is 1910, although the actual date is not noted. Alma would have been approximately 22 years of age the year she received this.

The postmark says it is sent from Pleasant Lake, ND, which is the name of the lake in the photograph. The lake was called Broken Bone Lake by the Dakota Indians and is located Pleasant Lake National Wildlife Refuge, which is east of Rugby, ND.

Etta G, the author of the postcard, I think may have been Alma's cousin, Emma Groettum, who went to teach at Pleasant Lake.

My grandmother, Alice (daughter-in-law to Alma) had this postcard in one of her photo albums that I inherited when she died years ago.