- Date: Sunday, 5 December 1937
- Written at: On board the San Francisco Overland Limited, arriving at Battle Mountain, Nevada
- Stationery: 1-cent government postal card (Thomas Jefferson)
- From: Joseph “Joe” Sharmer
- To: Miss Ruby Wilson, Planada, California
- Condition: Complete — postal card, both sides
Each side of the card is shown beside its transcription. Click it to enlarge.
MESSAGE SIDE
Ruby Dear —
Left S.F. Sat night at 800 all set for Cinci & then Pitts. Spent Sat at office & shops. Had my feet fixed & can hardly walk after. Sure cut & cut. I want this to start back first & letter to follow so cant say what I want to on this as you know. Be sure & remind Haywood to feed Cannery & excuse writing cause train just wont stand still. We are just arriving at Battle Mountain & weather is beautiful Scenery all desert.
Love Joe
ADDRESS SIDE (POSTMARKED CARLIN, 5 DEC)
Miss Ruby Wilson
Planada, California
A 1-cent government postal card with Thomas Jefferson printed in green, postmarked at Carlin, Nevada, on 5 December.
Notes & context
The first word from the trip. Joe left San Francisco on the Overland Limited at 8 o’clock on Saturday night, 4 December 1937. By Sunday morning the train was crossing Nevada, and he wrote this card as it pulled into Battle Mountain; it was postmarked a little farther east at Carlin. The same day he wrote two letters, Every Click of the Wheels and Desert and Sage Brush.
“Cant say what I want to on this as you know.” A postcard could be read by anyone who handled it, and Ruby, as postmaster at Planada (The Postmaster of Planada), knew it better than anyone. Later that day he wrote: “Sent you a card by slow freight but couldn’t say much on it cause you know how we like to read them” (Desert and Sage Brush). At a penny, the card went by ordinary surface mail; the letters went air mail, so he sent the card first to “start back first & letter to follow.”
“Had my feet fixed.” On Saturday in San Francisco, as he described in more detail in Desert and Sage Brush: “they sure had a time cutting & they are so sore today I can hardly walk.”
Haywood and Cannery. The same request appears in Every Click of the Wheels: “mention to Haywood to feed Cannery — or else Miss Head.” See Cannery on the People page.
