What could be more fun than eight young men out for a day of fun? I wonder who they were?
We love this photo. Not sure who most of these handsome men might be but that isn’t important. It’s such a casual photo and it seems to capture a moment. Maybe you can help identify some of these mystery men and know why the photo was taken?
- What: This is a black & white photo of eight young men with a car. Two buildings are in the background.
- Five of the men are riding in the car. Two men are standing on the passenger-side running board and one man is posed leaning at the front of the vehicle.
- The car might be a 1922 Chevrolet 490 Touring, 2.8L 4 cylinder engine boasting 24HP with a 3-speed manual transmission. Price when sold new was between $510 USD and $875 USD.1
- Where: Perhaps in the area in or around Avonlea, Saskatchewan, Canada2
- When: On or about June 10, 19243 4 5
- Why: Might have been a celebration for the civic holiday declared for ‘Pool Sign-up Day’ so that farmers could sign-up with the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool.6
How many can you name?
I have labelled people with a number on their chest or above their heads from 1 to 8. If you click on the photo or here you can see a larger version.
Use these buttons to jump to information for each numbered person:
People in the photo
1. Unknown handsome man posing at the front of the car behind the hood. He might be a little older than the occupants. By standing apart from the others do we think that he is a mechanic or the owner of the land they are all on?
More
None
2. Unknown man standing on the car’s passenger-side running board beside the front passenger door. This man has a very unique face and should be easy to identify. Do you recognize him? Is he standing on the running board in order to ride along or is he just a friend who was there when the men in the car posed for this photo?
More
None
3. Unknown man standing on the car’s passenger-side running board beside the rear passenger door. Wearing a flat cap and smoking a cigarette he looks pretty cool. Is he standing on the running board in order to ride along or is he just a friend who was there when the men in the car posed for this photo?
More
None
4. Unknown man wearing a fedora hat and riding ‘shotgun’ in the front passenger seat. Do you recognize him?
More
None
5. Unknown man wearing a flat cap is the driver of the car. Is he the owner of this sleek machine?
More
None
6. Unknown man seated in the passenger side rear seat of the car smoking a cigarette. To us he looks like Star Trek Next Generation’s Captain Picard when he time traveled back to the year 1893 to the city of San Francisco in the S5E26/S6E1 two-part episode entitled ‘Time’s Arrow’. Probably not him but fun to think about Starfleet messing with the Saskatchewan timeline….
More
None
7. Robert Jones age unknown wearing a fine homburg hat and snuggled into the middle of the rear seat. Possibly living in the town of Avonlea. He arrived in the Avonlea area in the early 1920’s to work for the Avonlea Trading Co.. He was married and had a daughter, Elsie. By the late 1930’s they had left the area. I wonder where they went?
More
In the book Arrowheads to Wheatfields: Avonlea, Hearne & Districts, page 522, section title ‘Jones’ we learn a little bit about Robert! Sadly we don’t know where he was living in 1924 but he worked for the Avonlea Trading Co.. Maybe he lived in the town with his wife (name unknown) and daughter Elsie.
8. Unknown man in a flat cap looking a little taken off-guard by the snapping of the photo while he was sitting behind the driver in the rear seat.
More
None
Evidence
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chevrolet_Series_490 ↩︎
- Passenger Robert Jones (#7 in the photo) was known to live in the town of Avonlea as detailed in Arrowheads to Wheatfields: Avonlea, Hearne & Districts, page 522, section title Jones ↩︎
- There is a small pennant visible in the windshield on the passenger side that says something about the 10th of June. Maybe it is a proof of payment for entrance into some event. Sadly we can’t see the name of the event or a year. ↩︎
- Looking at the license plate of the car, on the left side printed vertically is “SASK”, the license number is “17-676” and on the right side printed vertically might be the year “1924”. The year is hard to read but the design of the license plate fits the design of Saskatchewan license plates for 1923, 1924 and 1925. At the very least we can say that the photo is from between 1923 and 1925.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_Saskatchewan ↩︎ - June 10, 1924 is interesting as a date because the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool held a big membership drive to sign-up farmers on that date. It was such a important event that Wheat Pool employees were given time off to help enrol farmers, and many town councils declared June 10, 1924, a civic holiday: Pool Sign-up Day. https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/saskatchewan_wheat_pool.html ↩︎
- Saskatchewan Wheat Pool held a big membership drive to sign-up farmers. Many town councils declared June 10, 1924, a civic holiday: Pool Sign-up Day. https://esask.uregina.ca/entry/saskatchewan_wheat_pool.html ↩︎
