TOPOCK

John Steinbeck’s famous book, “The Grapes of Wrath, tells a poignant story of the Joad family as they leave Oklahoma during the Great Dust Bowl in the 1930s. The struggling Joads crammed almost everything of value they owned into a 1926 Hudson 6 sedan cleverly modified into a truck. These items included a kitchen sink, which was actually a metal wash tub.

The book quickly became a movie, with both entities still getting significant reading and playing time. I’ve read the novel only once, yet viewed the film numerous occasions, always finding something new in it that I hadn’t caught earlier, such as that wash basin. Henry Fonda, Jane Darwell, and John Carradine were the big stars.

In this movie, the Joads cross the Colorado River at Topock on their way to California. The original bridge they drove on is still there, although it now holds a natural gas pipeline instead of cars. That bridge is called the Old Trails Bridge, named after Old Trails Road, which eventually became part of Route 66.

I’ve always thought of Topock as a turning point as I drive to Laughlin or Bullhead City, and also a great place to stop and eat BBQ sandwiches, while watching lengthy trains roll by outside the restaurant window.

Topock was originally called Mellen, named after Captain “Jack” Mellon, a Colorado River steamboat captain. Why the town was misnamed Mellen is still a mystery. A post office was located in Mellen from 1903 until 1909, until the community officially became Topock.

Recently, I came across a couple of old picture postcards, one of which highlighted the famous arched bridge and a small segment of the now-razed town of Topock. The other card has a good photograph of the community itself, with it never having been used, unlike the first. This unblemished card shows a Chevron gas station, towing service, and a cafe owned by Les Crinklaw.

On July 15, 1928, someone named Ansel sent the now 97-year-old bridge postcard to Mrs. Laura Hannah in Ariel, Washington. The name E.M. Strait is on the receiving end of the card underneath Laura’s name. I had my work cut out identifying all three people, especially Ansel.

This postcard simply reads with no grammar corrections:

“Topock, Ariz

July 15

Just a card to let you know I am well still haveing some summer weather. Ansel”

As things turned out, the trio had something in common with the fictional Joads from “The Grapes of Wrath,” in that they were all family and farmers. Ansel Hannah was the son of Laura Jane Strait-Hannah, with E.M. (Eugene) Strait being Laura’s younger brother.

Laura Strait-Hannah’s husband, Benjamin Franklin Hannah, had died five years before the postcard was sent. Records show that Benjamin fought in the American Civil War for the Union Army. Laura was now a widow, and her son, Ansel, was fatherless. The Strait and Hannah families both moved to Washington State from Missouri, where they lived until they died.

Laura Jane Strait-Hannah was born in 1848 and died in 1945. She was 97. Her brother, Eugene Strait (E.M.), was born on March 20, 1860, and died on August 6, 1937. He was 77.  Ansel Hannah was born on November 25, 1882, and passed away on July 28, 1955.

Ansel was 72 and had driven a school bus in his later years, besides farming. All three, including Benjamin Franklin Hannah, are buried in Lone Pine Cemetery in Ariel, Washington. My research found no surviving kin to either last name.

What’s especially strange and humorous about the bridge postcard is that someone, evidently having bad eyes, attempted to cut out the old postage stamp, yet left part of the stamp still affixed to the card. Only a senior citizen minus their bifocals seems capable of such a careless blunder.

On a sad note, regarding Les Crinklaw, the businessman in Topock who operated the Chevron gas station mentioned earlier in the other postcard. Les was walking on the railroad tracks on October 15, 1950, when he apparently didn’t hear a train approaching. The Topock resident was struck and instantly killed.