This postcard was mailed in July 1923 and depicts the whaling station at Gray’s Harbor, Washington, as identified in the printed caption.
By the early twentieth century, shore-based whaling stations along the Washington coast operated as industrial processing sites where whales were hauled in, secured, and rendered for oil and byproducts. Gray’s Harbor functioned as one of the Pacific Northwest’s active maritime hubs, combining commercial fishing, lumber shipping, and seasonal whaling within its protected harbor system.
The image shows multiple whale carcasses floating alongside the dock, their ribbed ventral pleats visible at the waterline, with a covered processing shed and timber pilings extending over the harbor. Workers and onlookers stand along the wharf, and a small vessel is moored near the ramp leading into the structure. The reverse features a divided back format with a July 1923 Hoquiam, Washington postmark and a one-cent George Washington stamp, along with handwritten correspondence addressed to Camp Lewis, Washington.
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