10/11/2026
Cedarville, California – 26 April 1918.
This photograph, taken 108 years ago, captures a fascinating moment when the world was changing. Automobiles were beginning to replace horses, yet here in Cedarville, both shared the same dusty street.
But there’s something particularly interesting about the date.
26 April 1918 was Liberty Day!
President Woodrow Wilson had proclaimed a national day of patriotic gatherings, parades and rallies to encourage Americans to purchase Liberty Bonds to help finance the First World War.
America had entered the war just a year earlier, and thousands of American soldiers were heading to Europe.
And 1918 would become an extraordinary year for another reason. The great influenza pandemic was beginning, and its deadliest wave would sweep across America later that autumn. I know from my research, Surprise Valley was not protected from this pandemic. Many lives were sadly lost.
Just imagine the stories behind the faces in this photograph. A small town in Surprise Valley, caught between the old world and the new, completely unaware of what the rest of 1918 would bring.
