Devils Oven, Alexandria Bay, N.Y. – Thousand Islands, ca 1949
The picture featured on this unused, divided back, reproduced black & white print that was color-tinted for a postcard, is of a place called Devils Oven located in Alexandria Bay, New York. Santway Photo-Craft Company, Inc. of Watertown, N.Y. published and distributed the card. There is no blurb on the reverse but the identifying code: R-73689 appears at the upper left center on the reverse. The photographer is not credited.
I’m not sure that this is his picture, but an almost exact, black & white copy of this photograph is listed as a public domain image and is credited to a well-known photographer, William Henry Jackson, 1843-1942. He worked for the United States Geological Survey expeditions in the 1870s. Most of his pictures are of the American West.
Alexandria Bay is located in the Thousand Islands area of New York near the border crossing of Canada and the United States. There are several places named Devils Oven. Although it cannot be seen in the photo there must be a water-level cave on this small island that would get flooded during tides. The name seems to refer to caves on islands where very long ago, suspected criminals might be left to drown for their crimes. Some people believed that such caves were portals to the underworld, hence the name Devils Oven.
For additional information, see:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexandria_Bay,_New_York
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Henry_Jackson
https://garystockbridge617.getarchive.net/media/devils-oven-thousand-islands-8394e7
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