Petty Officer DeMoss collected photo postcards for ports throughout the cruise from one of the crew photographers, possibly stationed on the USS Kansas.  Where a normal picture postcard cost a penny, these could cost 2-cents each and were available for sailor to select and have printed so he could mail home or save in his personal collection.  Petty Officer DeMoss saved his in a photo album and wrote notes on the back to remember the events of the front.

The photograph at left is of General Sherman, a giant sequoia tree located in the Giant Forest of Sequoia National Park in Tulare County, California.  It is the largest known living tree on earth.  The General Sherman was named after the American Civil War General by naturalist James Wolverton, who was a lieutenant in the 9th Indiana Cavalry under Sherman.  It has an estimated age of 2,300 to 2,700 years old.

What a great photograph showing a sailor and marines of the fleet, visiting the tree as one of the excursions they took while visiting the west coast.  In 1908 it was permissible to attach notes to the tree, today, not so much.

The notes on the card from DeMoss, "A big Red Tree", "I'm in California."