I inherited this unnamed photograph from my father, who in turn inherited it from my grandmother, Pieteriza Cilliers van Ellewee. You can read more about the photo here.
I requested additional details and a date for the picture from ChatGPT.
I made use of the free edition.
It was a really fast response.
π️ Dating the Photo Based on your grandmother’s birth in 1901, and the visual clues in the photo, the school photo most likely dates from around 1908 to 1912, possibly as early as 1905. Here’s why: π Visual & Historical Clues
π Setting & Chalkboard: The writing on the back wall says “A III School Mesklip” (or possibly “A IIIe klas” — which would be “Standard III”, or grade 5 in the old Cape Colony school system). The rough plaster wall and bare ground are typical of rural Cape Province school buildings in the early 1900s. “Mesklip” likely refers to Matzikama region, possibly near Vanrhynsdorp, which fits beautifully with your family’s history.
π Clothing Styles: The girls’ dresses, with high necklines, long sleeves, and bows, are typical of 1900–1912. Boys wear a mix of Norfolk jackets, sailor collars, and short pants — all popular before WWI. Hair is neatly parted and long on the girls, short and slicked on the boys — another early Edwardian trend.
πͺ Photographic Style & Format: The sepia tone and the cabinet card-style mount (6½” × 4″) were standard in late 1800s to early 1900s. The mounting style suggests this was a studio photographer’s field visit or a photo professionally developed offsite. πΏπ¦ Cape Colony Education Context In 1905, the Cape Education Department was expanding formal schooling in rural areas like Vanrhynsdorp. By 1907–1910, even smaller farm schools were photographing their pupils, especially around standard III–V.
✅ Final Estimation:
π Circa 1908–1912, likely taken in the Mesklip (or Masklip) area near Vanrhynsdorp, at a rural school where your grandmother may have been a student or just too young to attend. I've added more images along with really useful descriptions. I think it's a very helpful tool.
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Orphan Photo/Onbekende foto.
P.S. My signature was made with ChatGPT.
Canadian Pacific Railway # 6947 was originally #1737 of the 2-8-0 Consolidation class built at the Montreal Locomotive works in 1908 for the CPR.
"One CPR Locomotive #6947 (originally #1737) can still be admired in Sandon. This train was built at the Montreal Locomotive Works for the CPR in 1908. From 1926 to 1928 it worked in the CPR’s Kootenay Subdivision. After that it was converted with a different engine, renumbered to #6947 and served the CPR in the Winnipeg and Moose Jaw yards until 1959. Then it was sold to the Manitoba and Saskatchewan Coal Company hauling coal from the mines. It was retired in 1967 after six decades of steady work in Western Canada." - 
The 
Some of the restored or preserved buildings that contribute to Sandon's unique character and historical significance.
Considered as being one of the true classic ghost towns of west, Sandon is the focal point of B.C.’s famed Valley of the Ghosts.At one time boasting a population of 10,000, Sandon was the prime mineral (silver, lead and zinc) mining community in the valley, five miles off the main Highway 31A” – 
“The town of Sandon was born April 7, 1892 when J.M.”Johnny” Harris uncovered a fabulous vein of silver. He was born in Virginia and spent his early boyhood in the tobacco and cotton fields. Still only a boy, he left Virginia and wound up in Idaho in 1884 where he worked in the gold mines.- Read more at 
“In 2001, hundreds of them were slated for a scrap heap in Richmond after the auto parts yard they had sat in was sold.” More at – 
“Sandon, located between New Denver and Kaslo, was once the centre of commerce in the region, but was largely abandoned after a 1955 flood.’ More at 
"Sandon, BC, is a historic community located in the Slocan Valley of the West Kootenay district, 13 km east of New Denver. Known as the "Silver City" or the "Heart of the Silvery Slocan," it was the center of what was the richest silver-lead producing region in Canada. Set in a narrow gulch, it is split by a fast-flowing creek and surrounded by high, steep mountains."-
Ghost buses, in a ghost town.
"A half dozen Brills were shipped up here, and more soon followed from various cities. In the 2000s, a plan was hatched to restore the buses and repaint them in various colours to represent the provinces. But that fell through too, and today they are just a curiosity in a small town, off the beaten path.
The ghost buses of Sandon have driven their final mile. Tourists come and go, snapping selfies for their Instagram pages, making a stopover on their way to Nelson or Nakusp or some lakeside camping spot in the Kootenays.
But if you sit quietly, you can still sense the thousands of travelers these machines carried. The ordinary lives they were a daily part of, rain and shine, winter and summer. The gliding to a stop. The clunk of the doors swinging open. A friendly nod to the driver, and out you stepped. Home again."- 
A Chevrolet pickup truck.
The Carpenter Creek runs through Sandon.
We had coffee at the coffee shop. 
Jack watched 
Sandon Ghost Town 2015
"The Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre (NIMC) is a National Historic Site dedicated to telling the story of over 22,000 Japanese Canadians who were forcibly relocated during World War II. Located on the site of “The Orchard” internment camp in New Denver, BC, the NIMC contains original buildings, period artifacts and interpretive displays as well as the Heiwa Teien Peace Garden, designed by the renowned Japanese Canadian gardener, Tomomichi (Roy) Sumi."-
"Weaving around the buildings and tying them together is the Heiwa Teien (Peace Garden), created by world-renowned master gardener Mr. Roy Tomomichi Sumi, a former internee at Tashme, Rosebery and New Denver. At age 85, Roy started designing this tranquil oasis—his last garden. He spent months on the design. Volunteers searched for rocks to match Roy’s vision, and from his wheelchair, Roy directed their placement and that of other garden elements with minute precision. He chose the karesansui (dried-up water scenery) style using the theme of past, present and future. The first signs of Japanese gardens go back to 10,000 BC and dry gardens to AD 1200. They honour nature and what it can teach us about life and our place in nature."- 
"Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre is a museum that preserves and interprets one of ten Canadian concentration camps where more than 27,000 Japanese Canadians were incarcerated by the Canadian government during and after World War II (1942 to 1949).[2] The centre was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 2007.[2]" -
"Nik•kei (ζ₯η³»): people or a person of Japanese heritage. Commonly used in Japan to refer to people of Japanese ancestry that are living abroad as citizens of other countries. Of the over 22,000 Japanese Canadians uprooted from their homes on the coast of British Columbia and sent to internment camps, road camps, super beet farms and prisoner-of-war camps in Ontario, the majority were Canadian citizens by birth and were targeted based on their ancestry."- 
"New Denver, located at an altitude of 1,700 feet, was a commercial centre for the area in which miners lived. The British Columbia Securities Commission tasked the Japanese Canadians relocated to this site with building 275 shacks in an area known as the “Orchard.” In 1994, several survival internment shacks were moved together to form the Nikkei Internment Memorial Centre run by the Kyowakai Society. The sited is listed by the Historic Sites and National Monuments Board of Canada." - 
"Both the Heiwa Teien and the Kohan Reflection Garden in New Denver were recognized as among the best gardens in the province in British Columbia Magazine’s spring 2017 issue."- 
