Despite its caption, you and I know this is a view of Crispin Creek just east of the county road bridge. One of these men is Eli Squires [it says so in ink on the card’s reverse] but the other is unidentified. What brings them to the creek on a summer day, when the flow is at its lowest? Just to the right (where the tree has something posted to it), the road meets the southeast corner of Agincourt’s original mile-square townsite — the intersection of S.E. Sixth street and Thoreau Avenue, which fifteen years later became the site of “Walden,” the private hospital established by Reinhold Kölb, younger brother of Edith Wassermann.

I’m left, as always, with questions: 1) why have Eli and his friend come to the creek; 2) how common was this bridge type and when did it come into use; and 3) what do you suppose it says on that poster?

The ultimate question remains: Why does there always seem to be a photographer around when you need one?