Many thanks to Bill Hecht for enhancing and sharing these two images. As usual, they raise questions I hope someone can unearth answers to. For starters, I wonder what the occasion was. Why was the image of these eight people composed this way? What do we know about the brothers of Peter Van Detto? How did the coal and feed make its way to this shop?

We of 2026 know lots about cars and computers and networks but nothing about harnesses. The two people to the left, were they buying coal and/or coal? What was the function of the white structure in the middle of the photo? The man with arms crossed to the right, was that farrier’s apron he wears?

What are these five men doing besides posing for the photo? Do we read sociological meaning into the variety of their garments?

Since I’m not familiar with Montezuma, as the image is marked, I’ve no idea what this area looks like today. Can anyone take a photo of this space in 2026 for comparison? I wish the image showed the two Thurston [Rosana (?) and Hiram E.] barges to the right in their entirety. They look to be cargo barges, and maybe identical ones.

The barge below looks quite different from the others. With the curtains in the windows, it appears to be residential, a floating home or accommodations barge maybe?

If you know more about these images than I do, please comment below.

Again, many thanks to Bill for sharing these images. Inserting them into the blog format degrades their sharpness.