Steel cables thick as a man's torso stretch 1,632 feet across the Hudson as autumn sets the Highlands ablaze with orange and gold — this vivid linen-era view of the Bear Mountain Bridge, seen from U.S. Route 9W, captures one of the great scenic corridors of wartime New York. Opened in 1924, the bridge was the longest suspension span in the world at its completion, and in June 1942, while Allied forces were regrouping overseas, a sender named J. signed off with a breezy "We're having lots of fun — hope you are all well" and posted this card to Ralph at the Post Fire House, Madison Barracks, Sackets Harbor — a U.S. Army installation on Lake Ontario then buzzing with wartime activity. The linen surface pops with Curt Teich-style saturated color: rust-red hillsides, a deep cerulean river, and the elegant latticework of the bridge deck suspended between twin steel towers.