A steam locomotive exhales a lazy plume of smoke as it eases into the handsome P&LE (Pittsburgh & Lake Erie Railroad) depot at Monessen, Pennsylvania — a vivid color-lithograph snapshot of a booming steel-town at the height of its industrial confidence, circa 1910–1915. Station workers in shirtsleeves load baggage carts beneath the red-tile canopy of the yellow-brick depot, while a taller Victorian-gabled building looms behind. Monessen, founded only in 1898, grew explosively around steel and tin-plate mills, and the P&LE was its commercial lifeline. On the divided back, a sender writing from Monessen tells a recipient named "D. Russell" at 3361 E. Monmouth Rd., Cleveland, Ohio, that she is "enjoying my vacation in Pittsburg" and hopes to "get Mt. Clemens" — a reference to the famous Michigan spa resort — "maybe." The chatty, optimistic tone and the green 1¢ Washington stamp (Scott #405 or #331 type) make this a charming used example. Posted from Monessen with a machine cancel.