From the precipice of Lookout Mountain, the Tennessee River curves in a vast oxbow around Moccasin Bend — a meander so pronounced it nearly pinches off into an island — while the spires and rooftops of Chattanooga crowd the far bank in this richly colored white-border card copyright 1912 by W. M. Cline, the city's most celebrated early postcard publisher. Moccasin Bend was already layered with history when this card was printed: a Civil War encampment ground, a prehistoric Native American site, and the strategic geography that made Chattanooga "the gateway to the Deep South." The back, published by T. H. Payne Co. of Chattanooga and printed in the U.S.A., carries a boosterish text noting that "on four battle fields the losses were 50,000 brave soldiers." The card was never addressed or mailed, preserving sharp color and clean surfaces — a desirable state for early Tennessee topographic cards.