From somewhere in Venango County, PA, this tar paper shack served as a telegraph office during the boom days of the oil fields. Written across the front of the tiny building are the following sales pitches and warnings:

"Cable TeleGrams. NY Central Telegraph Office. May 9, 1903. No Smoking Here. No Lounging Around. Night Messages at Reduced Rates. Terms: Cash. Ultra Cheap Rates on Sunday."

There are a few other hard to read words and messages. No doubt there were more on the door behind the man standing at the right. And, no doubt, no one likely paid any more attention to them than they did to the command, "No Lounging Around".

When the picture is enlarged, the insulator above the man at the left appears to be a beehive with a sizeable portion of the skirt broken off.

Bill Sutliff, Jr. acquired the photograph from an estate sale in Oil City, PA.