In search of an upstairs 2-holer
"I had went to Burke Idaho in search of a two-story outhouse, led more often by rumors that frequently turned out to be wild imagination run amuck. It was late in the afternoon and the only place open was the local saloon, yet this time, while at the local bar, after being quickly educated by the locals in "local ways and local terminology" they pointed me in the right direction."
"Here in this tiny community I was pleasantly surprised, for many outhouses emptied directly into the creek from both sides for a mile upstream. There were overhangers, trestle jobs, creek straddlers, and on a smaller side creek there was even an impressively unusual bridge plus outhouse combination."
"That unique bridge/outhouse straddler combination piqued my interest, so I opted to return later in the early evening hours when the lighting was better to attain decent photographs of it."
"The outhouse proved quite uniquely designed, for the bridge was built of wood, a single span of about twenty feet, wide enough for one car and two outhouses, that joined in the center to become one long structure accessed by two doors to the privy throne. There was a private residential homestead on each side of the creek (immediately next to the bridge/outhouse combination) so I presumed that both neighbors had access to their portion of the outhouse."
"The resident of one of the homes watched me from his window. He saw me snap photos, then write in my notebook. Soon he came to the conclusion that I was a government man gathering evidence, probably a member of the hated Environmental Protection Agency."
" "He rushed out of the front door of his house, ran to the bridge and hollered, "We don't use it anymore. Ya hear? We ain't used it for mor'n a year!" "
Quote from "The Two-Story Outhouse" by Norm Weis
