Mansfield

On my way back from Spokane this afternoon, I spotted this town from the sky:



It's Mansfield, Washington. Out in the middle of the open plains, they built their city at an angle, shoved into the corner of a square-mile section.

Why?

The railroad, of course, which forms the hypotenuse of town and then apparently turns due east, although I couldn't spot it alongside the highway.

Mansfield also looks incredibly cramped, given the broad expanse of farmland surrounding it.



Right smack dab in the middle of Douglas County, it is.