And the spring's water had been identified as a potentially valuable resource for certain agricultural processing operations, subject to permits and environmental requirements.
The family attorney looked down at the old survey.
The significance became clear.
If the reserve had never been lawfully conveyed, the buyer might not possess the access and property rights it expected.
Even if the rest of the factory transaction eventually survived legal scrutiny, the spring parcel could remain a serious obstacle.
The acquisitions director exhaled.
"We may need to delay closing."
Her attorney looked toward her.
"Let's not decide that here."
She nodded.
But the uncertainty remained.
The company was preparing to invest millions.
It could not ignore credible questions about the land it intended to purchase.
At the end of the meeting, the buyer's lawyer suggested a temporary standstill while the parties exchanged limited information and investigated the title.
The family's attorney agreed to discuss reasonable procedures with her clients.
No one promised an immediate settlement.
No one admitted liability.
But the redevelopment deal that had seemed inevitable the previous week was suddenly uncertain.
And that news reached the auctioneer before sunset.
The auctioneer was furious.
He sat behind the desk in his office, staring at a telephone that had barely stopped ringing all afternoon.
The auction company had received questions from the redevelopment buyer.
From the factory's current owner.
From several creditors.
And from reporters seeking comment about the boy and the cream can.
He told everyone the same thing.
The documents were old.
The family had been making accusations for decades.
The discovery changed nothing.
But when he was alone, he opened the bottom drawer of his desk.
Inside lay an old photograph.
Black and white.
Faded.
The picture showed four men standing outside the dairy factory in the early 1950s.
One was the auctioneer's father.
A young man in a dark suit.
Another was a county official.
The third represented the finance company.
The fourth stood beside an automobile, his face partly obscured.
On the back of the photograph, someone had written:
Transfer completed.
The auctioneer stared.
For most of his life, he had believed that his father built the family's business through intelligence and determination.
The older man began in agricultural finance.
Then moved into land brokerage.