America 1940s : indoor heating & ranching in winter

[mrwubbles]

Hi,

I tried going through the 1940s, ~world war ii, world war tags and retags (retags?) in the comm before deciding to bother you all with this. It's basically two questions, both relating to USA in the 1940s

Comments

[rabidsamfan]

I grew up (60's/70's) in a Denver house that was built in the late twenties/early thirties and still had a huge working furnace in the basement, and although it had been converted from coal to natural gas there was still a door where if we'd needed to, we could shovel in coal (not that we ever did.) The furnace fed hot water/steam radiators. The older house we lived in before also had radiators, but I don't remember ever seeing that furnace. Your rancher probably still uses coal, although you may want to check and see where and how long they were mining it in Colorado, because it would be expensive to haul out to a ranch. Then again, so would wood, if you're on the plains. But if you have the right kind of furnace, you can heat a house centrally with a wood burning furnace. (My sister has done it in Pennsylvania

[houseboatonstyx]

Sorry for typos, can't read what's inLJ's comment box

[houseboatonstyx]

PS. The pipes inside the wall may have been different from the narrow flexible mauve pipes that came from the wall to the stove.

At the ranch we used butane gas from a big outdoor tank. Butane would 'freeze up' in really cold weather, so it had to have a little heater always burning under it to keep it warm and flowing. In town gas was piped in by a city system.

At the ranch once the big tank leaked nd the leak caught fire. Lots of fire trucks came to watch but they were scared to go near it. My parents drove a safe distance away and sat in the car waiting for the whole tank to explode and perhaps blow away barn, house, and all, but it didn't it jut finally leaked and burn all the gas away.

My husband, who also grew up in a town with natural gas piped in, says he used to fill balloons from the little nozzle with the wooden handle, very carefully. ;-)

[houseboatonstyx]

PS. I Googled for [ antique gas heaters ].

[whistler_wren]

#2) In winter, the cattle need to be fed (hay, mostly), watered, and monitored for health. This is also a slower time, so repair work and construction gets done now before calving and haying takes up all your time. So less hours, slightly less work, but the weather pays you back for it. My grandfather (born 1930) worked his cousins' ranch in Wyoming all through his teens, so if you have more specific questions, I can direct them to him.

[whistler_wren]

Yes, this exactly. I said it somewhat clumsily, but I never meant to imply that winter was full of free time and laziness. When I spoke of less work, I was talking about (although I never actually said it, so that was rather foolish of me to assume) less work that required hired help. There were less urgent tasks all at once demanding all of your time, so you could focus on the less-immediate, but still very important work that fell by the wayside when you were just trying to keep your head above water. But even then, the weather made everything more difficult, which again was rather clumsily stated in my previous comment; "pays you back" referred not to a reward but a punishment.

In other words, I agree completely, and apologize to the OP if my comment mislead you.

[whistler_wren]

You made excellent points in your post, thank you. The other big chore I'm more familiar with is pruning things like shrubs and trees. All your fruit and nut trees get pruned in the winter, in any clear weather you can grab. Most ranchers would try to have whatever they could grow in local conditions. Anything you can raise yourself (with reasonable efficiency) you can use to trade with other folks. Also, in winter you might be fighting to keep your birds from getting frostbite. I saw, when reading an heirloom chicken catalog, the new-to-me point that some varieties are more subject than others to frostbite on their feet and combs, and any injury makes them less thrifty animals.

[kelliem]

I still remember my grandparent's house in the Panhandle area of Texas which was originally a ranch house and definitely built early enough to qualify for your question. It had one big oil-fueled furnace in the basement which blew hot air up through a huge grate in the living room floor (probably 2 feet x 2 feet). They had to have oil delivered which they stored in a big tank outside. The house also had a small gas (probably propane) heater built into the bathroom wall which looked very much like this one. I seem to remember the bedrooms got really cold if you tried to close the doors for privacy so I suspect that one grate in the living room was the only one in the house.

[anonymous]

Not precisely what you are asking, but may be of some help.

My grandparent's house [single story with a full basement] in the Smokey Mnts was built in 1940. It was originally heated by coal. (The coal chute was still there in the 70's even though they had switched over to some other source.) I remember the living room, breakfast nook, and two bedrooms having vents in the floor about 8" x 4".

I also remember being in my great grand mother's homes built around the early to mid 30's, they had huge floor grates about 3' x 2' located in open area where the air could circulate. I don't recall ever seeing the bedrooms, so I have no idea what, if any, heating there was.

From what I saw, I think the approach to home heating was changing in that era so how your ranch is heated could depend on when it was built as well as the location.

Good luck