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United States boys clothes: 1913 West Texas farm family
American Families: 1913 West Texas Farm Family
Figure 1.--This is a fascinating image because we get to see not only the family, bujt their farm. Something genretally lacking in 19th century photigrapohy wghich was basically limited to the studio. This photograph shows a farm familg in West Texas ajacent to Oklahoma--a large partof the Southern Plains. There are interesting little details about the family. The children nhave a waggon. Notice there are no rubbel wheels. Also notice the big iron kettle. We believe that was what mother used for wash day--heating the hot weather needed for laundry. And we can see that the house is raised off the ground. A factor here was tattle snakes. Notice the Appaloosa pony, a breed associated with the Nez Perce people. The southern Plains is where the Oakies came from.
This is a fascinating image because we get to see not only the family, bujt their farm. Something genretally lacking in 19th century photigrapohy wghich was basically limited to the studio. This photograph shows a farm familg in West Texas ajacent to Oklahoma--a large part of the Southern Plains. There are interesting little details about the family. The children have a waggon, presumably red. There are no rubber wheels, but notice the prominent placement in the photograph--meaning it was particularly prized by the children. There is a large water barrel. Also notice the big iron kettle. We believe that was what mother used for wash day--heating the hot weather needed for laundry. And we can see that the house is raised off the ground. A factor here was tattle snakes. Notice the Appaloosa pony, a breed associated with the Nez Perce people. The southern Plains is where the Oakies came from. The children here wear plain dresses and knickers play suits and are all barefoot. Notice that overalls are not yet in evidence. There seem to be two grandmothers present. Notice the home is a recently built plank house. The first homes were sod houses. Only later did board homes like this appear. The lumber for this house had to be shipped in froim the Pacific Northwest by rail. It may look very basic to us today, but comapored to a sid hime, it was luxurious. East Texas is relatively well-wattered. West Texas is more arid. The Southern Plains was a plains grassland which in west Texas was set on a plateau. During a period of unusually good rains, it helped produce the agricultural bounty that fed Europe during and after World War I with the exception of a realatively short drpught (1916-17). A decade later was part of the Dust Bowl whuch brought havoc and dispair to the people of the Southern Plains. The Southern Plains were not settled for some time becuse of the the growth of large cattle ranches after the Civil War. (This was possivle only when the railroads began to lay Western lines making it possible to get cattle to Eastern markets. Earlier cattle innniortherrn Mexico and Texas were raised for hides meaning leather and the meat left to rot.) Farmers in East Texas began to settle the areas (1880s). [Hayter] n This was only slightly before Oklahoma Territory. With ample rainfall, the Southern Plains with virgin, deepp topsoil were exrremely poroductive. The farmers busted the sod top soil and planted grains. That worked well as long as the rains came. The settlement of the Southern Plains significantly added to American agricultural production.
