I suppose that gas pump was no longer in use? There is no indication of a business enterprise around it.

[It would have been used mostly for agricultural equipment. I've seen similar pumps on farms out west.- Dave]

Ditto lisavc. Another Aussie who loves Americana.

her name was betty lou and I left her outside in a field and the next morning I was devastated to see that all her paint had peeled off her face with the night dew.These photographs bring back so many memories!

Single-strand wires were indeed common in rural areas, but multiplex cabling began to replace them in the 1930s. Similar "three cable" line from LOC archives, photo taken Aug. 20, 1946 by Theodor Horydczak. The gas pump picture is from a roll taken in 1941 or 1942 for the Office of War Information / Farm Security Administration. Here's another photo from the same roll.

This photo took me so, that I put it up as wall paper on my desk top. It is a beautiful photgraph, but it is not that old. Look at the power pole in the back ground on the left. The bottom wire is a telephone line, not used in the 40s [well, actually ... see comment above]. The telephone wires used then were open wires on a cross arm with glass insulators. This appears to be a farmstead. The roads are not built up and are with out ditches. I believe that the real road is behind the brush by the power poles. All in all, I like the picture and it looks nice on my computer.

...of this photo is what draws me in. I mean, there is the contrast of the orange Gulf gas pump against the greens and blues. But, can't you just feel that gentle breeze that's brushin' against the wash on the line moving through your hair and whispering past your ears. A few birds sounding off sporadically in the surrounding brush line. Maybe the limb above the pump scratches lightly against the crown of the Gulf logo. Sigh. Guys, these pictures are...damn...

ordinarily, but fascinating to me, an australian, showing all these ordinary aspects of american life.