Hoboes and Cold Weather! [1930s Travel Tips! ]

hello welcome to Waypoint survival today we're going to talk about hobos and cold weather stay tuned I've been asked to make this video by one of my viewers inquiring about how the hobo managed to survive cold weather again they were many times expert outdoorsmen many of them had done time in the military of course this started right after the Civil War War and the period that we're looking at is somewhere in the 1930s so there would be quite a few veterans from World War I as well who had been hitting the rails and looking for work and traveling across America to find that work before I show you the clothing that I'm wearing which would be typical of what you might find a hobo wearing during the 1930s era I'd like to read an excerpt from a book written by Wendy bill called an American hobo in Europe and it was copyrighted in 1907 the excerpt from our book reads thusly during the early hours of the morning A Long Train full of empty cars came our way and we made it easily it was mighty chilly at that time of day but as we had our heavy overcoats our bodies did not suffer much our feet however did fellow who beat their way though must put up with such little inconveniences without kicking it belongs to the business they must bear hunger cold thirst dust dirt and other Trifles of that kind and get used to it during our wanderings we slipped on the ground in Old Shacks barns Sidetrack cars or any old place and got along fairly well we didn't have wash basins to wash in but we carried soap brushes and hand glasses with us and could make our toilet at any place where there was running water water was plentiful in the Sierra mountains we pulled out of Dutch Flat when the train got ready and flew down the Mountainside at great speed we could go as Lively as the train could in our car however and the speed was exhilarating but the morning Breeze was mighty keen and cutting I find this an absolutely fascinating look at someone who was living that life and of course this book was published in the very early part of the 20th century as I mentioned before around 1907 one of the items that a hobo might carry if you weren't carrying a knapsack or some other sort of bag or bindle would be a suitcase of the proper time and vintage of course it would be something that would be scarred and beat up and something that had been Cast Away more than likely and of course it would show rough use from being on the road he might also carry some sort of cane or stick and again it would depend on his status of what he was doing in life where he came from and interestingly enough there were people who were quite wealthy who would hobo for a while and then go back to their normal life I got a comment from one of my viewers to the same that he had a relative who had lots and lots of money didn't know how much he had it was in multiple Banks and he would go off for a couple of months a year and be a hobo and then come back to his businesses I guess they just enjoyed the freedom there were many types of hats that you might see a hobo wearing when he was on the robe but of course the classic Derby was always a favorite and of course it was popular and in style during that era a hobo would also make sure he had some sort of gloves of course military surplus and anything like that knit gloves warm wool would be very very beneficial climbing out of cold box cars and making Camp many of the men of that era of course wore different types of neckerchiefs and neck ties and a wool scarf tied around the neck was great to keep the neck warm and of course if you've ever been out in cold weather you'll know what a difference this makes just keeping your whole body warm and keeping that heat inside having a nice wool scarf the scarf could also be put around the head and tied up to keep the ears warm depending on where you were what you were doing what kind of storm you were in and for just general Comfort or sleep at night there's a lot of ways of course that you can use a wool scarf and many of you are aware of that as we read in that excerpt from Wendy Bill back in 1906 a wool Overcoat was very very important and you would have something of course that would take care of you something that was nice and long and it would do you great service when you were trying to sleep along with a wool blanket you could be pretty comfortable underneath the wool Overcoat would of course be some sort of nice wool vest and of course it would be as nice as they could get a hold of but remember that even during those days there were plenty of generous people who'd be willing to help out and remember that many hobos left home many of them had families had children they had just merely fallen on hard times especially during the Depression and so it wasn't that they didn't have clothes or they didn't have a place to go back to but literally they would wear what they had that was the most durable and there are repeated stories of people who who dressed really warmly and were ready for just about anything and remember there were a lot of Sportsman and a lot of hunters there were a lot of people in that era they knew how to dress for cold weather so a nice vest of course would be important if you had any money and you weren't worried about it being taken from you you might also carry a pocket watch but of course often those things got hawked because of necessity under that you would have a nice button-up shirt and button-up collars were quite a big thing back at in those days I believe Fred a stair is the one that made it popular and of course suspenders were always a part of a man's attire in the pictures that I have seen they didn't always even wear a belt but you could always find suspenders the suspenders or braces would of course be attached to a pair of wool pants if they could afford it very warm helps cut the air out and of course wool will keep you warm holds in about 80% of your body heat even when it's soaking wet so it was a perfect choice for people back in that era who are riding the rails for Footwear have your standard work boots and some nice heavy wool socks that you could wear to help keep your feet warm of course these were not very adequate and as we read in the story their feet did get cold you would also coach your Footwear with some sort of a wax treatment similar to this which you can get from Carl Dyers and of course underneath the button-up shirt you would have some sort of a t-shirt or undershirt and of course these were very popular back in the day and it would help keep sweat and grime off of your main shirt so that you could stay presentable when you went into town and of course be easy then you could have a couple different layers that you could swap off and on in order for you to go into town find work and look presentable this is James Bender for Waypoint survival if you like this video please give it a thumbs up also make sure and check out the link in the description box below just under the more button while you're down there you'll also find our waypoints survival.com link and this is where you can sign up to take survival and Bushcraft classes here at our beautiful training facility in Southern Ohio and if you haven't already done so please subscribe to the channel we'd really appreciate it and when you do subscribe make sure and press that Bell button so that you can stay notified of all of our upcoming videos and we'll talk to you next time [Music]

Channel: WayPoint Survival

Views: 228,792

Keywords: 1930sHoboLifestyle, TravelSurvivalTips, HistoricalTravelGuides, ColdWeatherSurvival, HoboCultureHistory, ResilientTravelTactics

Id: otUwqZX2yTk

Length: 8min 12sec (492 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 16 2024