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June 1941. "Trucks at Union Stockyards. Chicago, Illinois." Medium format acetate negative by John Vachon for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
I knew someone with a real Chicago accent, who grew up on the South Side. She mentioned one day her dad had been a cowboy.
"When he was a kid? Did he grow up out west?"
"No, in the stockyards. He rode a horse and herded cattle."
I'm taken by the brickwork used as pavement. Chicago's fickle yet predictable weather could turn a dirt driveway into an unnavigable mud pit in a big hurry. The cost of brick pavers was likely recouped in a few months.
It's a 3½-hour drive from Columbus Junction Iowa to the Chicago Stockyards. Who knows how many times Floyd E. Dean made the trip. Here's his obituary:
COLUMBUS JUNCTION, IA. - Services for Floyd Dean, 82, (1901-1983), of Columbus Junction, who died Friday at a Washington hospital, will be at 2:30 p.m. Sunday at the Stacy-Lewis Funeral Home here. Mr. Dean served as a justice of the peace in Columbus Junction for several years and operated the F.E.D. Trucking Service. Survivors include a son, Floyd Jr. of Morning Sun; a daughter, Mona Oberhaus of Davenport; five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.
I always giggle a little when I see a 1937-1940 International hauling anything other than tripping proto-hippies.
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