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July 1941. "Filling station. Orofino, Idaho." At "Your Mileage Merchant," a choice of Conoco DEMAND or BRONZ-Z-Z. Photo by Russell Lee, Farm Security Administration. View full size.
Sanborn (Maps) says - or really, suggests - 'TimeAndAgainPhoto' needs to go two blocks west, to the NE corner of College and Johnson, as a structure fitting this photo occupied that corner from 1928 to 1944 (at least). College/B was, and is, a schoolyard.
Looming tall at the center of this pump trio, the visible jar, gravity gasoline bowser was always ready to come to the rescue when electrical services failed or were disconnected. Back and forth pumping actions with the large lever at the pump side elevated the fuel from the underground tank into the graduated bowl at the top. Pressing the dispensing handle lever allowed the fuel to flow.
Photo is of the late 40's CO-OP agency in my pre-electrification, tiny rural Canadian community. I acquired the pump and its original milk-glass globe and CO-OP lens many, many years ago, it continues to be the pride and joy of my modest "petroliana" collection.
Using the bare spot on the hill in the background, it appears that the filling station was on the northeast corner of College Avenue and B Street.
I had forgotten until studying the full-size version of this photo how much I enjoyed as a kid watching those little balls dance around in the gasoline in that little bulb at the top of the pumps.
Wow...I just found this for model railroaders! Pretty neat.
I notice that the Bronzzz fuel pump is marked "Contains Lead," while the Demand pump has no such label. Was any of the gasoline sold in the 40's made without lead?
Came up empty trying to find out exactly what the Demand brand was, but did see that one of the marketing lines for the other one was, "Gentlemen Prefer Bronze."
Newspaper ads in 1940 and 1941 reflect that the price per gallon of CONOCO BRONZZ was between 1.5 cents to 4.5 cents higher than CONOCO DEMAND.
Oh neat! An early canopy over the pumps. Here in the Midwest they generally didn't show up until much later.
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