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September 1940. "Mountaineer trying to change tire with a fence post as a jack. Up south fork of the Kentucky River, Breathitt County." 35mm nitrate negative by Marion Post Wolcott for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
The young Miss in the photo is Marion Post Wolcott. Here's her description of the situation as quoted in "Marion Post Wolcott - A Photographic Journey" by F. Jack Hurley.
"We borrowed an old car the first day -- had to be pulled out of a creek by a mule, then later hauled out of the sand, and finally had a flat miles from everything and no jack! Tore down a fence post and while our driver (a young kid who is the son of the school janitor) tried to prop the car up, I was down on my belly on the creek bed piling rocks under it. But we finally got it fixed. We had to do some walking too, so that when we got back late I was one tired girl."
No wonder they have a flat, yikes, that road is as bad as some of the backroads we still have in these here parts. My dad used to say that in those days, flats and tire changing were usually part of the trip. We still have his Model T jack, and needless to say it still works perfectly.
I sure feel sorry for that young Miss with the rocky perch. The car is a 1929 or so Chevrolet.
What is that poor girl doing? It looks uncomfortable for her as she's almost lying on those rocks (or is that the road!)
That "jack" doesn't look all that safe either!
Took me a while to come up with a reason that she's on that side of the tire, and it's just a guess: clearing out the rocks that were used to hold up the axle while they changed tires.
Great teamwork there. Wonder if the photographer's rig had a jack?
Thanks for the photo.
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