The first item I will be giving away in celebration of the one year anniversary of the Jurupa History blog will be a copy of "Ghost Towns of the Jurupa Mountains." This is a publication of the Jurupa Mountians Cultural Center (AKA the Jurupa Mountains Discovery Center) and can only be purchased at their gift shop. It is a simple publication with three staples holding together the 29 pages. Written by Ruth Kirkby back in 1969, it discusses the history of the Jurupa mountain range from geology through the mining area.
To put yourself in the running for this item just comment on this post. But if you want a little help, here is an idea: What is your earliest memory of wash day when you were a kid? If it relates to a place in Jurupa Valley, that is even better, but is not required for you to comment and enter this contest. I will take comments until Monday January 8th and the winner will be announced on Tuesday, January 9th and a new give away will be posted then.
My earliest laundry memory dates to when I was about 6 or 7 years old. I guess I wasn't paying much attention before then. We moved to a house in Jurupa Hills when I was 6 and the new house had a place for the washer in a closet in the hallway. We didn't have a dryer so my mother hung all the clothes on the clothes line which was located on a little patio area off the dining room and den area of our house. That is probably why I remember this particular time, because my Mom was always visible and close by when she was hanging out the laundry. That and the ironing she had to do afterwards was not her favorite job. I remember how she celebrated when we got a dryer several years later. The iron and ironing board was put away and we rarely saw them again.
Wow, you've really conjured up some old memories. In the 1950's, everyone in our neighborhood in Lakewood (CA) had two heavy metal posts anchored in cement in the backyard, long lines of thin cotton rope--or sometimes wire--strung between them. Every wash meant time spent with a basket outside (unless it was raining), hanging up each item with wooden clothespins, then later taking each item down, shaking out the stiffness and folding it into the basket. When I married in 1972, we couldn't afford a dryer... and this was just before the time of "disposable" diapers. I washed diapers two or three times a week, then headed outside to hang them, one by one, on the line to dry--and bleach--in the sun.
ReplyDeleteMy grandma used to put the clothes in this tub that had rollers to squeeze out the water, then the clothes went up on the line with the wooden pin. Alot of hand scrubbing and elbow grease went into those clothes!
ReplyDelete