We were looking through old photos last night, and I noticed that this one, of Uncle Rollin and Aunt Adelia, was taken 70 years ago in September of 1937. Looks like they were having fun; presumably the photographer jumped out of the way and wasn’t run over!
The tower in the background is interesting. It appears much too tall for a standard wind mill and I’m pretty sure the large electrical towers that dot the landscape came much later. Please leave a comment if you have any ideas.
Could they have been drilling for oil?
There’s no indication the family ever drilled for oil. Others have suggested that perhaps it was a temporary structure used to drill for water, and then replaced with a more typical windmill once the water was flowing.
It’s a water tank! (see the pipe?) Back then a lot of farm families still did not have electric water pumps that could do the job that good old-fashioned gravity could.