The Necessity Of Water In Rural America

Water is a basic need to drink, be an ingredient in a recipe, and to clean dishes, clothes, and bodies. In a kitchen, there was typically a wood stove that had to be watched constantly to prevent fires and it had to have cut wood to burn. The men would usually cut wood for the stove and empty the ashbox throughout the day to prevent any buildup or fires. Keeping food, like meats, cold, was another chore. Generally, the meat or butter would be put into a bucket then lowered into a well right above the water. The meat would also typically have a lot of salt on it to preserve it. When it was time for a bath in the winter, the water would be brought into the house and boiled whereas in the summer, taking a bath in a creek was easier and more common. When they would wash clothes they had to put them into a tub then stir them with a wooden board which could be a …show more content…
Families would typically only wash clothes or bathe at least once a week because there was so much that went into doing it. Every duty could have been a burden because there was so much effort that had to be put into it.
Electric cooperatives, like Se-Ma-No, provide electricity to many people across the country. In the late 1930s, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, enacted the Rural Electrification Administration to give citizens in rural areas the opportunities that electricity and power provide. This was at the time of the New Deal when the government believed enacting many groups and jobs would help improve the life of many Americans, including farmers. The REA represented hundreds of those smaller cooperatives that gave power to the people in an attempt to help Americans out of the Depression. The REA