“Shedding New Light on Kerosene Lanterns” – Mildred Fossen

4
“Do You Remember When?”
“Do You Remember When?”
A series of articles
capturing memories
and photos of the
beginning of your
electric cooperative.
This article was written
in January 2010.
By: Meagan Moellers
In the home...
Shedding New Light on
Kerosene Lanterns
Mildred Fossen was just a little girl when
her parents Louis and Bessie Martinek
became REA members on August 3, 1939,
but she remembers how electricity directly
affected their lives. Especially when her
family didn’t have to rely solely on kerosene
lanterns anymore.
It took a lot more than the flip of a switch to
illuminate the darkness in those days. It took
hours of making sure the glass globes were
cleaned to perfection. If they were black, a
newspaper crumpled up would help at first,
but then soap and water had to be used to
wash the globe. Then they were dried very
carefully with a rag. Two
or three lanterns had to be
filled with kerosene morning and night. A kerosene
barrel which held about 30
gallons was always filled and
bought from the gas truck.
Lanterns were used mostly at
milking time, both morning
and night. They were always
Typical household dining room before
and after electricity.
Substation and Jim Malek
December 21, 1939.
handled with
care, mostly
to hang in
the barn on
hooks where
needed for the
daily milking and other farm chores.
Getting electricity put an end to the daily
dreaded upkeep of the kerosene lanterns,
but now everyone had to remember to
always shut the lights off after leaving a
room. This was something that was very
important to many families on tight budgets. It was instilled to children and adults
alike, something that Mildred still does to
this day after so many years of doing so.
“...everyone had to
remember to always
shut the lights
off after leaving
a room. This was
something that was
very important to
many families on
tight budgets.”
5
The housewife
and children were
responsible to
keep at least three
kerosene lanterns
filled daily.
On the farm...
The Martinek family raised hogs,
cattle, and poultry; laying hens, ducks,
geese and for a few years even turkeys.
The new luxury of having lighting in
the barns and buildings on the farm
eased daily chores tremendously. Another positive outcome from finally
getting electricity on the farm was
having running water to feed the livestock and keep the buildings clean. So
many of the burdens of farm life were
improved drastically, saving both time
and money.
Mildred also remembers the nationwide black-out that was required after
the Pearl Harbor attack on December,
7, 1941. Everyone was instructed and
warned by radio broadcasts not to turn
any lights on at all, not even car lights
if you had to drive. The United States
could have been spotted very easily.
“My first expensive electrical item
was the sewing machine which had the
open foot base,” Mildred remembers.
“I thought it would work for patching the overall knees and other hard
things to sew. In the early 1960s, I
got the Bethany Housewares lefse
grill that was made in Minneapolis at
the time. It is very different looking
than the ones made today. This was
a special gift from my husband to
be. Naturally, we had to have lefse
to eat at least for Thanksgiving and
Christmas Holidays. We had wonderful Norwegian neighbors too
so we learned how to make it – in
those days it was baked on top of the
wood range. There were no electric
griddles then.”
Mildred lives near Lawler and has
been a Hawkeye REA member
nearly her whole life at all the different farmsteads she has lived.
Her youngest sibling and family
lived at the Martinek homefarm
southeast of Cresco in New Oregon
Township. His two sons and others
now operate and manage the farm.
Heat lighting in poultry barns
helped production and ease of
collecting eggs.
(Photos from the REA)