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Eagle Lake Remembers
With Colorado County and Texas at their peaks in summer heat it must be July! We scramble to protect our pets, our children, our yards, our water, our farms and our homes. We study the latest technology for keeping cool. While our temperatures have risen, we pause to think about what we did in earlier days in rural Texas where there were few recourses and no electricity.
Jumping in the creek was a way to cool off, but what about our food? With no refrigeration it was impossible to keep our milk, cream, butter, eggs, meat and cheese available for our families until Rural Electrification came to Texas. Instead, the old well bucket was filled with necessary items and lowered into the depths of the cool well for safe-keeping from the heat. It had to be pulled up for each use, and emptied when water was needed.
The time was right for the famous Texas Coolerator. It was nothing fancy, not even its name. It wasn’t perfect as a refrigerator, as it didn’t freeze items or even keep them cold. It was a coolerator which kept things cool; well, most of the time.
In our rural areas amenities at home were hard to come by. A creative idea often became an invention. Such was the Coolerator. The Coolerator worked best when there was a breeze to let air flow freely through it. Normally placed on the porch in the shade aided by air flow, the invention was genius, at least until electricity finally connected the rural countryside.
The Coolerator was much like the old pie safe or cabinet which had punched holes in the sides for ventilation. It was on four narrow wooden legs. It was basically a frame with four small shelves inside. It had a wooden top and bottom. A fine metal mesh screen enclosed the sides. Out on the porch when the air blew it came right through the old Coolerator on all sides. But what made it cool enough? Why water did, of course.
With no running water in those times, the technology was to get two long woolen blankets from the winter closet and sew them together. The wool was draped across the top of the frame and down the sides to the bottom of the legs. A metal pan was put under the top of the blanket and was filled with water to saturate the wool. A rock was placed on top to keep the pan and water in place.
Soon, the wool was completely saturated with the water, providing a cool environment for the country breezes to carry as they blew through the sides of the Coolerator. The items such as milk, eggs, and butter then were preserved for the next family meals.
When we think of the inconveniences of rising summer heat in Colorado County today, and the admonition to pay attention to our environment, let’s remember the inventions wrought by our ancestors as they partnered with nature to make our early pioneering work. While it wasn’t cold, the Coolerator was cool, a life-saver in the countryside and a forerunner of the ice box and refrigerator.
If the Texas Grid goes out this summer, let’s get out the Coolerators.
