10 Essential Items Every 1930s Hobo Carried: A Survival Guide

Discover the essential items every hobo carried during the 1930s in our latest video, "10 Things a Hobo Always Carried." Learn about the indispensable tools and treasures that were not only crucial for survival but also lightweight and practical for modern backpackers. From homemade gadgets to repurposed finds, these items reveal the resourcefulness and ingenuity of a bygone era.

[WayPointSurvival]

Thanks so much for watching! Please leave me a thumbs up and a comment in the section below. Make sure and check out our website at www.waypointsurvival.com where you can sign up for classes and check out the required gear list!

[andrewflowers]

My Canadian Grandparents were a surgeon-nurse couple that ran a practice out of their home, 100 miles from any other town.
They kept an unlocked screened porch with a cot in it. There was always a wash basin, wax paper wrapped sandwiches, pickles and a milk bottle in there. Some days the food would just be gone. Some days men would offer to do jobs as repayment.
It was the depression, and it was just understood that people needed to keep their pride. And everyone was expected to chip in as they could. Compassion and trust was as common as suspicion and fear is today.

[ukestudio]

My mother often fed the hobos traveling through..mainly beans and tortillas but they were grateful for it. My dad acted angry but was secretly proud of my mom’s generosity. I miss them both.❤ Thank you for your videos !

[simplesimon]

Great video. My grandfather was born in 1910. Based on your definition of a hobo I just now realized that grandpa was a hobo for a time. He had been on his own since he was 9 years old and he told me some of the stories of what he went through. Grandpa told me that a man should always carry with him a few of the things on your list although he never tied it into the hobo lifestyle. I recall a time when I was a kid when we camped at a ranch in west Texas. While my cousins and I we were all getting our fishing gear together he wandered down to the river on his own. Before we could get there he had landed a large bass. Apparently he already had the hook, cork, and line and just used a stick he found along the way. Thanks for reminding me of so many great memories. He passed away in his 90's but I think about him just about every day.

[bangochupchup]

Forty years ago I was a Marine Corps infantryman. I could not help but draw parallels to this video and my military service. Sewing kit, canteen cup. Life achieves a certain simplicity when you're sleeping on the ground.

[GR-ktle]

2:15 knife
2:30 fishing kit
2:50 match case
3:30 bandana
4:00 roadstake? money
6:30 coffee
7:00 spoon
7:40 cup
8:10 chalk/crayon
9:00 sewing kit

[ericturner]

My grandpa was a 1930s hobo. Born in 1921, he left home as a young teen to find work. His parents couldn't feed him, and the only shelter the family had was an old chicken coop. So he hopped trains from Kansas out to the West coast, and worked in fields and orchards harvesting produce. He hated when people conflated hobos with bums! I wish I had asked him more about what it was like for him before he died.

[hehaheadshot]

My great grandfather was a chemist through the depression, and my grandfather recounted many times he would tip folks a "life changing amount" during the depression if they were working hard with kids to feed and an "awfully generous amount" to those without kids. My great grandmother made sandwiches, pies, and tea for hobos that would stay near them and they would employ folks temporarily from time to time to help out with the day-to-day. They didn't thrive in that time, though to most it seemed like thriving, though they gained a lot of good will and felt it was one of the best times for them as they could help others the most. Great grandfather lived to 88, his wife to 99, and my grandfather made it to 92. Thank you and to all who share these stories and history. Even during tough times, it gives me hope that I'll get to meet someone like my ancestors along the way.

[craigeckhoff]

50 of 74 years a hobo. Really did your research on this. Great job. Some hobos I knew always went 'streamlined" They really knew the rails and what was waiting in almost any town. So minimum carry. Often wore two sets of clothes. Removed the outer layer when they hopped off. You get dirty riding freight trains and you would be fairly clean heading into a town. Plus you had more pockets to hold stuff. Always a pocket knife. Matches were usually in a 35 mm film canister along with part of a match box striker. A sewing kit, couple of needles, a small spool of thread and a thimble also in a 35 mm canister. I was advise the best way to carry money ( bills ) was in a Bull Durham tobacco bag in your skivies. A Prince Albert tobacco tin was a good place to put items also. Like instant coffee, or money, or whatever. A little fishing line with a bottle cork and a fish hook. Spoon always. A bandana with a hotel size soap bar. It was mostly up to the hobo's personal taste. I would get extra condiments packets from fast food joints when I had the money for a dollar meal.

[hanwellfoxfoxy]

Here in the UK our grandfather was a 'jobbing' bricklayer who traveled around in the post WW1 era after being discharged from the Army. Not only did he 'bunk' onto freight trains he also hitch hiked, got lifts from lorries (trucks), cars, on canal boats, motorbikes and steam engines. He eventually ended up stowing away on a cross channel ferry to France, where he served for 3 years during 'The war to end all wars' ending up helping to build war memorials to his comrades in arms, turns out the best employer was the C.W.G.C. (Commonwealth war grave commission) and he came back a reasonably wealthy man.
Any way long story short, aside from his sturdy whacking walking stick, water bottle, waxed cotton/canvas poncho, army back pack with his basic brick laying tools, pocket knife, tobacco & matches/lighter, eating utensils, tin cup sugar and tea his most important items were.
A money belt, decoy purse with a few pennies in it and the most important of all a moral boosting hip flask with a shot or two of whiskey or brandy;-)
PS. There were many rumors and tales in the family about his 'adventures' and to this day we are convinced there is a branch of our clan that no one can trace in Northern France and Belgium. Makes you think how far afield these US hobos spread their seed!!!

[loubisignani]

My mother's brother Frankie, was a HoBo after he was throne out of his parents house at the age of 14, because he had joined "The bottle gang". He was one of five brothers and
two baby sisters (My Mom being one of the sisters). He got Tuberculosis when he was about 20 years old. He traveled the country riding the rails and occasionally stopping in at
TB hospitals in various parts of the country. He was very handsome, as were his brothers
and could coax TB nurses to smuggle whiskey to him when he was in a hospital; He
visited my mom several times when I was in grade school. He always waited til my dad wasn't home before he visited..My Mom would give him a meal and some money. Once,
he visited on Christmas Eve, while my Dad was out. He wore a hat with the brim turned down front and back. He wore a suit with but no shirt. He had newspaper under the coat
to keep the cold out and no sox! My Mom let him bathe and gave him a shirt and sox and a
topcoat that my Dad seldom wore and twenty dollars. A few days later, my Mom got a
telegram from New York City. He wrote that he had sold his new clothes for whiskey.
He lived to be 70 years old. We all have our own separate paths in life. Just say'n.

[BenjaminSpencer-mk]

Was homeless from 2007 and been off hlthe streets for over 6 years now. Those times on the streets were Educational. Learned how to survive when you have absolutely nothing. If your in a urban environment or somewhere with industrially box is a life saver in extreme cold. Been in a situation as to were it was below freezing in wichita ks, I could died but I had a old timer teach me a trick. Dig in the trash and find a box big enough to fit in and look for plastic bags, put the box inside the bag and crawl on in. Don't put the bag inside with the box as when you breath it will condense on the bag and drip on ya.

[terryhill]

My dad was a hobo in the 30's . He carried a small pistol. Told me it saved his life in a boxcar one night.He went on to be a M/SGT in the Army Airforce WW2

[dennissilverstein]

Love the fact that you pulled out silver coins :)
I once pointed to a Hobo and said to my friend "look at that bum" and my friend replied "no that's a Hobo", " you and I are bums"

[muchasgracias]

Love the way how James not only shows us these items, but sets the scene of a hobo's life by adding lots of relevant context. Thanks buddy!

[chuckbowen]

Very interesting video. My grandpa was a Red River Valley farmer in SE North Dakota. He did custom threshing. He hired a lot of hobos on his threshing crew. Several came back every year in the 20s and 30s. They stayed in a bunk house and ate in the cook car. My mom said at night they would have a campfire. She heard a lot of stories and songs. She would sing the songs to us when we were traveling to keep us from fighting in the back seat. Cowboy Jack, Hobo Bill, Waiting for a train among others. My dad and grandpa were both Railroad men. Dad was a signal maintainer on the Great Northern and Grandpa was a brakeman and oiler.

[patrickscutella]

My wife’s Grandparents owned a home on a dead end street where the railroad tracks went through Erie, Pennsylvania. There was a X on the outside blocks of their basement to tell the men riding the rails that a meal could be found there. Last time i was at this house you could still see it, that was 25 years ago.

[j.leonardo]

Studying hobo culture is excellent for survival tips. This is a great idea. Reading books like Cannery row and other stories from writers at the time, the hobos are always very well equipped and crafty

[yakfishin]

Another great video. Nobody else covers the hobo that ive seen to you and them we are grateful.

[EdwinWilmsen-sphx]

I hoboed in the 1970's; my niece hoboed in the early oughts. Yes people still ride the rails. Your description of the kit is correct. Nowadays, however, it tends to be more streamlined due to the widespread availability of social services. That said, some things will always remain: sleeping roll, pocket knife, bandana, sewing kit, matches, or, more likely, butane lighter (l usually also carried flint & steel), and always a jug of water (empty bleach bottles were prized). The art of making hobo signs has lamentably fallen into disuse.