Hobo Jungles

What is a Hobo?
These two people are hobos...

Also known as tramp, and bum. It was to refer to those who rode the railroads/ boxcars and also the migratory workers of America. This word has no known origin. They even had their own newspaper called Hobo News- an early 20th-century paper published by and for hoboes. Here is a picture of the newspaper...

Another man, Jack London, published "The Road", which was a collection of essays about his 6-month experience as a young hobo riding in freight cars.

What caused the rise of hoboes?
The Great Depression... However, the expansion of the railroad allowed development of western agribusiness. Large farms would demand more and more workers. Boxcars would become crowded as more unemployed men hopped on trains to wherever it was rumored to have work.  More than two million men and maybe 8000 women became hoboes.

Where does the "jungle" come in?
The hobos needed a place to live and receive resources in order to survive and shelter for when they weren't in search of work on farms, mines, railroads. Hoboes created a form of communication-based on signs and symbols. They drew symbols in chalk, charcoal, and paint to mark where you could get food for work, receive a safe place to sleep, or where to hop trains. They were drawn on fence posts, sidewalks, walls, and under bridges that kept other hoboes informed on what was ahead. This eventually resulted in new communities called "jungles" that were built on a lifestyle of mobility and located near railroad stopping points. In the "jungles", men cooked, ate, slept, and tried to bathe. It was a safer place to heal wounds and bruises from accidents occurring when getting off/on cars.

What did the police and community think of this?
Life what happens a lot today, some police officers will be asked to kick homeless people off the streets because if they remained there it wouldn't "look good for the city". Railroad police were employed by railroads to protect their interests but not the hoboes. Train crews were known for locking hoboes in freight cars until they could be handed over to railroad police or throw the hoboes off the train if they were unable to pay their fee. At least 6,500 hoboes were killed in one year either from accidents or by railroad police. The hoboes were seen as a threat to the community. They would end up spending a night in jail and sentenced to hard labor in the streets. They would also get chased out of town by vigilante crowds carrying guns and bats.

Finally, what was daily life like for the hoboes?
Riding the rails was dangerous, there were police hired to keep hoboes off trains, so they couldn't just go to a railroad yard and climb it. Many hoboes would hide in along the tracks outside the yard and run along the train as it gained speed, grab hold and jump into the boxcars. Sometimes they would miss and lose their limbs. Once they reached their destination, they would jump off. The Depression was so bad that it was hard to get food to eat. They would have to beg for food, but the "jungles" would sometimes have enough food to share. The conditions were rough, but some enjoyed the experience because it would be better than their life back home. For example, Walter Ballard says, "I loved it. It'll get in your blood. You're going anywhere, you don't can just ride. It's paid for. You're going to eat, that was more than you were doing at home, probably."

If you would like to read accounts by different hoboes...


Here are some more pictures...