by Wilbur Bush, local historian
In the 1940s, the Great Depression was winding down, but another foe had reared up, namely World War II. This war caused a strong demand for tanks, airplanes, bombs, and other war equipment. To meet this demand, metal and other materials such as waste paper, old rags, and rubber were needed.
Many small steel factories had slowed down or had to shut down because of the scrap shortage. Some car dealerships had closed because they couldn’t buy new cars for retail. The goal was to get the metal off the farm and made in to war materials.
Scrap iron was an essential ingredient in steel production. The government began to entreat citizens for their scrap iron. There was enough scrap iron and steel in fields, gullies, barns, tool sheds, etc., in Daviess County to make several tanks, planes, hundreds of guns, bayonets and hand grenades. Every 77-ton tank required 36,000 pounds of scrap iron.
There were many "automobile graveyards" so labeled when a site contained five or more old automobiles that could be used for scrap. There were two located in Gallatin, the Hacker Scrap Metal Company, and Whitfield Brothers. These cars played an important part to maintain the greatest production of planes, ships, guns and bombs. Many small smelters and blast furnaces relied on this extra scrap and if it wasn’t available, many would have to shut down.
Gallatin’s citizens decided to do their part and set a goal to collect 900 tons of scrap between Aug. 25 and Sept. 19. Even the schoolchildren did their part. The school district salvage leaders made house to house canvases to find out the amount of scrap available, when it had to be collected, and when it would be ready to sell.
All the scarp was important: One old shovel would make four hand grenades; one old disc would provide scrap steel for 210 semi-automatic light carbines; one old broken plow would help make 100 75mm armor piercing projectiles; one useless old tire would provide enough rubber for 12 gas masks; old lawn mowers, flat irons, broken tools would all count; 125 pounds of rusty metal, mixed with other materials, was enough to make a 500 pound aerial bomb; an old hand corn sheller would make three one inch shells.
In addition to the scrap iron, there was enough rubber lying around to make dozens of gas masks, seaplanes, emergency boats, aircraft tires, etc.
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