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Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California Jack Delano's Redlands, CA Packing House Photographs Copyright 2010 by James E. Lancaster Photography by Jack Delano Jack Delano (August 1, 1914 – August 12, 1997) was an American photographer for the Farm Security Administration (FSA) and a composer noted for his use of Puerto Rican folk material. In addition to his FSA work Delano is known for the striking color photographs he took at rail yards during the 1940s. In March 1943 Delano was in Redlands, CA and photographed the operations at the Redlands Co-operative Fruit Association. His photographs, copied from the Library of Congress website, are shown below. Oranges in field boxes were unloaded from flatbed trucks and moved by conveyor into the packing house.  The oranges were automatically dumped from the field boxes.  The oranges were washed.  The oranges were dried.  A packing house worker performed a preliminary sorting of the oranges, picking out discards.  The oranges were graded.  The oranges were graded into categories of Choice, Standards, Juice Culls or By-Products. It appears they were not packing any choice oranges as that bin was covered.  The oranges were packed into wooden crates. Each orange was wrapped in a tissue.  A machine placed a top on the orange crate.  Crates of oranges were wheeled into refrigerator cars. Notice how arms at the base of the dolly grab the lowest crate to stabilize the load.  Two layers of orange crates were stacked on end inside the refrigerator cars. A third layer was added with the crates lying on their sides. This method of stacking prevented the oranges from being crushed. The arms at the bottom of the dolly have released the bottom crate so it can be stacked in place.  To tour other San Bernardino County cities, or other counties, return to the Virtual Tour of San Bernardino County Page. Return to the Historic Packing Houses and Other Industrial Structures in Southern California Home Page. Return to the Trains Page. |