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April 1940. Coolidge, Arizona. "Swimming pool at desert dude ranch." Medium format negative by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Admin. View full size.
... and here one is!
This would be a couple of years before engineer Herb Ufer was hired by the Army to design a reliable electrical grounding system for ammunition depots in dry desert conditions. His concrete-encased grounding method was not required by code for swimming pools until 1965. And then, over on our right, less than ten feet from the edge of the pool, you have a live-chassis five-tube radio, a wet-storage Coke fridge, and bare light strings controlled by a surface-mount rotary switch, all within reach of wet bare hands and feet. There's a lot of electrical wiring on Shorpy that makes me cringe, but I'm really hoping everyone survived this swim.
The tan lines indicate that after the swim, the ladies dressed in skirts with hems that fell just below the knee -- a casual look when paired with crew socks.
Looks like Jack Kerouac second from the right.
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