Hobos and Early Humans

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen 

The age of Gentlemen of the Rails — hobos — is mostly gone, but they had a long run mainly from the end of the American Civil War to the 1940s. These guys would hitch rides on freight trains and try to find short-term jobs.

Television and movies had various portrayals of them that probably should not be taken as based in fact. Also, they were willing to work, unlike traveling tramps or sedentary bums. While itinerant workers like this were found worldwide, most were American.

Locomotive 721 Entering Railroad Yard, Texas & Pacific Railway Company, Flickr / DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University

The main reasons for the decrease in hobo migrants involved more economic opportunities appearing after WWII, but also the fact that steam engines were being replaced. Steam (choo choo) trains were a mite easier to climb aboard. It could be from a jerkwater town, a big city trainyard, or anything in between.

With that bit of background done, we can ride on to the purpose of this here article. The common image of hobos shows that they were lazy, stupid, and dangerous criminals. However, hobos had a code of ethics (although hitching a ride on a train was illegal and dangerous), took jobs, and were far from stupid. There are famous people in history who were hobos for a spell.

A few months ago, I was looking at emergency preparedness ("prepper") videos. Many had advice for people who may have to travel or live off the land. Some channels focused on how hobos survived and the things they MacGyvered to help them. Many of their devices can be made and implemented today — after all, they used what was available. Want to make a cooker? How about a heater? They had some interesting foods, too.

On a side note, hobos carved nickels. Lots of them. Something to do on the train rides, I suppose, but apparently they sold them for a bit of extra cash.

Believers in molecules-to-migrant worker evolution have long maintained that when humans had evolved, the paint wasn't quite dry and their brains were not very developed. In a word: stupid. They evolved, then sat around for thousands of years before developing societies. Yeah, right. Because of discoveries over the years (such as the Antikithera mechanism), Darwinists may be abandoning the idea of our ancestors being mentally weak.

Hobos were innovative, using what was available. I lack belief that many carried advanced degrees in their bindles. Humans were created intelligently from the beginning. In fact, there are many things lost to history that are being rediscovered. Some aspects of human nature give mute testimony to recent creation.