Laundry History

Laundry was probably first done in streams and letting the stream carry away the materials causing stains and smells. Laundry may still be done this way in some less industrialized areas and rural regions. Agitation helps remove the dirt, so the laundry is often rubbed, twisted, or slapped against flat rocks. Wooden bats or clubs could be used to help with beating the dirt out. These were called washing beetles.

Various chemicals may be used increase the solvent power of water, such as the compounds in soaprootor yucca-root used by Native American tribes. Soap, a compound made from lye (from wood-ash) andfat, is an ancient and very common laundry aid. However, modern washing machines typically use powdered or liquid laundry detergent in place of soap.

When no streams were available, laundry was done in water-tight vats or vessels. Sometimes large metal cauldrons were filled with fresh water and heated over a fire; boiling water was even more effective than cold in removing dirt. The washboard, a corrugated slab of a hard material such as metal, replaced rocks as a surface for loosening soil.

Once clean, the clothes were wrung out — twisted to remove most of the water. Then they were hung up on poles or clotheslines to dry, or sometimes just spread out on clean grass.