My third example was found in Ukiah, California, an indepen-
dent dealership. There were four tall vertical tanks of the same
height, two shorter vertical ones, and several horizontal tanks.
It is shown in (3).
One additional prototype dealer to be shown was photo-
graphed in 1981 in Livermore, California, by which time it
was no longer rail-served. It had all the elements: vertical and
horizontal tanks, truck loading facilities, and a warehouse. It
is shown in (4, 5 and 6). It’s notable that the tanks shown are
white. I have also seen light gray tanks, but silver is the most
common color.
What was in those tanks? It depends on era. Before World War
II, kerosene was widely used for lighting, cooking and tractor
3: This dealership in Ukiah, California had four vertical
tanks of the same height (the fourth is behind the vis-
ible three), and two shorter tanks, along with horizontal
tanks, in 2008. – Author photo.
3
