Why did so many people become hobos in the 1930s?

The great depression of the 1930s held hardships for most American families. Distraught young and older men were forced to leave home in search of a job or something to eat. Often they rode the trains, jumping on and off (from the coal or cattle cars) wherever life might be better.



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Most modern hobos, however, trace their lineage to the building of the railroads and the end of the Civil War. Many Civil War veterans couldn't, or didn't want to, return home and took jobs with the expanding railroads.

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The era of the freight train-hopping, job-seeking hobo faded into obscurity in the years following the Second World War. Many hobos from this era have since “caught the westbound,” or died. A small number of so-called hobos still hop freight trains today.

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