If you grew up here in the 1940's or 1950's, what fuel was used to heat your home? Chances are it was oil, coal or wood. Our grandparents used coal. Growing up at Lake Tapps during the late 1940's, we had no electricity and burned wood in our stove. Our home at Lake Sawyer was originally built in 1952 and used fuel oil until we finally made the switch to natural gas in the 1980's. Pretty typical experience I would guess.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the following tables show fuels used for home heating in Washington State and for the U.S. in total during 1940:
| Washington State | U.S. Total | |
| 1940 Fuel Usage | ||
| Natural Gas | 0.8% | 11.3% |
| Electricity | NA | NA |
| Fuel Oil or Kerosene | 22.3% | 10.0% |
| Coal or Coke | 20.1% | 54.7% |
| Wood | 52.8% | 22.8% |
| Other Fuel | 2.1% | 0.4% |
| No Heating | 1.8% | 0.8% |
How did people get the home fuel they needed? How about a vending machine.
Photo courtesy Tacoma Public Library, #21995, circa 1952
Pacific Mutual Fuel was not the only company jumping on the vending machine bandwagon.
Photo courtesy Tacoma Public Library, #21615, circa 1952
Bring your change. A 50 lb bag of coal would cost $0.65. Pres-to-logs apparently were also a big seller and would run you $0.60 for seven.
Photo courtesy Tacoma Public Library, #21214, circa 1951
I guess that C-Stores are today's retail equivalent where you can still usually get Pres-to-logs 24/7.
By the year 2000, there had been a seismic shift in home heating,
| Washington State | U.S. Total | |
| 2000 Fuel Usage | ||
| Natural Gas | 32.9% | 51.2% |
| Tank/LP Gas | 3.1% | 6.5% |
| Electricity | 52.9% | 30.3% |
| Fuel Oil or Kerosene | 5.6% | 9.0% |
| Coal or Coke | 0.0% | 0.1% |
| Wood | 4.7% | 1.7% |
| Other Fuel | 0.6% | 0.4% |
| No Heating | 0.2% | 0.7% |
I'll have to see what the data look like for 2014.
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