1922 White Motor Company Model 45 5-ton tank truck, Y.P. Co. 977. Museum Catalog Number YELL 106378. This extremely large vehicle features a 4-cylinder engine, dual rear wheels, and a heavy-duty, tubular radiator. The 1200 gallon capacity tank consists of three baffles or compartments with three service ports at the top, and rests on a wooden cradle with a wooden platform running the length of the tank on each side. The tank also has one rear pipe for dispensing liquid (either water or oil) to coat dirt roads in the park in an effort to reduce dust from traffic. It has a canvas top and side curtains and is painted yellow with black fenders, front bumper, and headlights.
Photos:
(YELL 106378) 1922 White Motor Company Model 45 5-ton oil truck in the park's museum collection.
(YELL 2012-4) A 5-ton oil truck in the Y.P.T. Company fleet. This particular vehicle is numbered 981, while the vehicle in the collection is number 977, which along with the YPT Company's 1929 inventory in the park's archives, confirms that there were five of this particular model in the fleet.
(YELL 2012-5) A recently acquired photograph depicts five men, probably drivers, posed with a tanker truck similar to the vehicle currently in the park's museum collection.
Did You Know?
The 1988 fires affected 793,880 acres or 36 percent of the park. Five fires burned into the park that year from adjacent public lands. The largest, the North Fork Fire, started from a discarded cigarette. It burned more than 410,000 acres.