Pretty hard to know what those barrels are from that picture. They're undoubtedly leftover/left-behinds from the WW II when planes were ferried to Russia through Nome. Galena was another place which 'benefited' from plentiful old drums. In fact, any place which had a military presence of one sort or another had old oil drums. The vast majority of those were 55 gallons. (That was virtually the only size 'tundra daisy' I saw when they were still around 20-30 years ago. We are now what- 70 years removed from WW II and it's remnants. Not many of those left anymore. The vast majority of steel drums are 55 gallons these days. A 30 gallon is very uncommon unless someone has need for that much grease. Obviously the market is pretty slight in any village. AVEC, schools, etc get motor oils and glycol in 55 gallon drums. Even gasoline is rarely transported this way anymore. A used oil drum is a good snag even in 55 gallons as they get used for hauling heating fuel (since villages rarely [never] have fuel delivery). They are also pretty commonly used for day tanks. Out on the coast where permafrost is common, a person might sink an outhouse pit if they live on the beach line where the sand is deep. As I pointed out before, holes in permafrost fill with water, melt, cave in, and everything above sinks in. But if a hole 3 feet deep is so much of a challenge that you need to stick with a 30 inch deep hole, God help you in your 'rural' existence. You're going to need it.
