[AT] OT: Flashback - Early Farmers Building County Roads

[Dallas and Kathy]

My Grandfather helped build and grade roads in the teens and twenties,in 
Union County, South Dakota. He pulled an Addams Grader with horses to do the 
grading. It was along the river (Big Sioux) which flooded frequently, so the 
roads were in constant need of grading. He later bought the road grader, and 
I am fortunate enough to possess it today. He farmed all the way to the 
rivers banks. He carried a tin cup with him while cultivating and when he 
was thirsty, he simply dipped a drink from the river. It was clear, clean 
and cold. He could see the fish swimming in the water. Today, I wouldn't 
even eat the fish pulled from it. He built a new house in 1926. The sand for 
the cement blocks came from the river, hauled by horse and wagon. My 89 year 
old mother lives in the same house, on the same farm today. It's nice to go 
back once in a while, isn't it? Dallas

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Herbert Metz" <metz-h.b at mindspring.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 11:00 AM
Subject: Re: [AT] OT: Flashback - Early Farmers Building County Roads


> Chuck
> I have been wanting to mention the local situation in central KS; glad you 
> started the subject.
> We had a team of mules; Dad and Grandpa considered them better for our 
> needs (than horses).  The Arkansas River was four miles from our farm. 
> The township built and maintained the roads; they had the first Cat 
> crawler that I remember.   I can remember Dad telling about using the team 
> and one of our farm wagons (box was approx 40" x 8' x 16") for hauling 
> river sand and rough spreading it on the regraded roads. In most areas, 
> the river banks were less than ten feet high.
> The two things I remember Dad telling:    The wagon boxes were modified so 
> many of the 2" bottom boards could be pulled out to the side and thus 
> unload most of the sand.  The other thing:    In process of loading the 
> wagon (by hand spade), one did not shove the spade into the sand with one 
> motion, then lift spade and throw sand into wagon box with a second 
> motion.   Loading was all one motion; start the spade into the sand near 
> one foot and continue loading sand onto the spade until past the other 
> foot and then raise filled spade up toward wagon and throw sand into wagon 
> box.   That would be ok for a load or two, but all day or maybe all week??
> Herb
>
> From: "Chuck Bealke" <bealke at airmail.net>
> To: <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, January 25, 2006 7:04 AM
> Subject: [AT] OT: Flashback - Early Farmers Building County Roads
>>
>> On 1/24/2006 at 6:07 PM Bill Bear Hood wrote:
>>
>>>Wayne S should have remembered that there is an older County "Ford" at 
>>>the
>>>Temple TX show every year....That tractor was used by a County Road and
>>>Bridge crew in Texas to pull scraper and packers.
>> Bear,
>>
>> Your comment reminds me of what an old time neighbor told me when I was a 
>> kid about farmers helping build early county roads.  It seems back when 
>> the farmers in my boyhood area of St. Louis County, MO, still had horses 
>> and mules that the county (or state?) decided they needed help building 
>> country roads where none existed.  I think this was between WW1 and the 
>> depression (mostly pre-tractor times for our area) . They offered the 
>> farmers payment (contracts?) for delivering rock with teams to be used in 
>> the road bed.  I know the German family that owned our farm before us 
>> (since the late 1800's) had long ago removed a wall of rock from a place 
>> in our woods near a creek to build our farm road before my grandfather 
>> bought the place, so there must have been quarry method smarts in place. 
>> As I recall, the neighbor said that the tricky part of getting the 
>> limestone rock delivered and prepared was crushing it, and that for main 
>> road building, the county provided a crusher near road!
>>  construction sites.  So the farmers were paid to bring big rocks to the 
>> crusher - and perhaps to haul rock from there to the roadbed.  Don't know 
>> all the details, but was wondering if farmers helped on roads here in 
>> Texas.  Sounds like it would have been a country-wide practice.
>> Chuck Bealke
>
>
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