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

[Ronald L. Cook]

Larry,
         You have described the whole thing exactly as I remember it.  I 
was too young to run the horse drawn slip, but I watched.  Not an easy 
operation.  My Granddad replaced his with a Dearborn or maybe Ferguson slip 
that went on his 9N.  By the 50's, everyone but my Dad seemed to have a 
Tumble Bug.  You can still find a Tumble Bug occasionally on a farm sale, 
but not often.  All the Sears equipment is fast becoming very scarce.

Ron Cook
Salix, IA
>The first image at the site Walt mentions shows an item similar to what
>I thought was originally asked about on this thread.  That's only the
>second one I remember seeing that had a double tree on it though.  What
>I remember seeing in use back in the 40's was narrower, had two handles
>(for one man operation) and was set up for a single horse or mule.  My
>grandfather used one of the non-patented slip scoops to excavate the
>basement under the farmhouse in Colorado in 1905 with a mule.  They were
>dangerous because you really needed three hands to operate one.  You
>adjusted the tilt with both hands on the handles.  That meant that you
>had to buckle the reins together and sling them over one shoulder or
>around your neck.  That was OK as long as the harness didn't break.  We
>borrowed George Gilleff's slip scoop and one of his Belgians to do some
>leveling prior to adding to the barn.  Dad made my brothers and me work
>as a team with one on the handles and another on the reins because if
>something happened to the hitch or the harness you could end up dead
>real quick.
>
>I drive by TSC and see that they have recent incarnations of that tool
>for sale that are set up for three-point operation.
>
>The rotary type that Sears used to sell was always a tractor-drawn piece
>of equipment and I think its actual name was Tumble Bug.
>
>JM2CW
>
>Larry