We are used to seeing large earth-moving equipment building roads as we travel around the country. The photo shows what was available circa 1900 for building mountain roads.
The road grader, shown here, was pulled by one horse, or one mule, or one ox, or even one cow. It looks like a John Deer from the colors, but Lois and I examined it carefully and found no identifying marks anywhere on the equipment, The basic design on this little grader is essentially the same on the big diesel graders used today.
Unlike modern scrapers, this machine could not move a lot of dirt because they were powered by a single animal and the work was slow. Constructing mountain roads was hard work, so roads followed contours where the work was the easiest, not the straightest. It was always easier to go around a hill than go through it. You can tell when you are on an old road if it twists and turns around hills.
Many of the hiking trails here at the Cradle of Forestry are old roads of 100 years ago.
The road grader, shown here, was pulled by one horse, or one mule, or one ox, or even one cow. It looks like a John Deer from the colors, but Lois and I examined it carefully and found no identifying marks anywhere on the equipment, The basic design on this little grader is essentially the same on the big diesel graders used today.
Unlike modern scrapers, this machine could not move a lot of dirt because they were powered by a single animal and the work was slow. Constructing mountain roads was hard work, so roads followed contours where the work was the easiest, not the straightest. It was always easier to go around a hill than go through it. You can tell when you are on an old road if it twists and turns around hills.
Many of the hiking trails here at the Cradle of Forestry are old roads of 100 years ago.
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