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[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

I suspected, but wanted to confirm. When I started as a laborer for  
Pacific Gas & Electric Company in the early sixties, this is what we  
used to backfill pipe ditches. We pulled it with a winch running off  
the front end of the truck. We called it a Mormon Board. I have  
earlier heard the term, Fresno Scraper.

That you found one on your property tells me that you have real soil,  
as compared to my part of the Ozarks, where such a tool would be  
usable only in sandy bottom land.

Such finds are exciting and often useful. My digging bar is an old  
wagon axle I found mostly buried along the stream road. I also have a  
metal wheel rim, three or four feet in diameter, which awaits a project.

On Apr 22, 2007, at 4:09 PM, VAN DELL JORDAN wrote:

> It is a horse drawn earth moving tool.  This one is
> about 2.5' wide x 2' deep x 1' tall.  A Y shaped
> bracket attaches to harness with a clevis and to a
> loop on each side of the scoop.  A wooden handle on
> each side extending out back.  The operator pushes
> down on the front to scoop up dirt, then lifts the
> front until the dumping place is reached, when he
> lifts the back to empty.
> This one appears to have been at least partly hand
> forged.
> This was the primary tool used in building of the Erie
> Canal.  A later heavier duty version is called the
> "fresno scraper".