Called around here a dirt mover or a scoop pan.
We had one for a while which a neighboring farmer was discarding.
He said his father had used it to smooth road beds and aid in leveling
fields. They used mules or horses to pull it. We used a tractor.
It was believed that the implement was used in the WPA times to do
terracing for erosion prevention or in digging out culvert areas. With our
heavy clay soil, it was really only useful after some light rain.
>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".
>Van dell