Posted by David Sherman on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 2:45PM :
In Reply to: old cable excavtors posted by Galen on Wednesday, April 23, 2003 at 12:07PM :
You can't see it too well in this picture, but here's a photo of a crew my great-uncle was on, grading Robbins Hill going down into what is now Feyrer park just outside of Molalla, Oregon. The county road still uses this grade. They have a steam donkey at the bottom of the hill, pulling what is probably just a horse-drawn road scraper down the hill. In case you know them, George and Oscar Striker are running the donkey and Jim Hunt is on the scraper.
The link below goes to a picture of the donkey being moved at the top of the hill prior to making the cut. Donkey engines were usually moved by pulling out as much line as possible, attaching it to a stump and letting the engine wind itself up to the stump. Guy Shafer (my great-uncle) is on the donkey, and George Madill is driving the Shafer team, Pete and Corbett, who are hitched to the water wagon.
