Ditcher - Powell, WY
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 44° 45.163 W 108° 45.324
12T E 677668 N 4957932
Along the north fence of the Homesteader Museum is a piece of machinery one is likely to find only in certain areas.
Waymark Code: WMXXXF
Location: Wyoming, United States
Date Posted: 03/14/2018
Views: 0
Those areas would be ones which came under irrigation a century or more ago, when irrigation was commonly done by flooding the crop land. Getting the water from a canal onto the cropland was often accomplished by this machine, a ditcher, which, when pulled across the land by a team of horses or even oxen, produced a shallow ditch down the length of the field. Simple and effective.
Incidentally, all the farmland here was under irrigation, many tens of thousands of acres, in fact. It was only after the construction of the Shoshone irrigation project that settlers were able to be convinced to move to the area and homestead farms. At that time aluminum piping, self propelled centre pivot irrigation and water cannons were still only a dream, so the farmers resorted to flood irrigation.
The Homesteader Museum is one of the most interesting museums we have visited. The director was there and she was so helpful and answered all of our inquiries. This is a free admission museum that is made possible by a benefactor. The museum will celebrate their 50th birthday in 2018.
There are numerous large displays divided by categories, such as household appliances, dentist and doctor offices, set as they were when operating, a photography and printing office, a post office, vintage clothing and haberdashery - the list just goes on.
They also have several outdoor displays housed in original buildings, one of which is the Bever Homestead, an original 1911 homestead house; also outside is a CB&Q Caboose and a large collection old farm equipment and tractors.
