Need ideas to build a "stone boat"

[oosik]

You are right Lou. It's been 20+ years since I've "raided" this rock wall. I definitely remember it being a bit taller. I mean, really, I have the exact same rocks on my own property. And the neighbor said -"you can have all you want - just don't scatter them".

 

[Eagleview]

OK - photos of the "wall/fence". I don't remember so many being so small. One would hope they had some form of rock rake along with the stone boat.

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The final picture is the cleared high meadow. On the extreme right - upper corner - black dot - my NW property corner.

I am no expert , but i think the rows of stones were not put there as fencing, but more so to act as swails to direct runoff water from the field . One seems to run directly into a shallow gully and then ends .

 

[jmc]

I am no expert , but i think the rows of stones were not put there as fencing, but more so to act as swails to direct runoff water from the field . One seems to run directly into a shallow gully and then ends .

That's interesting. I had a farm in a limestone area where there were a lot of 2 or 3 inch thick slabs small enough for one person to handle. One part of the farm had the remnants of an old wall made from those slabs- that wall was at the bottom of a hill and may have been a barrier to runoff into a field that had its own problems with a gulley entering the field elsewhere. I always wondered what good a 1 1/2 foot high fence would be if it wasn't a property line. About any livestock could step over it.

My neighbor down there, now passed, (a WWII vet) remembered back when they farmed that area with oxen, before tractors. He said the farmers back then made those fences in the winter, when they had more time.

 

[oosik]

You could be absolutely correct Eagleview. Unfortunately, nobody still remains that knows much about the original homestead or the family. It's for certain, it would restrain nothing. And it did rid the high meadow of most of the surface rocks.

However - this property and my property were part of the original 1892 government land grant program. The reason behind the government grant is known. The parcels( 360 acres/person ) were given for the purpose of oil exploration. I have more jugs of oil stored in one of my spare bedrooms than was ever found in this part of the country. For that matter - I have never heard of any oil exploration in any portion of this area.

Another idea - as part of the "proving up" of a land grant( homestead ) - a certain portion of the land had to be cleared and planted to some accepted crop.

In any case - the many stone walls/fences on this homestead represents an awful lot of backbreaking work. I know of five such walls on this homestead - there could be more. This is the longest continuous one that I'm aware of. The old homestead orchard is in a small cleared meadow about a quarter mile N of this wall. The homestead rock house foundation is about a half mile NW of this wall. The well was hand dug - at least 30 feet deep - four feet in diameter and completely rock lined.

It is one commodity in almost unlimited supply - basaltic lava rock.

 

[BBHomestead]

They will sink into the ground over the course of many years,
some of the rock piles where we pick and unloaded for years had been 4 feet or higher tall,
in the last 50 years they have subsided into the ground in many places,
where we had piled up on ledges they have spread themselves out from animals and weather.

Any place wind blows much the walls collect the dirt around them like snow drifts after many years the land rises up and eats them!

 

[oosik]

"Any place the wind blows much.........." Look at the last picture I posted. It shows the cleared meadow. Click to enlarge. See the T-133 fence posts for my barbed wire fence. They all lean to the left ( towards the NE ). The prevailing wind, which is almost constant and can be very strong and even violent comes out of the SW. I thought, for the longest time, that it had something to do with the neighbors cows. That was until I saw many of the barbed wire fences on adjoining properties. They lean toward the NE also.

Canadian thistle( tumble weeds ) will pile against the fence until it's almost invisible. Then it will REALLY blow and over the fence they go. On their way back to Canada.

 

[BBHomestead]

"Any place the wind blows much.........." Look at the last picture I posted. It shows the cleared meadow. Click to enlarge. See the T-133 fence posts for my barbed wire fence. They all lean to the left ( towards the NE ). The prevailing wind, which is almost constant and can be very strong and even violent comes out of the SW. I thought, for the longest time, that it had something to do with the neighbors cows. That was until I saw many of the barbed wire fences on adjoining properties. They lean toward the NE also.

Canadian thistle( tumble weeds ) will pile against the fence until it's almost invisible. Then it will REALLY blow and over the fence they go. On their way back to Canada.

I bet you were to dig up those rocks would find they go down quite a ways since so much wind there lol

 

[oosik]

BBHomestead - This area - I call it my high meadow - I would like to think there is a fairly deep soil cover. My entire 80 acres, including the two lakes, sits on top of the hardest basaltic lava fields this side of the Mississippi. In fact, it sits on top of many, many lava flows. I have never dug a hole up there. My entire property is in an area called the Channeled Scablands. The Channeled Scablands form the northern cap on the great wheat area - the Palouse.

It's all a part of the story of the great outflows from ancient Lake Missoula.

Originally, we had considered building our home up on the high meadow. Wind power. But there were too many down sides. Power would have had to be run all the way across the property. The almost constant wind would get old. The mile long driveway would have to be extended an extra half mile. Getting water, via a well, would have been questionable. And the dust & volcanic ash. I get enough right where the house is now. And the current house location is in a very sheltered area - on the Far East side of the property. A couple time a year it will blow so very hard the air will turn grey and I can not see my little lake. It's just 75 feet off my front deck. Normally, you will not see the dust or ash - except on all the furniture, etc in the house and on all the vehicles. Ha, ha - my teeth are alway shiny and clean. Volcanic ash will do that.

I have found that it's best to cultivate, disk, rototill to a quite shallow depth. Go deep and up come the rocks.

The old homesteads in this area did the best they could with what they had - lots of rock. House foundations, barn & outbuilding foundations, rock gabions for the fences, rock terracing. And perhaps - the low stone wall was to divert runoff from that cleared field.

 

[Big Barn]

All interesting stuff! Thanks, oosik

 

[TASMAN17]

A little late, but for what its worth i have the family farm in southern new England, moving large rocks is a constant given. Old timer stone boats are just two curved or angled rails with cross brace planks laid across pulled by oxen. Low enough you just use a long lever to 'lift' the stone on. Key is time of year. very early spring best. Warm days, frozen nights. Warmth frost heaves the stone, early morning the ground is hard enough to slide the load. Can do in winter if you pry up the stone in the fall and prop it with some fill. Summer skidding the ground compacts real fast and puts a lot of drag on your front end. If skidding them now attach on the lowest you can of the frame/hitch bracket... Do not use top links or a drawbar that floats up and down. Same advice over cold ground but everything slides real easy then.