Vintage work crew photos

**volodar** · Apr 3, 2019, 06:12 PM

I think this was a method for ¨overseeing¨ and counting the herd. More convenient than lying on the sometimes wet ground (half the caps were shaped like umbrellas), then counting all legs then dividing by four.

**Jon** · Apr 3, 2019, 06:34 PM

I wondered about that too, and thought it was a hoax or some such, but the use of stilts in this same region is documented repeatedly in photos and art.

This reminds me of the hi-lift jack base accessory:

This caught my eye too; not sure if one or the other is a baseplate, or a rock, or an artifact of photography:

**Ralphxyz** · Apr 3, 2019, 06:40 PM

The stilts must have worked but I cannot picture how and what is it with those fur coats?

Ralph

**Jon** · Apr 3, 2019, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by volodar

I think this was a method for ¨overseeing¨ and counting the herd. More convenient than lying on the sometimes wet ground (half the caps were shaped like umbrellas), then counting all legs then dividing by four.

Good call, now we're getting somewhere. Wiki on history of stiltwalking: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stilts...f_stiltwalking

Unsourced quote, but it's reasonable:

"The shepherds of the Landes region of southern France used to watch their flocks while standing on stilts to extend their field of vision, while townspeople often used them to traverse the soggy ground in their everyday activities."

**volodar** · Apr 3, 2019, 08:00 PM

Ralph, Perhaps it was the cool seasons originally. Then, fashion it eventually became. Just idle speculation.

**Clockguy** · Apr 4, 2019, 10:21 AM

Originally Posted by Frank S

Jon this may give some insight to the why of the women pulling plows. Fore warning a bit of a read
The Doukhobors' Place in Canadian History

Author Edit: [Sorry for lagging behind in the replies to the posts, I have been taking advantage of the late March and early April weather here on the FL Panhandle. Sunny, 70's, time to get the kayak ready for a paddle!]

I had no clue to the settlement of that great Northern country above us! I wonder how many peoples in other parts of the world have been significantly stifled while trying to maintain their sense of identity and ethnic background? Thank you Frank S for opening another door to my never ending education of all which surrounds me on this planet!

As I grow older, I become more and more curious about the world as we know it today and how events in each of the countries played a major part in shaping and building one nation after another throughout our history? We all know the history of our birth country or that in which we have spent the most of our lives, but how many of us have any clue to how other countries, which pop out of the historical shadows occasionally to reap a few passing headlines of unrest or rebellion, have come to be as they are today? Case in point, and we have seen these events in many of our own lifetimes, the teardown of world Communism and the breakup of the Balkan countries into one level of another of independent nations. In school, back in the 50's, I knew the names and locations of most of the Balkan countries and Russian satellite countries as a matter of course. Presently I probably could not recite more than a handful of ****-istan nations which have risen from the results of the '89 demolition of the "Wall" and the renaming of all those little nations and Russian holdings which had been given their rights to govern themselves as they pleased.

Now I am finding out how very little I know about our Canadian neighbors to the north of us and how their exploration and settlement of their country parallelled ours and also how they differed from our own development. We had minorities which have grown from a handful of Displaced African slaves and Chinese laborers on the railroads and in our mines and on our highways and certain religious groups as the Mormons, Amish, Mennonites, and so many others to mark our country's history with changes the likes of which have shaped and altered our country's structure forever. And also, as a scar on our historical endeavors to expand and settle every square inch of land within our domain, the many and varied cultures of Native Americans, who we literally stole land from and herded the survivors of so many conflicts and battles for more and more land into smaller enclaves of poor unworkable land until they literally have been placed in human bondage within unmarked territorial "walls" we call "reservations" and left to subsist as best they could.

I should imagine the every country of worth, on this thing we call our Earth, has similar "skeletons" which are not talked about nor have any role in the positive growth of those people who have strived to build a place for everyone to live in relative peace and harmony with each other. Nobody wants to discuss the dirty hands and the blisters and the sore backs and also those ethnic groups who got in the way of history as we know it today. Those groups have become the homely little red haired kid who hides in the closet whenever company comes over to visit. We all know he is in there but nobody wants to drag him out and show him to the visitors.

**Frank S** · Apr 4, 2019, 11:58 AM

You are correct clockguy; there are so many lost forgotten of subverted aspects of history that the only way to learn of these events is through diligent research often the only way is to actually live in other countries around the world and study the perspective of history from that countries view. from the 1500's through the 1860's there was a forced migration of some 12 million ethnic groups from the African continent. many whole villages and regions were rounded up and brought to the Americas and Europe less than half a million were actually brought to the USA while most were sent to south and central America a large number were sent to Europe.
However one tid-bit that is often overlooked is some whole regions of peoples willingly chose migration as a way to possibly have a better life for their families and friends, some of these paid for their passage by helping to convince others to migrate or enter into indentured servitude Some who came to the Americas and Europe were never slaves but were given holdings in several countries with slaves of their own.
Additionally not every person or the Caucasian race who came from Europe arrived as free persons but had paid for their passages by entering into servitude themselves. Many Irish English Scottish Dutch French Spanish Italian and Germans did this as well. There were some who lived out their entire lives being indentured slaves.
Many of the large Plantation holders treated their slaves far better that free persons living in many cities had lives of their own. the Holders built Schools and places of worship and even paid their slaves a small wage often very small but paid none the less. It was far better for them to do this than to have to be the single provider of all of their clothing food and other needs.
But what you read most in the history books is how poorly the peoples were treated along with the beatings murdering and torture.
You would have only to ask the question of to what advantage would it have been for the slave owner to constantly beat and starve the very people who were providing them with a means of revenue?
That is not to say that it didn't happen of course it did some owners were quite simply cruel also stupid as well. In general they often found themselves ostracized among other owners and more often than not lost their holdings to those who did not do these things as a general practice.
Yes there are many black marks in the pages of history but these marks are not the sole property of the USA.
the pushing of native peoples of the North American continent to so called reservations was indeed a huge black mark in History. But believe it or not there was a benevolent thought to the process. The US Government sought to end the senseless slaughter of the indigent peoples by those who were greedy for more lands. The tsalagi (trail of tears) saw many deaths more than the Government had anticipated when the 5 civilized tribes were relocated to the Oklahoma territory.
The slaughter of whole herds of millions upon millions of buffalo led to so many native people's starving who depended on the migrating heards causing many uprisings and wars The government was fed erroneous information about these uprisings which led to it sending in carvery unit after carvery unit to to attempt in quell these conflicts. This empowered too many rouge blood thirsty Generals to do their bidding as they saw fit. Fortunately some like Custer met with justice being served to them.
I take real issue when folks always say the US Government was always at fault and I equally take real issue whit the speak of the US Government always being in the right.
2 wrongs never make a right and 2 rights often equal a wrong in my opinion.
But that is just how I view things possibly because I have some native American ancestry as well as possibly European Ancestry who may have arrived as indentured, many of us have persons in our ancestry who were at least temporarily indentured to pay for their passage.