Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Low Tech

I was helping today with an erosion control project in a very sensitive area where no heavy machinery was allowed. So the guys were building a long stone drainage ditch with nothing but wheelbarrows and their hands. When they got to the steep part they lowered the stone down in a hod attached to a rope. This ditch was more than two hundred feet long, containing about 180 tons of stone, and they built it in a week. I kept trying to take pictures of the process, but the light was terrible all morning and these were the best shots I got. Oh, the crew included two young black guys who obviously weren't told that they aren't supposed to work hard, because they moved stone without complaint all day long, and it was 92 degrees here today.

1 comment:

Miriam said...

So now I know what a hod is and how it can be used! Impressive--and think about how many humungous things were built with this much sheer labor.