A team of horses will typically skid about 3,000 board feet in a full workday. This volume consists of approximately 25 logs cut in lengths of 12 to 16 feet. The logs are dragged by draft horses hitched to a two-wheel cart. As the team begins to pull, the log raises where it’s secured by the swivel grab skidding tongs, which enables less resistance when dragging the log. It’s not uncommon to drag a log a half mile to the loading area.

“We had four different practice sessions. Although we had a person alongside each horse it was difficult getting the horses to walk together. Each horse wanted to walk at different speeds. And then it was hard to get all the horses to stop at the same time. After the first practice, I wasn’t sure it was going to work. With follow up sessions things came together nicely.” Once the horses became acclimated, they worked well together. Henry commented, “After the fourth practice, we simply said, ‘giddy up’ and off they went.

Ivan Miller has earned an enviable reputation for building high quality scale model Rumely tractors that are fully operational. His achievements evolved through a dream, as he explained. “I admired scale model Rumelys that were displayed at tractor shows. When I was about 14 years old, Dad and I dreamed of building our own version. Eventually, we set to work and scaled one from a Rumely Model 16-30 that Dad owned. I had considerable steel fabricating experience through my former job that helped with the project. Over the past five years, I have scratch-built four of the same model. Through each build, I have added more detail,” Ivan said.

Round barns built by American farmers are historic designs that could be polygonal, or circular in structure. Although not as popular as some other designs, their unique shape made them a rural icon. Round barns built from 1880 to the 1930s represent the height of construction in North America. However, their construction can be divided by two overlapping eras. The first phase was the octagonal or multi-sided style from 1850 to 1900. And the second period was the true circular version built from 1889 to 1936. Numerous round barns that have been preserved in the United States are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Amish friends in Holmes County, Ohio, strive to preserve century old equipment with a shingle sawmill powered by a steam engine. Abe Mast and his brothers purchased the saw out of an uncle’s collection. “The hundred-year-old saw had not been used for years. We saw a chance to preserve history by demonstrating how shingles were once sawed,” Mast stated.