Digging the North Walworth Basement
Jerry on the John Deere,
Susan and Kathy,
Grandpa standing behind.
House on North Walworth Road
Where we lived from 1954-1963
Whenever Grandpa and Grandma would make the trip from South Dakota to our home in Southern Wisconsin, Mother would have a to-do list ready. Grandfather did not like to waste time. Apart from his nightly habit of reading the newspaper, he liked to stay active and busy. The big Dodge with the spacious trunk, transported Grandpa's tools which were then put to good use. On one extended stay, I missed a good amount of fall classroom activity because I was needed to operate the old John Deere tractor.
Dad decided that our home needed a full basement. On the north side of the house, he knocked a hole in the foundation so that he could crawl under the house and begin shoveling out dirt. Then, when there was room to move, a version of the old Fresno Scraper was used to remove the dirt from under the house, one scoop at a time.
The scoop was an oversized barn feed scoop, only this enlarged scoop measured about 4' wide by 4' deep. On the backside, there were two extended wood handles which the operator stood between and grasped firmly. On the front edge of the scraper, a chain connected it to the tractor.
When the signal was given, I would engage the hand clutch and slowly move forward pulling the scraper. While moving forward, if it was held firmly, it would scrape off a layer of hardened, Wisconsin packed down dirt. My father, 6'2" had problems holding this scraper steady. All it took to jerk it from the operator's grasp was one embedded rock; the handles would suddenly jerk upward which could easily result in bodily injury. How my little, light-weight Grandfather was able to operate this crude and dangerous scoop, help Dad dig out that basement and keep his bones in right place, is a credit to his endurance, his inner strength and determination! As for me, I had a great time missing a good deal of school and holding that steering wheel! The only problem that I experienced was the hand held clutch, which had a bad habit of sticking in gear. When Grandfather wanted things to stop, he meant now; not ten feet later! I admired my father because he was big and strong. I admired my Grandfather; though slight of build, he was also strong! When the digging was finished, they made forms for the walls, mixed the cement and shoveled it into the forms for the walls intermixed with large rocks.
After this basement project was finished, my brother and I were assigned to the flood brigade. Dad wasn't much for details and a drain system was either ignored or considered unimportant. John and I bailed out the water, one 5 gallon bucket at a time! We did have moments of inspiration. We took an old Hoover Vacuum cleaner, attached a 1 1/2" drain hose from the vacuum and ran it up the stairs. Just to be safe, I wore rubber boots while I plugged in the vacuum cleaner. It worked great for all of 15 to 30 seconds, at which time the motor starting smoking and "retired." (recollection by Jerry)
Mule Scraper Jerry mentioned it was something like the Fresno Scraper (the first steps toward our Earth Movers) but that would have been quite an upgrade to what we used. The scraper Jerry referred to when we dug the basement out at the North Walworth house (was similar to the photo above). It is referred to as a "Antique Mule Dirt Slide Scoop."
The process was to fill it up with dirt, drag it out of the basement to the back yard, flip up the handles to dump the load, and then drag it back into the basement for a refill. As Jerry said, it did not do very well scraping dirt up because of the design. As I remember it, the scoop was dragged close to the area of digging and then it was filled up the old fashioned way, using shovels. (recollection by John)