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Buckaroos in Paradise: Ranching Culture in Northern Nevada, 1945-1982
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Item Title
The Hay Derrick
Author/Creator
Narrator: Stewart, Leslie J.
Fleischhauer, Carl
Purser, Margaret, interviewers.
Created/Published
July 08,1982
Notes
Les Stewart sketches what a hay derrick looks like, how it is made, and how it fits into the haying process.
A variety of derricks were used in the intermountain West; and although none of their types are identical to Les's, a number of Utah and Idaho examples are described in an article by folklorists Austin and James Fife (Fife and Fife 1948, 224 ff).
Les spent about twenty minutes creating the drawings shown here and elaborating on them. It is worth summarizing two omitted subjects: the method for securing the guy wires and the proper shape for the stack. Each guy wire is fastened to one end of a one-inch manila rope that runs through a block and tackle in four strands. The other end of the rope is fastened to a system of chains that are secured to a trio of iron stakes in the ground. The stakes are made of railroad rails. The blocks and tackle are used to adjust the tension on the guide wires as the stack rises and the boom's working angle changes.
The top of the stack is like a roof; if it has the proper shape, it will shed rain and snow. The finished stack should look like a bread loaf with flat sides and a curved top. "A good stacker," Les said, "has to know how to tromp his hay to keep these corners up and to keep the sides absolutely perpendicular as well as straight. They have to be perpendicular. If it's not done right, part of this hay'll slide off. Of course, then you've ruined your stack."
Subject
Artifacts
Hay derricks
Ethnography
Motion Pictures
Ninety-Six Ranch
Object Type
Medium
3/4 inch video
Language
English
Call Number
NV82-VT2
Digital ID
afc96ran v019
http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.afc/afc96ran.v019