✅ SOLVED Found in woods in Maine

[dieselram94]

I found this in the woods in Maine in an area that had been logged many in the long ago past. May have been farm land many years ago as well. Any thoughts? I easy thinking some sort of odd horseshoe for ice and snow

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[osage express]

It is an Oxen shoe Neat find.....Osage

 

[AU Seeker]

I agree with Osage, 1 half pair of an oxen shoe, you need 4 pair per oxen as they have split hooves.

Pair of Cast Iron Ox Oxen Shoes

 

[dieselram94]

Thanks guys! That was fast as I just posted this! I was surprised to see one of the nails still wiggles and is not rusted in tight after being underground that long. 6 to eight inches down how long do you guys think it's been there?

 

[AU Seeker]

Hard to say Diesel, could be from the logging or possible farming, oxen could've/would've been used in both, find a date on when these activities were in the area and that would be as close as you can date the shoe..

 

[dieselram94]

I will look into this I know it was logged about 30 to 40 years ago with skidders but I believe it was also logged way before that, we also found some barbed wire as well.

 

[Back-of-the-boat]

Did not know they shod oxen that is one of the reasons I truly enjoy this site you can learn of things from the past that a person wouldn't have known otherwise. Very cool and a unique find.

 

[Bum Luck]

I will look into this I know it was logged about 30 to 40 years ago with skidders but I believe it was also logged way before that, we also found some barbed wire as well.

With oxen, it was probably way before that. Logging is a periodic thing. They were the early beast of burden; horses were too expensive.

Great find!

 

[Red James Cash]

Diesel,oxen use goes back quite a ways.I found a pair down by the river here that was farm land a couple of hundred years ago.They dated to early to mid 18th century.

 

[dieselram94]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I have it in the electrolysis bath right now. I am hoping to uncover some writing of some sorts on it.

 

[kuger]

...they were using oxen here still into the early 1900's......I beleive they still are in the east,and with more and more people being "nature",minded,I beleive we will see the resurgence of their use in small logging applications

 

[dieselram94]

A guy I work with had a couple used for pulling at fairs. I know another guy that does this as well. They get pretty serious about it two.

 

[BosnMate]

I know of one guy that logs with oxen, at least he was a couple of years ago. The cattle work on voice commands, and they yard the log to the landing without anyone going with them, the guy on the landing unhooks and sends them back. Another friend was raised in a very isolated area of N. E. Oregon, and they were farming and logging with oxen in the 1930's, and during WWII. The John Wayne movie "Wagon Train" was filmed at a time when there were still enough Ox teams to put together a pretty good size wagon train with the wagons pulled by cattle. I think that film was in the 30's. I just checked, the movie actual name is "The Big Trail," filmed in 1930, staring a very young John Wayne.

 

[dieselram94]

Now that's pretty cool BosnMate! The ox work on voice commands is pretty sweet. That would sure make the work easier. I wonder how often the teams would get hung up in the woods and if they would just stand there and wait for someone to help them get unsnarled from a stump or some other obstruction?

 

[Bum Luck]

Wish I could answer that, but as many talks as my grandfather (1896-1980) had with me about his teams of horses, he never mentioned oxen.

 

[dieselram94]

I have been trying to find some history on my property and can't find much. Any good sources on old maps?

 

[dieselram94]

Wish I could answer that, but as many talks as my grandfather (1896-1980) had with me about his teams of horses, he never mentioned oxen.

I bet talks with him were really interesting. Just imagine the history and changes he saw. I often wonder what people from that time period could say if they could see what things are today, with things like cell phones, computers, cars, urban development and on and on.

 

[BosnMate]

Now that's pretty cool BosnMate! The ox work on voice commands is pretty sweet. That would sure make the work easier. I wonder how often the teams would get hung up in the woods and if they would just stand there and wait for someone to help them get unsnarled from a stump or some other obstruction?

I guess the landing wasn't very far from where he was cutting, and when the oxen were out of his sight, the guy on the landing could see them. I'm thinking that had to be longer than a couple of years ago, because finding out about them I became interested in having a team for myself. But I never did. You start them out as baby calves small enough to manhandle, gentle them down, yoke them together and play with them and invest time and effort, and I still think it would be fun, but I'm not on the ranch any longer, so it's no longer an option. I went so far as to buy a book on training and working oxen, but that's as far as I got. Third world countries still work cattle as draught animals.

 

[artemis moon]

Now that's pretty cool BosnMate! The ox work on voice commands is pretty sweet. That would sure make the work easier. I wonder how often the teams would get hung up in the woods and if they would just stand there and wait for someone to help them get unsnarled from a stump or some other obstruction?

The oxen probably followed directions better than my kids!

 

[dieselram94]

I went back out in the woods this afternoon and close to where I found the shoe I found a small steel bucket almost completely crowded away and a couple small fragments of wire. I think the wire is burrs from cable.

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