Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1885-07-09
MAKING STUMP FENCES.


A Creation That Is Pleasing to some A.
tistic Taste and Useful to the Farnsr.
One of the most noticeable features
Of the farm lands in this vicinity,
where low hills and valleys make the
scenery beautiful, is the stump fence.
There is an Indebtedness of outline
and wavy irregular.ty of construction
about stump fence that entrances an
artist of the Delsartian school, but the
stump fence here is the outgrowth Of
necessity. and not of artistic taste.
When the land was cleared 1t was
fenced with rails and the ground be-
tween the stumps was planted
with corn and wheat and pOta-
toes. After a time the soft wood
stumps, such as Eastwood, rotted
away, but fifty seasons of rain and
snow had no more effect ON the pine
stumps that dotted these fields than a
spring shower has on a ducks back.
At first the farmers tried to burn out
the stumps, but the wood charred over
and the fire went out, and then the
stump got waterlogged in the next
rain, and all the ingenuity of YER
mont Yankee couldn't set them on fire
after that. The farmers tried blasting,
but key OF powder put under the heart
of a s'x-foot stump only served to
split it open and leave the two or
three parts apparently as firmly en-
bedded as they were before. Finally a
machine was devised for pulling out
bodily the stamps which had res sted
the elements for half century. 1t was
a simple affair. Three beams, seven
by eleven inches large and nineteen
feet long, were placed in the form of q
pyram d, with their tops united in
heavy casting that had big cast-iron
nut in it's center. These beams were
suitably braced about one-third of the
way from the top. A cast-iron screw
twelve feet long and five inches in
diamerer ran down through the big nut
in the casting and was prolonged by
means of a heavy wrought-iron rod to
within two feet of the ground, where
the rod terminate in two hooks. When
a stump was to be pulled this big frame
was placed over it. Then a hole was
dug under the largest visible root and
big chain was put under the root and
secured to the hooks on the screw rod.
An able-bodied horse. was then hitched
to a long lever connected with the nut
at the top of the timber frame. When
the horse began to travel around the
frame the screw began to rise and
something had to give way. That
something was usually the stump, but
occasionally the chain broke or the
screw stripped its threads. As the
stump raised, the dentist, as the man
who managed the machine was called,
walked around it, and jabbed big
iron crowbar down through the sod.
- - L. -, Ill
low said Farmer Kelly, one of the
best known stump dentists of the coun-
ty, yesterday, as he repeated the opera
ton around the roots of big stump
that slowly rose out of the ground.
to the square inch, bes: des the weight of
the stump, if we were to make .
vacuum down there, you know"
AS the stump came out of the ground
a chain called wrapper was put
around it and the screw rod to keep it
from canting over, and then all hands
vigorously cleaned the dirt from the roots
with picks and crowbars that were
spoon-shaped at one end.
Eve get $1.25 for each stump pulled
and put in the fence. The best days
work on record is $21.25; the worst,
one stump. That was six feet in di-
ameter and weighed about two tons.
It fled more dirt than / can estimate
w tn it. When the stump is out and
cleaned, it is trimmed bit, and then
roiled on to sort of a mud boat and
dragged to the fence line. The broad,
fiat tangle of roots faces out from the
field to be fenced and forms a barrier
that no preaching colt or critter ever
tries to pass. The manufacturer
charges $3.50 for the iron parts of the
machine, and if the purchaser has not
the skill to make the wooden parts he
can buy them all ready for business
for $40 more. Within the last few
years dynamite has been used with con-
derable success to shatter the old
stumps, but it is dangerous to handle
and makes a good many failures. leav-
ing the stump partly split and more
difficult to pull than before. Besides
that, shattered stump is no good for
fencing. Stump machines came in
when rail fences rotted out. and they
fill the vacancy cheaply and effectual-
Iy."-W illiak IN. ~ Cor. N. Y. Sun.