In a message dated 8/3/2007 3:30:55 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:

We dug  with railroad pick,
mattock, and shovel in my day...not dig bars - like  they do now.  I wore
down the tip of my Estwing rock pick to a  nubbing...



The reconstituted adobe off the walls of the 18th century Spanish cannon  
battery at Ballast Point, San Diego, California was so tough my crew hammered  
marlin spikes into it to break it down for screening. We also used those old  
antique screwdrivers that were cast steel from the tip to the handle and  
literally sculpted our way through the adobe. But I would expect most people on  
HISTARCH have never heard of such tough soil.
 
Ron May
Legacy 106, Inc.



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