Item 20805 - Bangor and Aroostook Railroad snow shovel, ca. 1920

Item 20805 - Bangor and Aroostook Railroad snow shovel, ca. 1920
Contributed by Presque Isle Historical Society
Item 20805
Bangor and Aroostook Railroad snow shovel, ca. 1920
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Faye Jandreau of St. Francis used this shovel to clear tracks for the Bangor and Aroostook Railroad in the 1920's.

Wooden snow shovels such as this were used until the 1950s when more mechanized ways of removing snow became available.

Young men in the area sometimes skipped school after storms to get jobs shoveling snow for the railroad.

Several of these wooden shovels would be lined up for the young workers to claim for the job. If no shovels were left, no work. In the late 40's the pay was 69 cents per hour to shovel tracks and switches.

Often they shoveled snow onto flatcars that were moved to a trestle where the snow was shoveled into a river or stream.

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