Ditch Plow

Ditch Plow. . This giant plow was used to dig drainage ditches along the Nemaha River in eastern Nebraska, the Platte River here in Lincoln County, the Medicine Creek south of here in Frontier County, near Big Springs, Nebraska, and in Colorado and Wyoming. , Forty-eight oxen were hitched to the plow by a cable. These oxen were controlled by "bull whackers" who kept the teams moving. The plow was operated by a man standing on the main beam working the depth adjustment screws and guiding the teams to stay on the survey line. , The plow was found half buried on a farm northwest of North Platte in 1970 after having sat there for at least thirty years. When it was excavated, it sat at the museum for another thirty-five years. In late 1996, Walt Carlyle, museum volunteer, led the effort to restore it.