I was looking for some Halloween images in my Grandma’s Scrapbooks tonight and instead ran across a couple interesting images of earth movers.

LITTLE MAN – BIG SCOOP – Earth moving machine dumps load at the touch of a button. Mammoth machine can turn in a tighter circle than most automobiles.

This big earth mover was a new sight in 1958. Caterpillar did not come out with self-propelled earth movers until 1950. This earth mover is grading a road near Shenandoah, Iowa. The road is being widened and also flattened out by shaving down some of the hills.

HUGE EARTH MOVER SINKS INTO OLD ROADBED – On Highway 50 with its load of 20 yards of dirt.

These big earth movers were developed just in time to help build the Interstate Highway system that began in the mid 50’s.

Of course these big graders are not only used in highway construction. You will see them being used in any large construction project that needs grading.

That brings us to the now.

Just across from our office they have been grading the site of the new East County Hall of Justice.

Last week I took a walk around the block and took a few pictures of the big graders.

These are just two of the big graders that they are using. They are moving a lot of dirt as they transform the topography of the site.

What is interesting is that these are probably about the same size as the graders from the 50’s. However, they do make graders that are about three to four times this size for really big construction projects.

It is quite interesting as they have removed a large section of a berm. We can now see buildings that are block north of us that we couldn’t see before.

Of course, the view of the buildings will be blocked again soon as they start construction. You will most likely see more pictures of the construction in the future.

Steven