Below is the type of mule drawn scraper Clive Burgess says that his father used to cover the bones of the 1857 Massacre Victims. Click on photo to go to web site with image or articles on the Fresno Scraper. (Click on images for more information.)
19th-century example of the scraper whose design served as the basis for most giant earth-movers
The partners sold their patent, and the name Fresno Scraper comes from its first manufacturer, the Fresno Agricultural Works. But I like to think Abijah first conceived his idea while working on the long entrance to his Saratoga property. Local maps still show McCall Avenue in 1876, but the name was changed by 1885 and the road has now been known as Fruitvale Avenue for over a century.
This is a Fresno Scraper , invented in Fresno, California, 125 years ago. This must be a newer version as the sign dates this one to 1915. It is regarded as one of the most important agricultural and civil engineering machines ever made.
Photograph of Fresno Scraper use on the Sunny Bank Farm in Nicolaus (Calif.)
Earth Moving Devices for Irrigation and Road-Building
Fresno scrapers in action on an Oregon highway project in the period around 1915 when efforts were being made to get Oregon "out of the mud".
