Old Day pictures

[MaplePancakeMan]

Hello everyone, I am putting together a display for our heritage day around here about maple syrup. I am looking for any old'en day pictures of primitive maple syrup operations to make a contrast to what is done today! If you could email me them or what not that would be great my email is basketballdemond@gmail.com

Its on the 30th. if you have hard copies and could mail them, i will mail them back when its done. Also does anyone have an old tap display or know where i can find one?

[RileySugarbush]

This may not be the oldest, but is the most primitive I have seen.

It is a flat, grooved wooden spile for insertion into a hatchet cut. Behind it is birtch bark collection tub. Found a fallen down lean to in the 70's in northern Minnesota.

[Amber Gold]

That is cool! It must've taken them forever to collect and boil enough sap to produce a gallon of syrup.

[Valley View Sugarhouse]

It must really suck when it rains, and your tub is full of .25% sap..

[RileySugarbush]

Yep, seems pretty crude and inefficient. I wish I knew how old they were. There were about 100 of them in a pile when found.

[RileySugarbush]

Here is a photo of the shed they were found in. It's interesting that the logs appear sawed implying good tools, yet the spiles were simple and wood. Other photos show rusty buckets around, so maybe ehtse were artifacts of previous sugaring that took place long before.

[MaplePancakeMan]

riley, great pictures! Thats exactly what i'm looking for. I am going to do a trifold with native american sugaring then 1910-150 and then 1951-present. I have plenty of stuff to show from today but very little beisdes a few older taps and buckets from past. i found an article online that said the natives collected sap and dumped it into a hollowed out log and then heated up stones in a fire pit and put them into the sap to boil off the water. It also included some pictures. If anyone has any pictures they'd like to submit i'd be much appreciative

[RileySugarbush]

I can send you more photos in higher resolution for printing if you want. PM me you email address if you would like them.