Contributed by Presque Isle Historical Society
- Item 19015
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Description
Before mechanical harvesters were used, potatoes had to be picked off the rows and then dumped into barrels. A tractor (or horse) pulled a digging machine that laid the potatoes on top of the rows.
Pickers then put the potatoes into baskets like this one, then dumped them into barrels.
The potatoes would be picked into this basket. The picker would dump the potatoes from the basket into barrel until full. A barrel held about 4 baskets of potatoes.
The basket pictured here is 16 inches (40 cm) in diameter and 8 inches (20 cm) deep. Baskets were made locally, usually by Micmac and Maliseet people. The strips of wood used to make these baskets are harvested from ash trees.
About This Item
- Title: Potato Picker's Basket, Presque Isle, ca. 1940
- Creation Date: circa 1940
- Subject Date: circa 1940
- Location: Presque Isle, Aroostook County, ME
- Media: Ash
- Dimensions: 36 cm x 44 cm x 44 cm
- Object Type: Physical Object
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For more information about this item, contact:
Presque Isle Historical SocietyPO Box 285, Presque Isle, ME 04769
(207) 762-1151
Website
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. No Permission is required to use the low-resolution watermarked image for educational use, or as allowed by the applicable copyright. For all other uses, permission is required.
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