Barrow Pit or Gravel Pit?

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NoSmoke
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Location: Mid Coast Maine
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Post by NoSmoke » Mon. Aug. 28, 2017 9:17 pm

I always considered our farm to have a gravel pit; nothing big at 7 acres, and nothing deep at 32 vertical feet, and except for a couple of occasions only used it for our own use and never sold the gravel off. But when the USDA-NRCS Soil Engineer was here to ensure it met federal specifications for a road I had to build this summer, she called it a Barrow Pit. The term threw me off so I looked it up and got even more confused.

The original pit started with the use of a tracked front shovel and as such when they hit a big rock bigger then its 5/8 bucket (don't laugh) they would set over and dig elsewhere. This left piles of overburden here, and cuts there, and there really is no shape so I guess I could see why she was confused...or am I?

I wonder if having a Barrow Pit is better than having a Gravel Pit based on environmental oversight? I would think it is grandfathered since it started back in the 1930's or so, but I will call it whatever sounds better. I was just curious as to what others thought on the odd name the Soil Engineer gave it?


 
KingCoal
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Post by KingCoal » Sun. Sep. 10, 2017 8:11 pm

well, if we consider Webster's it's the road that makes the diff.

they say that a barrow pit is any trench or ditch type excavation used to provide fill or drainage for a road.

it seems to me that since you used it to provide fill or other needs on the place before the road they would have called it a barrow pit then too. perhaps in their thinking it's not a gravel pit unless there's some income attached to it.

or not, and who knows what those types use to support their ideas ?

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