I took this shoe to my son who works at Old Sturbridge Village he does the blacksmith shop and the farm. He told me it is a winter ox shoe,which gave them more traction and most likely due to the area I was hunting was hills and rocky, they were most likely logging at the time this was probably lost. He also went on to say that that type of shoe is around the 1850's time period.
Cool find! I find those in our woods as well and learned that oxen were used to pull the logs around. They would more often do this in the winter when the ground would be frozen/icy, making it easier for the logs to glide across the ground.
Here is what it might look like under all the rust! My goal this winter is to clean up all my old iron finds.
Sweet! Whens the last time any of us have even seen an OX let alone the poor guy who had to put shoes on them? Thats a trophy alright...Like damn! Some poor guy had to cut logs with a hand operated axe or crosscut saw and snake them out of the woods behind an OX? Who does that?! Chainsaws and tractors have made us soft!
Ox shoes give me the shivvers everytime somebody finds one..just on the mental image they project...talk about tough times! When the biggest problem nowadays is getting a clear cell tower signal or free wifi!
Mud
I watch my son do it all the time at the living 1800's village he works at some days he's a blacksmith making shoes,chain,forged nails, then other days he works on the farm plowing fields with oxen,tending sheep on the town common,.while in 19th century period clothing.