How did they tile a field?

Over the years, I've heard different farmers refer to tiling a field, which immediately gives the exact WRONG image.  Even when they said "drain tiling", whatever you imagine is wrong.

While you can definitely see (and imagine) "making hay" or "spreading manure", you can't tell a field is tiled by looking at it.
I asked Uncle Reinhard what a drain tile was, and he said it was a 8" or 12" clay or cement pipe that you buried under a field to help drain it. Hmm, isn't that a huge job?  Especially for his dad back then?

Well, yes, it was.  ◄ That illustration is from a horticulture encyclopedia from 1914.  The scoop tool looks tedious, at best. They must have had to dig with horses and a trencher sort of machine.

 The map and two photos below are from a 3 volume report called "A Historic Context Study of Minnesota Farms 1820-1960" that Larry found online.  Almost nothing about farming in those years is beneath consideration--man!--windbreaks, cultivation methods, barn design, livestock and recommended housing for
each animal, even smoke house and outhouse design and where mama should put her garden.
So we have the drain tile plan for a fairly large field. Whew, when they invested all that sweat and a thousand tiles in one field, no wonder it was hard to give up, huh?

(I imagine those two women brought sandwiches and coffee for mid-morning break for the crew ☺).















BTW, another thing I discovered about farming and how-things-happened:


When the settlers finally got the land cleared enough to have a larger herd of cows, and creameries were built to accommodate the extra milk, the farmers demanded better roads because they had to haul the cream to the creamery without it turning to butter...isn't that cool?