Grubbing: Can ya dig it?

Grubbing: Can ya dig it?

   A recent conversation at the Visitor Center led to the question of the origin for the term ‘grubbing.” A quick answer is found in the online Meriam Webster dictionary, but to add context we’re looking at the contract signed by Otis Eddy to construct the Schoharie Creek Aqueduct.

   In 1838, Eddy would be awarded the contract which specifies “...the work necessary to complete the grubbing, clearing, excavation, embankment, lining, puddling, slope wall and docking that may be required on five chains of the line…” for the canal enlargement and aqueduct.  A “chain” being sixty-six feet.  The work was begun in 1839 and the aqueduct completed in 1841. But, long before that, people understood the term “grub” in reference to clearing of the land.

   According to Meriam Webster, the etymology or
origin of the term is from the Middle English word, grubben which is similar to a term from the Old English, grafan, meaning to dig.  As a noun, the term grubbe in Middle English came from grubben and its  first known use was as a verb in the 14th- century with the meaning defined as a transitive sense.  As a noun, the first recorded use was in the 15th-century. 

  
Nearly all canal contracts would require some form of grubbing work in preparation to complete those projects. Grubbing is still an important part of contracting work, though the methods have changed from a laborious effort with pick, shovel, plow and wheelbarrows to large modern  machines capable of grubbing 330-feet in less than an hour.

   Today’s grubbing, according to the US Forestry Service, can cost between $3,000 to $4,000 per mile. Let’s run some fuzzy math: 330ft is .0625 miles, and at $3,500 per mile that equals less than one hours work at a cost of approximately $218.75 for labor, gas, etc.  The 1842 account record for the contract states it cost $10,613.08 for the entirety of the aqueduct grubbing work (that’s $406,492.61 today when accounting for inflation). The total grubbed area was far more than the outlined five chains, but for the fun of it, if we reverse that, the price of grubbing today would still only be $8,378.37 in 1842 valuation. The difference is the technology to grub, the machinery and capability —as they may have said six hundred years ago—grubben the erthe.