1.a series of steps or rungs by means of which a person may pass over a wall or fence that remains a barrier to sheep or cattle.
I've been wanting to get a picture of one of the three stiles along the freeway between Grandview and Sunnyside for a long time. This is a drive-by shot--taken at 70 mph, so it is what it is. (No, I was not driving.).
These stiles allow access to irrigation weirs on the other side of the freeway fence. My presumption is that they allow irrigation district workers known as "ditch riders" to do their job without traipsing across acres of a farmer's field. The term ditch rider may have gone out of usage as more of the open irrigation ditches are piped. The ditch riders used to travel along the pathways next to the ditches to access the equipment.
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Have you ever seen a stile -- or heard of one outside a nursery rhyme? Is there some other anachronistic object in your community that draws your fascination as these stiles do mine?
1 comment:
No we have not seen a style, but, my DH father was a ditch rider in Nebraska. My DH learned to drive his dad's truck along the ditch banks.
To this day DH thinks more than 2 cars on the road as Heavy traffic
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