Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Blog: Culture Check
December 23, 2009
This large metal spool — a circle in a world of parallel lines — sits at the edge of a cultivated wheat field. Looking around, I couldn't figure out what it was doing there. It wouldn't be wound with hoses, would it? The wheat isn't irrigated. Barbed wire? No fences. Baling twine? Maybe, but that would be a LOT of bailng twine. Electrical cord? I didn't see any wires running anywhere. 
Maybe it's not a spool at all. Maybe it's an antenna or a sighting mechanism of some kind. Or maybe it was put there just to stir the curiosity of passers-by.
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holmes 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Great picture. The sky is marvelous. Love those colors. :)
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
What's with the loose dirt beneath it? Was there a trencher involved?
irwin 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Abby ... The sky's colors that evening were deep and rich. The photo was taken just before the sun went behind the mountains to the west.
irwin 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Mav ... the spool seemed to be sitting on some kind of frame or structure covered with loose dirt. I didn't see a trench extending away from it, but I could be wrong.
ArdisK 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Hi, Mike, I would call Doug Bromiley who owns a lot of that wheat land up there. He should be able to tell you what it is.
irwin 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Ardis ... good to hear from you! That's a great suggestion -- I'll give Doug a call. Much thanks.
LoPingFat 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
It's a Dick Chaney torture device.
irwin 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Or skeletal remains of some prehistoric, um, round steak?
francis 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Some sort of ash spreader for melting the snow early ?
theyrewatchingus 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Looks like he bought a huge quantity of drip line and it came on a spool.
irwin 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Mike ... a spool of drip line is probably what it is. But what's drip line used for? To irrigate crops? Even wheat?
theyrewatchingus 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Good point Mike! I doubt it would be used for wheat. Perhaps the drip line was used on another property or it was used at that location in prior years for a leafy crop. Good "food for thought" original post!!
theyrewatchingus 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Guess #2 Perhaps it's the outer wheel for a pivot type circular irrigation system. From Google Earth you can see many farms utilize that type of irrigation system.
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
seabrook 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
My guess is its a spool used to transport a power cable to transmission towers in the area.
OhBoy 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
The PUD is installing fiber optics in the area..Or to the cell towers.. That spool is what the bore pipe (conduit) comes on.The machine that installs the conduit is a tracked gizmo that carries the spool and has a breaker blade that plows the conduit in the ground, hence the loose ground.. I hope that satisfies your simple minds.. LOLL :)
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
My simple mind remains unsatisfied: http://www.stockphotopro.com/photo_of/pipe/B1B8M8/Photo_of_almost_empty
cascadecannahelp 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Mav what do you think conduit is made of steel, nope PVC mainly either rigid or flex. Gonna have to go with Oh Boy on this one and let you simple mind be at ease.
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
theyrewatchingus 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Mav is a genious for finding that photo. Good job! Let's have another simple mind, "guess what this is" O.P. soon!
irwin 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Mav's photo (I agree — good job tracking it down!) clearly shows a clone of the spool up on Badger Mountain. So maybe Oh Boy is right ... PVC conduit for fiber optic lines? The only problem with this theory is that the population in that area is pretty slim. Can't be more than one house per square mile. Is the PUD installing fiber along every road, even if it goes to empty fields?
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
The web photo link shows a short piece of flexible PVC pipe on the metal spool, but that doesn't necessarily mean that was what originally came on the spool from the factory. Someone probably recycled the spool in that photo and wound flexible PVC pipe onto it for their intended purpose. The reason I doubt that particular spool came with flexible PVC pipe from the factory is because of the capacity limitation of the spool itself--note the welded steel cross pieces that mark the inner core limit. I have no idea what originally came on that spool in Mike's photo, but if I were to offer a guess it would be some type of direct burial distribution cable manufactured a long time ago when making a spool out of steel was still considered cost effective.
theyrewatchingus 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
More evidence:
http://www.123rf.com/photo_5139477.html
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Puzzle solved! Thanks Mike.
theyrewatchingus 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
My "simple mind" enjoys these kinds of challenges. Good guess Mav!!
"but if I were to offer a guess it would be some type of direct burial distribution cable manufactured a long time ago when making a spool out of steel was still considered cost effective."
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Hi Mike. Down at Riverfront Park along Hawley Street (behind Sav-Mart) just east of the railroad tracks is a fenced P.U.D. facility with lots of cable on giant spools. I don't recall seeing a spool design like the one in Mike's photo above, but maybe I missed it. Will have to have a look-see next time we drive by there.
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
The picture in Mike's link shows the reels with continuous PVC pipe on them, not electrical cable. Grey for electrical and orange for communications.
The reel pictured above would never be able to hold the weight on electrical cable. Go look at the reels at Hawley Street. They have either solid wood or solid steel flanges.
I think some telecommunications company left it there after they plowed conduit in for their communication cables.
Mike (Irwin), were there any "Do not Dig" signs around?
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Sounds good, John. So how does that installation process work? Do you first direct bury the flexible PVC conduit and then somehow fish the cable through the conduit and pull it out the other side?
2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
What I have heard is you blow a "dart" through that has a line attached and pull a "pulling line" in that is attached to the cable. If the cable is big (stiff) enough, you can push it through as the conduit is smooth inside. Keep in mind you don't have any sharp corners, only long wide sweeps with continuous PVC pipe.
You can see one of the darts at: http://www.dcddesign.com/line-darts.htm They are not blowgun darts.
francis 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Still think it was used to spread ash for early melting for a wheat farmer.Ive heard of this kind of thing from a wheat farmer on badger.Why only two inner spooks? weird.
irwin 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
This lively discussion has become an incredibly fun diversion that I hope continues. Thanks to everyone for their ideas and for rooting out photos that prove those ideas. By the way, I didn't see any "Do Not Dig" signs around the spool, but it IS sitting atop what looks like a hatch or square metal plate covered in loose dirt. A good detective would have inspected more closely, but my forensics were affected by the c-c-c-cold twilight air.
Gator 2 years, 1 month ago
Up on Badger: What's this spool for?
Ever seen that TV show "Lost", Mike? Maybe they're building a secret underground laboratory that is bent on taking over the world....
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