All Images © 2010 Declan J. Dillon.
Please do not use/reproduce without my explicit, written permission.
Please do not use/reproduce without my explicit, written permission.
Nearly a year ago, I came across this snow thrower far on the outskirts of Bozeman, Montana. I was on a college visit and saw it while wandering around near the b&b I was staying at. I snapped a picture and went on with my day, not realizing that in the coming year, I would be visiting it again.
It's an old (obviously) Sicard Senior (not so obviously), manufactured in the 1950's by Sicard Industries. While not out of place in a state like Montana, its specific location seems odd. It seems to have just been parked there and left, but its location in relation to civilization says otherwise. It sits on a slight hill, facing a little-traveled two lane backroad, far away from any town or other place that would necessitate a machine of such caliber. My only conclusion is that someone desiring a large-scale yard ornament positioned it there, but that seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for a simple decoration.
Virtually everything that is abandoned has a story behind it, from the child's toy left in the woods, to the vintage pickup truck resting under the collapsed roof of an old barn, to the homeless man sitting on the corner of the Walmart parking lot, attempting to coax a few dollars out of someone's cavernous pocket so that he may eat. These stories range widely in depth and color, but one thing remains true of all of them: they provide some, even the most minute, insights into past realities different to our own. The snowplow is yet another object with a story just waiting to be told, which is why I keep returning to it.
It's an old (obviously) Sicard Senior (not so obviously), manufactured in the 1950's by Sicard Industries. While not out of place in a state like Montana, its specific location seems odd. It seems to have just been parked there and left, but its location in relation to civilization says otherwise. It sits on a slight hill, facing a little-traveled two lane backroad, far away from any town or other place that would necessitate a machine of such caliber. My only conclusion is that someone desiring a large-scale yard ornament positioned it there, but that seems like an awful lot of trouble to go through for a simple decoration.
Virtually everything that is abandoned has a story behind it, from the child's toy left in the woods, to the vintage pickup truck resting under the collapsed roof of an old barn, to the homeless man sitting on the corner of the Walmart parking lot, attempting to coax a few dollars out of someone's cavernous pocket so that he may eat. These stories range widely in depth and color, but one thing remains true of all of them: they provide some, even the most minute, insights into past realities different to our own. The snowplow is yet another object with a story just waiting to be told, which is why I keep returning to it.
Have you any history of a guy named Eddie Nash of Bozeman Montana. I would love to find a picture of him driving his hay wagon to town
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