The No. 88 ditcher has a 7½-foot digging wheel and 5-foot-high steam boiler. It worked in Oklahoma until 1936, when it became a display piece. Today it's on display in Findlay, Ohio. Photo courtesy of ...

During the 1920s, trench digging was transformed from back-aching hand labor to mechanized continuous operation by several enterprising individuals who invented and marketed specialized trenching ...