This hay rake came from the Boyle farm in Saskatchewan. At some point it was modified from the original in order to be pulled by a tractor. I remember my Dad using it in the 1950’s with a rope pull in order to trigger it to form the windrow.
Originally it would have had a long wooden reach and would have been pulled by a pair of horses. I remember my Dad’s brother, Uncle Stuart Boyle telling a story of riding it in the 1930’s (when he would have been a teenager). He told of an incident where he cornered a little too close to a telephone pole and managed to run one wheel up the guy wire! I don’t remember if he told us what happened next — but, as you can see there were no seat belts, and one wheel much higher than the other would leave the driver in a very precarious position. Perhaps some of my cousins have heard the rest of the story.
(First Posted on Facebook in 2016)