Rusty pieces of metal. Skeletons of overworked tractors. Dead pick-up trucks with busted out windshields.

            Eyesore? Or, is that heap of junk worth something?

            Venture down nearly any Nebraska back road, pass by a farmstead – abandoned or thriving – and you’ll more than likely see a mountain of scrap, piling higher than a haystack.

            Scrap yard. Junk pile. Bone yard.

            Call it what you want, but that heap of leftover ironworks longs to be repurposed, resold, or recycled: the three R’s of scrap pile use.

            The scrap pile has historical significance for Nebraska and the nation.

            During World War II, Nebraskans hauled metal, tin foil, and even paper to scrap drives. In 1942, Nebraska ranked 14th in the nation for collections, gathering 111 percent of its quota to assist the war effort. The morale boost gave Nebraskans an increased feeling of helpfulness and patriotism.

            Perhaps Nebraskans were a bit too overzealous donating to the cause. Nebraska Historical Society documents give examples of historical objects being sent for salvage. A Civil War cannon from Fort Omaha, as well as a cannon located in Fairbury utilized in the Spanish-American War were given up.

            It’s unfortunate these artifacts were lost.

            For years, farmers have used their ingenuity, pulling bits and pieces of salvageable material from the mound of metal, reusing a section of pipe or cutting angle iron for a special project.

            My grandfather was the master of repurposing. Cousins Brian and Curt, along with sister Laurie  and I, would explore the massive swells behind grandpa’s shop, never knowing what we would unearth, always wondering how we could put these treasures to work.

             We wondered why he kept springs and engine parts, varying lengths of metal and old farm implements.  Grandpa was a welder, a darn good one from what I’ve been told, and he relied on the salvage pile to repair equipment or to create new projects. 

            When I moved to my grandparent’s farm, I still enjoyed exploring the area behind the shop. The girls and I found a couple old ploughs, which we repurposed as landscaping decorations; a tub from grandma’s wringer washer, repainted and repurposed into a flower pot; and grandpa’s experimental irrigation system made in the early 1940s, which curiously resembles a modern-day center pivot system.

            Was my grandfather a packrat, saving any fragment of material for future use? Was it an innate response from enduring the Depression, when every trace of any material could make the difference between survival and loss?

            Or was it just a common sense approach to farm life and conservation of resources?

            Now, with salvage prices at reasonable rates, it makes sense to clean up excess materials. At least that’s what husband Scott tells me. After consulting a few area recycling facilities, the average price for old appliances is $195 per ton. Unprepared metal averages $230.

            A poor economy, coupled with a need for recycled metals and high prices paid for scrap, maneuver the competitive market.

            Not a bad paycheck for cleaning up the bone yard.