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My first job on the neighbor's farm was working in the scalehouse when I was 12. When I was 13, I started moving irrigation pipe for another neighbor. The half-mile long lines of 4" linked aluminum pipes needed to be moved 20 feet down the field to the next water source riser.
The pay was $2.75/hour in 1990. The work & the pay felt liberating to me. It was also great exercise.
Sometimes it was harder than others. 1 of the fields I serviced was newly planted alfalfa. The field had been deeply plowed, so the irrigation turned it to mud.
In the worst parts of the field, each step I would sink up to my knees in the mud. I had to pull my feet out & step forward, moving about 2 miles worth of line in each morning.
One evening after a morning of such work, I attended a high school awards assembly for track and field. I was called up to receive my letter, & my leg muscles cramped so severely I fell to the floor on my way up.
I didn't feel exploited. I felt liberated. It was one of my first steps out of poverty.
Image was from http://www.waderain.com/index.php?page=handmove
For reference, inflation has roughly doubled since 1990, so in today's dollars I would be making $5.50/hour.
