Quote Originally Posted by Theseus View Post
A whole lot of elbow grease.
You're correct, however man learned many years ago to harness the power of the wind, water, animal and human power! This post is about making a 'power supply'. I believe that it was an Amish woman who was using a foot powered sewing machine and looked out the window and observed the men using a large cross cut saw cutting through a log and came up with a human powered wood saw.

While I'm a little off topic here my Great Grandfathers homestead still stands, but is abandoned. the Root Cellar is constructed of 2' by2' by2' 'Davis Red Rock' the rock was removed from the quarry in the spring while it was saturated with water. This allowed the rock to be sawed into precise squares. The stone was soft enough to be decorated with garden rack marks! after the stone had dried, it would stay that way. This same stone is still in place at the old homestead and is also still the foundation of the Garfield County Courthouse in Pomeroy Washington USA.

All of the work was done by men using horses, levers, pulleys, sleds, etc

I guess you could say that all of that effort did indeed take a lot of elbow grease!