Sledge Gang, circa 1905
After the circus lot was marked off, the sledge gangs arrived to place stakes for the numerous tents. With incredible precision, thousands of five foot stakes were pounded into the ground of the circus lot in less than an hour. In 1895, Cleveland Moffett described the sound of the sledge gang at work: “the blows have a well-marked accent or beat on the third or fourth stroke, so that they seem to be striking in three-time or four-time, and this all over the field.”
All captions from Circus: The Photographs of Frederick W. Glasier copyright © Deborah W. Walk/Eakins Press Foundation, 2009. All photographs by Frederick W. Glasier are copyright © Eakins Press Foundation/John & Mable Ringling Museum of Art, 2009.
