A slip (also sometimes called a scoop, scraper, or road scraper) was the common implement for moving dirt when doing such things as digging ponds or making fills where large volumes of dirt were needed.
RIO GRANDE. The Rio Grande rises in Rio Grande National Forest, San Juan County, Colorado (at 37Â°47' N, 107Â°32' W), as a clear, spring and snow-fed mountain stream 12,000 feet above sea level. Its origin is at the Continental Divide in the San Juan Mountains.
According to the USGS, the Rio Grande is tied with the St. Lawrence River (also 1,900 miles) as the fourth-longest North American river, exceeded only by the Missouri-Mississippi, McKenzie-Peace, and Yukon rivers.