Scoop, dump, kick

E.S. Cole’s Snow Scraper is something of a Maine institution. Large, heavy and wooden, its cross between plow, scoop and sled has, for 52 yeas, been a status symbol for Mainers: Spartan, rugged and reliable, just as they are.

To own a Snow Scraper was to be a serious property owner, and the days have not long past when a country ride revealed nearly every driveway with E.S. Cole’s scoop parked atop a snow bank, awaiting employment after the next storm. But times change, and with the advent of $8 plastic shovels and economical, motorized snow blowers, the Saco-based manufacturer is finding it harder to sell the venerable snow scoop (cost: roughly $70) to modern consumers.

One primary objection from potential buyers, says Charley Hamlin, whose southern Maine store sells Cole’s contraption: “They’re heavy, and you have to know how to use them.” So in the interests of protecting a Maine icon, forthwith are instructions for our friends from away, who have not enjoyed the rite of passage — using the Snow Scraper to quickly clear a driveway — almost every Maine native has experienced:

1. If your driveway has a slope, start at the top. It’s easier to maneuver the Snow Scraper if you’re going downhill.

2. Move the sled diagonally, so you can build embankments as you go along. Once the scoop is full of twice as much snow as its railing height, move toward the side of your driveway, where you plan to pile up your haul.

3. Once you’re where you plan to put the snow, push up on the handle in order to tilt the snow forward, like you’re dumping a wheelbarrow. You may find that pushing up on the back fence of the scoop with the heel of your boot helps you to tip it.

4. Once tipped, kick the bottom of the Snow Scraper a couple times with the toe of your boot to loosen the snow. If you were smart, you would have oiled the scoop before the snow flew, to help you loosen collected snow.

5. Give a final, quick, upward shove on the handle to finish the dumping job. Lower the handle and slide the scoop out.

Just like that, you’ll have moved a lot more snow than any aluminum shovel could have moved, with a lot less effort and considerably faster results. And you would have helped preserve an important part of Maine’s future, too.

And the best part? You can find E.W. Cole’s Snow Scraper at most neighborhood hardware stores — thereby helping to preserve another important part of Maine heritage, too.