Moving the Earth has been prepared to supply the first working coverage of the whole excavation industry.

The past twenty-five years have brought a total revolution in the machinery, the methods, and volume of excavation. The rate of development and diversification of machines is steadily increasing, and the techniques of efficient use become more complicated daily. The annual income from their work is now in billions of dollars.

But the literature on the subject has failed to keep up with its advances, and today a very large proportion of the highly specialized knowledge existing about these machines and their proper use has not been put in writing in such a form that it can be used for reference.

The result is that a tragic loss is incurred every year through unwise selection of equipment, damage to machinery through ignorance of its functions and weak points, and waste of time, material, and money in learning by trial and error. While the industry has proved that it is big and dynamic enough to absorb such losses, it would unquestionably be in an even better position today if they had been reduced.

Moving the Earth has been written primarily to fill the needs of those closest to the actual earth moving: the small contractor, the foreman, and the operator. Since their work is basic to all excavation and to the planning and direction of even the largest projects, the know-how for them should also answer most of the needs of the...