This shovel was used in the Connecticut River Valley around 1900 when onions became an important crop. The open design of the scoop allows dirt, debris, and very small onions to be sieved out. The design might also have lightened the weight of the shovel, which could make a difference to the laborer shoveling all day. The soil in the Connecticut River Valley, from Wethersfield, Connecticut, to Hadley, Massachusetts, was well suited to the cultivation of onions and the available workforce of Eastern European immigrants in the late 19th century made for heavy production of this root crop.