A Hoe From The Santa Fe Trail Era?

You can click on any of the images to make them larger.

This hoe used to belong to my grandfather and probably has not seen any use since the mid 1950's.  It is my guess that someone gave it to him or he bought it from someone. It is old and of unusual manufacture. Here is what I think. I think the original hoe, represented here by the part with the hole that has been riveted to the lower part probably came from the United States during the Santa Fe Trail days. Someone used it until it wore out and then they riveted the original to a new slab of metal to make it useful again.

These hoes used to see a lot of action, mixing mud to make adobes and to break adobes to fit. They were also used on the family garden or milpa where the vegetables were grown. They would have also been used when cleaning the ditches etc. So I can see where they would have worn down. Sharpening hoes also wears them down.

The white spot on the image above is a quarter for comparison. Dimensions are 10 inches wide and 7 and 3/4 inches high.

Here you can see where the handle went and the fact that the original hoe wore down and rivets were used to attach it to a new head.  The work was probably done by a smith at a blacksmith shop. 

Here you can see the metal where the handle is broken. It has been broken since I knew of the hoe. Holes have been drilled so as to use screws/bolts/nails to hold the handle on the hoe. There is a bolt all of the way thru right now.
The inside face of the hoe head.

A view of the outside face of the hoe and a better look at the rivets.