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.
When Congress voted to annex Texas. It turned sour since to Mexico, it was an act of war. Also, Texas and Mexico couldn't decide on a border. Texas wanted it to be the Rio Grande, but Mexico wnated it to be the Nueces River, about 150 miles northeast of the Rio Grande.