Ranieri wrote:
....
My foundation was also formed with horizontally placed boards (the days
before plywood). The character thing is something that some folks get and
others don't. When we first moved in, the neighbor lady (age 98 at the
time), told us she remembered her cousin building the house and excavating
the basement with a couple horses and a scoop. I was under the front porch a
couple years later replacing a rotted sill plate and found an old horseshoe
in the packed earth.
....

Yep, Grandpa dug the basement for the house (and the pits for the grain
elevator and a whole bunch more) w/ mules and a similar "scoop" (called
a "Fresno"). I still have the bill of sale for it--as I recall it was
something exorbitant like $50 or so...

The walls were formed for a single pour, however, using 1x12s. One has
to look quite a bit to find the occasional tiny knot impression... I
can't think what the form lumber would cost today if you could even get
it.