Thresher was used until 1918 and the engine until 1928. This
engine was used to plow with pulling six 14 inch plows. As the
engine got older, they pulled 4 14 inch plows. My Dad, Paul Klose,
told of threshing all day to get a few sacks of grain during the
dry year of 1911. There were plenty of good years. Also, they
threshed until the weather got too cold to thresh or the snow
came.
The engine is a Case 60 HP and a 36 x 58 separator with also a
water tank on four wheels right after it was unloaded at the
Chicago Burlington and Quincy railroad depot. Here we see it ready
to pull out of town to my father’s farm, Herman Bieritz, Sr.,
five miles south of Yorkville, Illinois. We were the first job in
the company that year. The company which grew to 24 farmers called
themselves the Eagle Threshing Company.
This engine bought in 1907 was manufactured and installed and
put in operation in August 1912 and was shut down April 15, 1968.
It was one of the most beautiful sights to see running. It ran 24
hours a day, 144 hrs. per week, 52 weeks per year, a total of 7,488
hrs. per year. The total hrs. of operation for 56 years was 419,328
hrs. The engine has turned over 1,886,976,000 times and is still in
good running condition. It produced approximately 90,000,000 c.w.t.
of flour.