Author of Marvin Mill articles thrilled to find memorabilia from the fire at the mill
While I was doing research for future projects, I recently had a surprise discovery. I came across a real picture postcard that showed firemen fighting a fire in Fayette, Iowa. On the back of the card, the fire was identified as being at Marvin Mill on Nov. 6, 1909. The card was postmarked Nov. 11. The Marvin Mill was featured in articles in the July and August 2022 issues of Farm Collector. The articles told the story of rebuilding the mill at the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
The fire happened on a Saturday morning at start-up and quickly spread throughout the mill. The mill was located just across the Volga River from the town of Fayette. Firemen had just enough hose to stretch from a hydrant in town across the long bridge over the river to the mill. The entire mill was consumed in an hour’s time, leaving charred remains and twisted metal from machinery.
Finding this postcard was just plain luck. But it was quite an exciting find, as it brings a clearer view of a moment in the past.
Barry Tuller, Stevensville, Michigan
Edendale Crank Up to feature Ford Motor Co. in January 2024
Looking for a way to combine old iron and warm weather next January? Consider taking in a show in Edendale, New Zealand. The Annual Edendale Crank Up will be held Jan. 27-28, 2024, and will feature Ford Motor Co. The offering includes steam engines, vintage sheep shearing, tractor pull, food and crafts stalls. For more information, contact Event Coordinator Ken Bell at kpbell@xtra.co.nz or visit the Edendale Vintage Machinery Club page on Facebook.
Remembering the experiences of working as a young farm hand
The photo of the threshing machine on Page 20 of the March 2023 issue of Farm Collector brought back memories. I am 86, headed for 87 in November. When I was in the fifth grade, I worked for my uncle on my grandma’s farm in Canton, South Dakota, during harvest and plowing in the fall. He bought an old Oliver Hart-Parr and my dad cut the wheels down and mounted rubber tires on it. My dad had his own garage in Canton starting in the 1930s and worked in it in the winter (he was on a gravel gang in the summer). Sometime in the early 1930s, after I was born, he quit the gravel gang and went fulltime in his garage.
I went on the threshing run with an uncle when I was in the fifth and sixth grades. I greased the machines at noon while the men rested in the shade. My uncle later bought a Farmall F-12 and Dad mounted rubber tires on it also. He had a jig to mount the hub and spokes on and welded the spokes to the wheels.
Dad and I used to go out in the evenings and help my uncle shock the oats. How many still know how to do that? When I was in the sixth grade, I worked for another farmer during the threshing run and would drive his cattle truck to the elevators in town. There were no driver’s licenses in South Dakota until about 1955. I had a car from when I was 13 on. My dad and his partner at Hoffman & Michelson sold Kaiser-Frazer cars from 1946 to 1954. I later had two different Henry J cars. Wish I had one now.
In the seventh grade, I started working for two brothers west of Inwood, Iowa (just across the Sioux River). I worked for them for six years. They bought a Massey-Harris 44 for me. I only weighed about 90 pounds in the ninth grade and the Farmall M clutch was almost more than I could handle. I had to hold onto the steering wheel and get the clutch in and then quick let go to shift before it pushed me back in the seat. They bought a self-tying John Deere [hay] baler and I ran it all over Iowa and some in South Dakota. Sure beat the hand-tie baler they had when I started working for them. I got one cent a bale to drive the truck.
Those were memorable days for me. In the late 1980s, I tried to buy the 44 from one of the brothers. He said I could have had it but I was two weeks too late. He had already sold it to a farm in Inwood.
Russell G. Hoffman, Springtown, Texas
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Originally published as “Letters to the Editor” in the September 2023 issue of Farm Collector magazine.
