510 N. 21st. Street, Escanaba, MI49829.
Wish you could all have been to the First Annual Show of the
Upper Peninsula Steam and Gas Engine Association Inc. at the U.P.
State Fairgrounds in Escanaba, Michigan.
The morning of September 18 dawned partly cloudy to the relief
of Skip Dufour and myself. (We signed the note at the bank for $800
to finance the show). I was at church about 9 A.M. when Pastor
Howell came in and said the fellows over at the fairgrounds were
getting steam up and things were starting to move. (I understand
Skip Dufour and Clarence Sherman started firing up the steam
engines at 6 A.M. with wet wood. Was Sherm ever excited!) By 5 P.M.
250 (paid) people had come in and favorable reports had come from
all of them. One man stopped by on his way back from a large show
in Minnesota and said we had better equipment than they did! Not as
much, but older and better restored. Several people wanted to join
the Association, a few wanted to buy or sell, or ask for advice
about tractors or engines they owned.
Threshing went well (oats) with our 22′ Bell City thresher
operated by Skip’s superb Port Huron steam traction engine.
Terry Alexander’s G.P. John Deere pulled the thresher well too,
but really barked when the fellows laid the bundles in end to
end.
Allen Dill kept the people entertained with his early Fairmont,
People had a hard time understanding how it ran either way. Al
Strahl kept the engines on ‘Gasoline Alley’ gassed, oiled,
and running. My Novo is set to run about 200 RPM and one fellow
just sat down and watched it. He just couldn’t believe the
thing wasn’t going to stop.
Dave Housman took off with my Farmall Regular like someone was
after him with a torch and found that the steering doesn’t work
when the gear falls off the shaft. He got control of the thing
though and after some searching found the small gear in the grass
and he fastened it solidly this time.
Saturday night when I stopped by to check on how things were
going, Skip and Al were trying to start my 7 HP Economy (Remember
Skip, anything can be fixed.)
Seven A.M. Sunday found me splitting wood for the hungry steam
engines. Skip looked like he needed a vacation instead of being on
one. By the time people started coming in the gate we had most of
the gas engines going, the two Port Hurons had steam up, and were
hoping for lots of people (about 800). In they came! One man
stopped who lived in Vermont near where our 1904 Gray and Sons
thresher was built. He said ours was one of the better shows he had
been to.
We threshed with Escanaba Machine Company’s 10-20 Titan
first and then with Skip’s Port Huron. More people came in. By
early afternoon we had people standing all over looking at the
tractors and gas engines. Everyone loved Dennis Takalo’s Port
Huron portable, especially the children who pulled the cord on the
whistle. More people came in!
About 3:00 the clouds began to get heavier and it appeared that
the rain we so dreaded would appear. It did, about 4 P.M. Everyone
worked like beavers to get the precious equipment inside. It rained
harder; the tractors were run in. It rained harder. We hauled
engines. It rained harder. Al Strahl was hit by the flying crank
while starting my Farmall Regular. It poured down. We hauled more
engines. We were soaked. Finally everything was inside. Our first
show was over!
