R 3, Box 14 Kingfisher, Oklahoma 73750
Pictured is a 25 HP double simple Reeves engine on a 32 HP
Canadian Special boiler that my uncle, the late Victor Fiegel,
owned. This engine was bought new in 1914 by the Texas Land Company
at Plainview, Texas, to break sod, for $2,500.
In 1920 the Texas Land Co. went bankrupt and my uncle, who was
against it, which I don’t think was very much. He never would
tell us the price he paid. We used it to power a 40-62 Case
thresher until the combine took over.
This engine was last used in 1934 and upon the death of my uncle
in 1961, it was sold to Wilson Carlgren at Concordia, Kansas for
$3500. After his death in 1977, his widow sold it at auction in
1981 for $3800 to Mark Ohlde of Wichita, Kansas, and it is now
stored at Palmer, Kansas.
The serial number is 7200 and it weighed 24 tons and, in my
opinion, it would do anything a 110 Case could do. (I am sure there
are some 110 Case owners who will disagree with my opinion about
the capacity of this Reeves engine.)
According to Haston St. Clair, of Halden, Missouri (an authority
on Reeves engines), it is the only Reeves of its kind left in the
United States.