A Boost for the Shows

Bill May, who is the man to contact for information about the
museum and its shows, sent IMA copies of the
magazine, and photos of steam which appear with this article. He
was very happy for the coverage, and he should be. The story was
very well done.

Southwestern has the biggest California collection of antique
farm machinery and steam engines, the article notes. It
continues:

‘Located on 35 acres of land that are planted each year for
harvesting operations, the museum is home to more than 300 pieces
of horse-drawn, steam, and gas equipment plus a country kitchen and
parlor. Twice a year, in June and October, local farmers and their
families get together for a four-day celebration of a life style
that once prevailed on the American farm. The antique machinery,
carefully restored by volunteers, is brought out and demonstrated.
The old machines do their work, as they did 50 years or more ago,
threshing wheat, baling hay, shelling and grinding corn, sawing
logs, and performing countless other odd jobs.’

That description of what takes place at the Southwestern museum
applies to countless other rallies, shows and threshers that are
listed in the annual Stem gas directory. The article says
further:

‘The themes for all these shows are unabashed nostalgia and
celebration of the values of an earlier America. Former farm boys
now in their 60s, often with grandchildren in tow, rub shoulders
with city dwellers in an atmosphere scented with the pungent aromas
of wood smoke, steam, and hot cylinder oil. These are hands-on
affairs. Visitors are encouraged to climb right up into the cab of
an operating steam engine and feel the heat from the firebox and
the rhythm of the metal floor rocking under their feet, and to
listen to the song of its exhaust. Women in calico dresses and poke
bonnets demonstrate candle making, quilting, spinning, and other
domestic crafts, while men put on displays of broom making,
horseshoe forging, and chair caning.’

Among the possessions of which Southwestern is proudest is a
1917 Holt hillside combine, in working order, one of only three in
the country that can be put into operation. This was exhibited last
year for the first time.

One of the persons quoted in the article by Simmons is Virgil
White, a school district mechanic in Los Angeles, who owns five
threshers, six tractors, 11 trucks, 30 pieces of construction
equipment, and a crane, all pre-1930. He says:

‘My wife sometimes gets pretty upset with me. She never
knows what I might bring home. Last time it was a 1925 steam
shovel. I put the machines in running order and take them around to
the farm-equipment and steam-engine shows to show off and maybe
trade or sell. It ain’t like collecting stamps, that’s for
sure.’