1511 Iglehart Ave., St. Paul, Minn. 55104
The 8th Annual Butterfield Steam and Gas Engine Show was held
August 17th and 18th, 1974 at Butterfield, Minnesota.
Although the weather was threatening rain on Saturday morning
and finally it did produce showers from about 10:45 o’clock to
noon, it cleared real well and ful activity was carried on in the
At the show site, a large galvanized iron building houses
antique cars as well as small antique articles, reading material of
the past, art and other exhibits-Leaving the building, Mike Kovich
and I walked into the grove nearby which is thickly populated with
burr-oak trees. These trees with their large leaves protected the
dozens of gas engines and small model engines that extended the
full length of the grove which is probably equal to two city blocks
in length and may be a hundred and fifty feet wide. On one side of
the grove a sawmill was in operation. Near the grove was a church
building and a dwelling that was marked as Amish. On the other side
of the grove is quite an acreage where the parade took place in the
afternoon and stack threshing progressed in spite of the forenoon
showers. Food was available at the refreshment stand near the west
end of the grove. A well drilling outfit was in operation near the
exhibit building.
Eisner Machacek of Northfield, Minnesota was there with his 1915
model 65 HP Case belted to a wood saw. I am unable to list the
units in the long parade that took place both afternoons.
Lloyd Belden of Cottage Grove was there with his five Case steam
engines. They are 80 HP, 65 HP, 50 HP, 40 HP and 30 HP. Gene
Rogeman, Ted Knack and Jim Mollenhauer were engineers assisting
Lloyd. The engines were used operating threshers with wing feeders.
Gene Harris was there with a big Minneapolis tractor.
One attractive exhibit was a model steel Avery grain thresher
and a model 15-30 McCormick Deering tractor. Both were perfect
models and the outfit threshed divided oat bundles real well. With
the outfit was a model bundle rack-wagon and a model wood wheeled
grain tank. I am sorry I have mislayed the owner’s name. He
owns it in partnership with his son. It took fifteen years to build
it. They live at Madison, South Dakota.
Well, this is what I have about Butterfield. It is a show, they
tell me, that is growing rapidly. One thing is sure they have a
fine location and are off to a good start. I’m sure you all
join with me in wishing the Butterfield Thresherman’s
Association the best of luck.
