It was a pleasure to have Adam and Lena Dahlman from Power,
Montana stop over here. I worked for him on his grain farm back in
’35 raising certified spring wheat must say that was my idea of
farming all tractors and no milk cows but seems fate had me booked
otherwise. Yeah, leap-year caught up with me, so with a couple cows
and a modest credit-rating ‘we’ started farming dairy-wise.
for fifteen dollars. I had a $25.00 Titan and a team of horses.
Didn’t have much property, but lots of happiness.
Bill and Gloria Briden from Crookston, Minnesota, paid us a
visit. He’s the man with the 30 ton Marion Steam Shovel,
besides four steamers and a dozen old tractors. Bill was saying
every farmer should have a steam shovel, but I sorta disagree
’cause then we wouldn’t get any custom work. He has
re-worked the boiler on his shovel and re-built the cab and about
ready for business. He is a machinist in his own rights, builds
self-unleading sugar-beet boxes with tandem axles used when
it’s too wet for trucks to haul out of the fields. Nearing
completion too, is a four-wheel drive tractor with an 8 furrow plow
capacity. We hope to visit this set-up before too long.
An attractive Birdsall portable engine, 7×11, stood for several
years in Barron by a machine shop. The front flue sheet apparently
bad and in need of other repairs. Well, this engine was recently
bought by A. C. Gilbert of Stillwater, Minnesota who has completely
restored it put in 15 new 1-‘ flues and now runs like a top
with the pop set at 120 lbs. This is the second engine he has
restored in the last 5 years, and he is still going strong at the
age of 86. He has also broke 12 head of oxen to the yoke on a sweep
that operates a 1890 Case thresher. This outfit was the star
attraction at Terraceville, U.S.A. in 1959. He owns a most inviting
riverside home and enjoys company.
Hot weather and lack of moisture in our proximity has curtailed
our corn crop as well as pastures and second cuttings of hay.
Watering of lawns and gardens was a common sight but not so with
Alice, though I did see her water her fish worms in a wooden
bucket. To supplement feed for the cows we are presently using our
8-16 International on a Papec filler to cut up corn. Gotta keep the
milk flow up somehow. What’s better than a glass or two or
three of good cold milk with sorghum cake, a snack that really
refreshes while working on hot summer days. Thor Anderson, who
operates a machine shop at Chicago City, Minnesota tells me he
drinks two glasses every night before retiring.
Dan Boothe, Ellsworth, Wis., has his Case 11×11 at ‘House of
Memories’ Museum on Hy. 29 west of Soring Valley and fires it
up on Sundays. That will stop the cars, Dan.
Mrs. Jake Maurer made a trip to England to visit her twin
brother, Art Clarke, who spent several months in this country back
in 1958. Art sent back some dandy steam magazines as well as a
brass horse replica of the ensign on Aveling and Porter engines.
This I cherish very highly and Alice gladly granted it a place of
prominence in our home. Thanks, Art.
A man rushed into the R.R. Station to buy a ticket. ‘Where
are you going?’ asked the agent. ‘Don’t know,’ came
the reply. ‘Then what do you want to buy the ticket
for?’.
Lyman Matthews of Groton, South Dakota, attended the Ft.
Sisseton, S.D. celebration. July 9th. There was an 1893
Merry-Go-Round run by an old steam engine and it was kept busy. One
little boy, 5 or 6 years, asked his mother what was in the
wheelbarrow near the engine and she told him coal (and they live in
Sisseton) – Needless to say Lyman was convinced everyone still knew
what coal was.
Stopped at John Mayparks to pick up a gas engine. Asking the
four yr. old daughter – ‘What’s your name?’ ‘His
name is Queenie and He’s gonna have pups’
Might add a note of disappointment, the ownership of the Trap
Rock Stone Quarry at Dresser, Wis. has changed hands and steam
powered equipment is on its last. The big shovels in the pit are
now only symbols of the past. A steam clam shell and one saddle
tanker are still in use to load out crushed rock from the stockpile
but their days are numbered.
Once a man carries his bride over the threshold, she usually
puts her foot down.
