Rt. 2, Box 6, Slaton, Texas 79364
Fulda, Indiana, is named after Fulda, Germany. German immigrants
founded the town with a landscape similar to Fulda, Germany. This
landscape is the same as Ferdinand, Santa Claus, St. Meinard, Dale,
Jasper, Haysville, Celestine, Schnellbille, and even French Lick,
Indiana.
Fulda has a beautiful church on a hill similar to the church at
Ferdinand. The town is off the main four-lane highway and thus it
hasn’t prospered in population, but has prospered in good
people and hard work.
I came from Texas for this special event in Indiana. This was an
event for me, because our branch of the Kitten family came from
Ferdinand, Indiana. It was even more special because of friends
there, especially Jackson and Ardella Meyer, and Francis and
Julianna Lindauer.
The Lindauers own two Kitten engines, one Kitten separator, and
just recently acquired one Kitten water wagon. Francis and his sons
had the water wagon made to exact specifications, as was done by
the Kitten Machine Works. The painting shows just what quality work
they can do in Ferdinand.
Of course the Kitten equipment was used in the 150 year
celebration and parade at Fulda. The parade took three hours and
had entries from all of their neighboring towns, and was quite a
sight to see. The only way to put on an antique show after that was
to demonstrate the equipment working just like they used to, only a
few years ago. Some of the people running the equipment used to run
the same equipment for a living. It was easy to tell that, because
the horses and wagons brought the bundles in early and quickly.
They only started with nine wagons–yes, nine wagons at one time
with the first load. As one wagon was emptied, they went to the
field for another load. I was helping Sylvester Hausfurther run the
Kitten engine which turned out to be work! Of course firing the
Kitten engine is very easy, but since they are not used very often,
there are some minor adjustments to be made during the day. Being
from Texas, I catch some ribbing when we have to stop separating
while I have to work on the Kitten engine.
Notice in the accompanying pictures how the women did help in
harvesting the wheat. Ottie Betz’s daughter, who married
Herbert Burke, threw quite a few bundles that day. Another young
lady who does quite well is Sally. Everyone knows Sally–she’s
kinda sweet on David Hausfurther. David is Sylvester’s brother
and Sylvester is kind of a quiet guy who doesn’t know much
mechanically, but Francis and Mike were able to show him how to run
a Kitten steam engine. Then there is Linus Hausfurther, (another
brother), who has a good team to pull the wagon load of hay. As you
can see in the picture, he is a big, big man, kinda like ‘Big
Bad John.’ So it is best to say this about him–on top of the
wagon with reins in hand, he’s a mighty good man–Big
Linus.
No wind at Fulda, as ‘Nessie’ fires Huber. The Huber
engine is owned by Francis Lindauer. The Francis-Kitten wagon is
being put to good use.
This small wagon load pulls up to the Kitten engine and Kitten
separator. However, see below who has to finish the job: Notice: no
wind and not much smoke coming from the efficient burning return
flue Kitten.
Wayne Thieman and the Boerme family are some of the residents of
Fulda who helped us a lot in threshing and supplying wheat, coal
and water for the crew. We thank you too, even if Linus was in
charge.
To the town of Fulda, Francis and Mike Lindauer, the
threshing/separator crew, Eugene Burke, Herbert Burke and sons,
Ottie Betz who owned this Kitten separator, and the welcome help of
people like Sally Gogel, I thank you all!
And to the readers, I hope I have shown through the story, and
especially the pictures, how the Kitten equipment operates and how
important it is to have a working show with plenty of
volunteers.
