By your Roving Reporter, Bellevue, Pennsylvania
Each year the Chamber of Commerce of Brookville, Ohio, stage a
community picnic. The event took place this year at Golden State
Park on August 13h. The merchants of Brookville put up valuable
prizes, we never knew there could be so many rewards for winners of
the various contests which were conducted during the afternoon and
evening. Activities were made up of soft ball games, trap shooting,
band concerts, races of all kinds, square dancing, and finally a
grand display of fireworks lasting some thirty minutes. These
various activities were pretty much the usual pattern of past
Brookville picnics. This year something new and sensational was
added and that is the reason for this story. Our good and genial
friend, Homer Holp was made chairman of the committee in charge of
steam engines. And what a Show he put on. It was the talk of the
crowd all day’ Needless to say, the Holp family can put on a
steam show equal to the best of them and they are deserving of
congratulations in that their first show was an outstanding
success.
Seventy-three-year-old John Holp, father of Homer, showed the
people how to thresh with his quarter century Baker rig doing the
job. The Holp sons, three of them, showed how steamers fit into the
modern way of life, as they organized a ‘hot rod’ steam
engine race. Two such races were put on with young Harley Holp
taking the top cash prize in driving a shiny Gaar-Scott engine to
victory. It was a close race all the way with such outstanding
engines in competition as, Advance, Baker, Case, and Advance-Rumley
taking part. Young Harley was heard to say, ‘The barking of
those engines on my tail made me feel like a jack rabbit with some
fast hounds closing in.’
I think the great steady attraction all day was the sawmill
set-up. This mill sawed several thousand feet of lumber. Engines
were changed from one to another, Advance-Rumley, Advance, Baker,
Case, and last but not least a 16 hp. Russell. The only engine to
last out the full job was a little Empire 6 hp. portable owned by
Mr. C. E. Richardson. This little engine powered the slab saw for
the making of fire wood. Your reporter was made official engineer
without a grumble and this made his day a complete pleasure. Thanks
Rich. I am looking forward to more of the same next August. It was
quite exciting and most interesting to observe the smooth and
wonderful power from every one of those fine engines. The action of
the engine governors when the great saw bit into a large log, and
the music from the engine stacks, did render the quiet of the
passing hour, as those logs turned into beautiful new boards.
To be sure, the steamers took the, the large tractions, the
smaller portable and engine working models. All attracted attention
and made fun and pleasure for the thousands of spectators. They
will long remember the day and so very many of them expressed a
fond hope that the steamers, with the threshing and saw-milling
will have a part in all future Brookville picnics. We think they
will!
