708 White Oak Drive Silver Spring, Md. 20910
The picture of the 13 hp. Nichols & Shepard Compound on the
cover of the January-February 1971 issue of the Iron-Men Album
reminded me that for a long time I have neglected sending to you
some photos I made at the September 1969 Mason-Dixon Steam Engine
Show at Arcadia, Md. I enclose two photos of an 8 hp. Nichols &
of Queen Anne, Md., who is seen in one of the photos with his hand
on the coal bunker. This is a dandy little engine which Mr.
Lovelace estimates was manufactured in the 1890’s.
The third photo is a 20 hp. Aultman-Taylor in fine condition
which is owned by Mr. William E. Hall of Burtonsville, Md. I
believe this fine engine has been written up in the Iron-Men Album
before; but to refresh the memories of your readers, the engine was
built in 1912 and sold to Mr. Joe Miller of White Oak, Md. I
understand that Mr. Miller, when he made the contract with the
company to buy the engine went to the factory and spent virtually
the whole winter there supervising personally every step of the
manufacture. You can bet he had a splendid engine when he got it at
White Oak, Md. When Mr. Miller was unable to continue using the
engine for sawing and threshing he persuaded his old friend, the
late Mr. B. C. Beall to buy it, knowing that Mr. Beall would take
good care of it. Mr. Beall pulled a sawmill with this engine until
1956 when he retired. The present owner, Mr. Hall, is Mr.
Bean’s grandson. I had the great pleasure of knowing Mr. Beall,
having visited his sawmill at Burtonsville with my father, when he
was still pulling the sawmill with an old Frick. The Aultman-Taylor
was standing nearby and hadn’t been put into the belt yet. At
that time I also had the pleasure of getting acquainted with Mr.
Hall and always look for him and the Aultman-Taylor at the Maryland
shows. In the enclosed photo it is belted to a dynamometer and it
was barking loud enough to be heard in Baltimore I think.
I am always interested in Nichols & Shepard engines because
I grew up around them on our farm south of Meadville, Missouri. My
Dad had a 13 hp. on a sawmill for many years and later had an
interest in a new 16-50 engine and thresher outfit bought from
Nichols & Shepard. Our little 13 hp. I’m afraid went to the
scrap pile long ago, but the 16-50, the last time I saw it was on a
sawmill owned by Henry Still near Chillicothe, Mo. Mr. Still died a
few years ago and I suppose the engine is still on his farm.
Not many Nichols & Shepard engines were shipped from Battle
Creek, Mich., to the eastern states. Good engines made by Frick at
Waynesboro, Pa., were a lot easier to get. In the middle west
however, there were lots of Nichols & Shepard, Case and Reeves
engines.
If my friend Bill Hall happens to read this story about his
Aultman-Taylor, I hope he finds that I have all my facts straight.
I know that there is a great deal more that could be written about
this fine engine. If I have any of my facts loused up maybe Bill
will write me and set me straight. It would be a pleasure to hear
from him. In any event, I will be looking for him and his engine at
the Maryland shows again this fall.