This Article was taken from the Winchester Sun, Winchester, Ky.
We know it will be of interest to our readers.
Weather permitting, the threshing of 35 acres of barley here
Friday with a 35-year-old J. I. Case Threshing Machine pulled by a
steam engine, will probably mark the close of harvesting by this
means in three generations of one of Clark County’s oldest
The event is being staged by William M. Jones Jr., a member of
the second generation of Jones men to follow this profession at his
farm 10 miles south of Winchester on the Combs Ferry road.
In line with progress and the increased use of the new type
combine, in conjunction with the shortage of farm labor, this type
of threshing has fallen into disguise, and Friday’s operation
is being staged to fulfill the 50-year-old farmer’s desire to
hear the ‘chug-chug’ of the old steam engine once again as
it powers the 1918 model 32 by 54 inch thresher.
Mr. Jones’ father, the late W. M. Jones Sr., who died
in 1950 at the age of 83, operated a custom thresher for 31
consecutive years, when the production and harvesting of wheat and
other small grains was one of the major industries of Clark County
and Central Kentucky.
Wm. Jones Jr., joined his lather in the threshing work at the
age of 14, and in 1925 he set up his own threshing crew, which went
from farm to farm during the grain harvesting season. His son,
William M. Jones III, 24, has assisted with the threshing work for
several years, though the operations have gradually declined to a
smaller scale, and will operate the steam engines at Friday’s
demonstrations.
The three Jones men have a ‘yen’ for tinkering with farm
machinery and are skilled mechanics, and as a ‘hobby’ they
now have three steam engines on the farm, two of which will be used
in Friday’s operations. One of the machines is a 60 horsepower
1925 model Advance Rumely; the second is a 65 horsepower 1928 model
J. I. Case and the third is also a Rumely model acquired in
1941..
