Le Center, Minnesota 56057
The LeSueur County Pioneer Power Show was held August 28 through
30, 1981. The members worked diligently in preparing for their big
show, in spite of the wet weather we experienced throughout the
summer. On the day preceding the show, the skies opened up and it
poured more rain. On the opening morning of the show everything was
they did every morning for flag raising ceremonies, and the show
was on! People came dressed for wet weather and accepted the mud
and inconveniences with a smile and a promise to be back again next
year.
Tractor exhibits were down this year because of the wet
conditions, although several new additions were on display. It was
hard to move the big tractors and steamers but we did manage to
thresh oats Saturday with a 22-inch Red River Special thresher
belted to a 10-20 McCormick-Deering. Straw baling was an
interesting event with a model stationary baler and model Townsend
tractor. On Sunday afternoon the 8-roll Maytag corn shredder was
put into motion without any repairs or restoration after sitting
idle over 40 years. The shredder was built by the Maytag Company
that we are so familiar with. It was bought new in 1913 by the
family that had owned it all these years. It had been used for
custom work in the local community. It’s as big as many big
threshing machines; especially after having only seen small corn
huskers-shredders before.
Our club is gifted with many beautiful horses that were used for
different operations throughout the show. A One-ton Caterpillar
with a two-bottom plow tried plowing but had to quit to leave the
mud to ooze from its tracks. The horses proved their worth on the
farm by going out and plowing without any effort.
Our sawmill was in continuous operation all three days with only
small tractors being able to belt up to it because of slippery
conditions. Next year we will have our big sawmill in operation. It
was built by Melonek and Deutsch Foundry in New Prague, Minnesota,
nearly 100 years ago. It is a heavy built mill and takes two men to
run the carriage. The shingle and lath mill were also in prime
condition and attracted much attention. There were 80 tractors in
the line-up along with a 22 and 28 HP Minneapolis and a 18 HP Port
Huron steam engines.
The maple and basswood grove was filled with 175 gasoline
engines. There were model engines up to big oil engines. Our club
is fortunate to have some very rare engines including a few of a
kind. We also had exhibitors of motorized garden cultivators, toy
farm machinery, mills and grinders. Our club is home base for
several large collections of cast iron implement seats, tool boxes,
tools and corn planter lids.
The ladies put on a show of their own in our 40 by 120 steel
building. They had every square foot filled with crafts,
demonstrations and arts. The old-time kitchen was enjoyed by many
along with the old dolls that were so precious in the eyes of every
little girl.
Our antique cars and trucks were here again but not as many as
last year. Among them was a 1912 model T Ford along with a 1919
Republic truck on through a 1932 seven-passenger Pierce Arrow to
some beauties from the 50s and 60s.