Lawrence Weisz writes . . . . . . .
Enclosed you will find a check for three dollars for the renewal
of the finest and most interesting magazine which I receive. I have
been getting it since 1951 and I have all the copies up to the
present except for one. I am also enclosing two pictures of some
old steam shovels that were used around 1900 or later. In the big
picture the fellow on top of the cab is C. A. Goodwin, my
son-in-law’s grand-father, who operated the steam shovel for
many years. The small picture is a later steam shovel which used to
dig marl and load dump cars for a cement plant near Castalia, Ohio.
I don’t know whether they are plain enough to be reprint c, but
I knew that they would interest you anyway.
I believe that you will remember Cletus Wryer, who was a good
friend of mine and who had built a small steam engine that he
displayed at various reunions. I hauled it to Montpelier for him
the first time he showed it. I believe that he got an old grain
separator from you which he later showed with it.
Lawrence Weisz, Route 4, Bellevue, Ohio
W. H. Hooke writes . . . . . . . . .
On Friday, January 25, 1963, Al Franckle, Business Manager of
Dickinson College called me and asked if I owned a steam engine. I
informed him that I did and he said, ‘Would you bring it up to
Metzger Hall as soon as possible?’ Metzger Hall is a girl’s
dormitory. I told him that it was in ‘moth balls’ for the
winter, but this did not dampen his hopes, and he informed me that
he was unable to get an auxiliary steam unit anywhere, and that
there were 83 girls in the dormitory without heat.
I then agreed to get the engine into Carlisle as soon as
possible, and immediately got in touch with men whom I could depend
on as firemen, Bill King, Dillsburg, R. D. 1, Ernest Shover, Dave
Sheaffer, and Dave Shearer of Carlisle, Pa. and LeRoy Boyd of
Mechanicsburg, Pa. This call came late Friday, January 25th and we
hooked up Saturday the 26th to the dormitory steam system. We
furnished heat continuously 24 hours a day until the early part of
February, 1963.
I appreciated the cooperation of these firemen, and I am sure
the Dickinson College officials share this appreciation.
W. H. Hooke, 168 W. High St., Carlisle, Pa.
Charles P. Hartman writes. . . . . .
It seems tome that the steam engine was the greatest
contribution to a better way of life than any invention or method
before or since the steam era, in fact this was a very social and
romantic period of time, people were brought together across the
nation by the steam train, and locally by the steam thresher. I
think we would have been better off if we could have held to the
period that existed prior to World War One. (one man’s
opinion)
This article may not be worth printing but perhaps you will at
least read it. I am enclosing some photos you might use, an 18 hp
U.M. Avery the writer at side. A 20 hp Advance in Okla. notice the
extra lugs and rim on drive wheels for getting around in the sand
and my last fling in 1926 at Montezuma, Kan. on a 16 hp double
simple Reeves.
My father didn’t own the above engine, only the mill, but he
did own a thresher with slat straw carrier and a 12 hp Case engine
bought in 1901. We later bought a 3254 Case separator and 18 hp
Avery engine shown in picture. I operated a number of different
engines in this area around Mount Ida, Kansas where I lived. I also
threshed in a number of places in the fireman, an experience I was
long to remember.
My last year to thresh was 1926, near Montezuma, Kan. on the 16
hp Reeves shown in picture. When the season was ended I left all
this forever, and with a sad heart moved to Kansas City, Mo. and
became a licensed stationary engineer. There is some satisfaction
in working with stationary steam and diesel engines, but nothing
fills the void in an old thresherman like the bark of a steam
engine, and especially an Advance. You may never have the largest
circulation in the country, but no publication of any kind will
have such enthusiastic readers, and may it never cease to warm the
hearts of old timers like myself who keep reaching back into the
dreams and memories of yesteryear.
Chas. P. Hartman, Rt. 1, Rocky Comfort, Missouri
