Iowa 50060
Sunday, July 28, 1979, I attended the Living History Farms
‘Threshing Show.’ I wanted to see this show, take some
pictures and do a write-up on it, (simple I thought). After
arriving there I saw there was no way I could write an article
without explaining the Living Museum. This attraction is ideally
located on Interstate I-80 and I-35. In fact, it lays on both sides
of these interstates which join each other around the west and
north side of Des Moines, Iowa.
On Living History Farms there is a 1840 farm of 40 acres.
Farming is done by plowing with oxen, cradling grain, threshing
with a flail and using all primitive types of labor. Also in this
1840 plot of land is a cabin, barn, chicken house, etc., all made
from local logs and I believe all fenced with rail fence. Also
located on the plot is an 1840 stagecoach stop and trading post.
Darwin Thede runs this and the building is made from two old
original log cabins. Darwin is also the man who got the 1840 farm
started and going strong by building the log buildings, etc. In
talking with Carol Gallagher, who works at the trading post, I
learned that Barry Haglan is now the 1840 farmer. Carol showed me
the patch of corn growing on this farm and said the ground was
plowed with oxen; but when it was planting time a man, Barry Haglan
I presumed, went on ahead and chopped holes in the ground with a
hoe and she followed and dropped the grain of corn in these holes
and covered them. She said they planted three different kinds of
corn. I think the varieties were Hickery King, yellow dent and
white gourd. There are gardens at both the Oak Grove Stagecoach
stop and the 1840 farmstead. We arrived too late to see the grain
cradling and bundle tying demonstrations, but did see flail
threshing in the afternoon.
In another location there is a 1900 farmstead. All work here is
done with horses. I would say the most modern piece of equipment on
the place is the windmill.
Another addition to the Farms was opened to the public June 23,
1979, when the Henry Wallace crop center was dedicated. This crop
center is a part of the farm of today and tomorrow.
The tour to all these attractions starts at the site of the old
Flynn Dairy Farm and the Flynn mansion is being restored to the
splendor known of such places in the 1870s. At this location there
is an old-time one-room schoolhouse, a pottery building where
pottery is being made and a pottery kiln where it is fired. There
is an old carpenter shop, textile shop, blacksmith shop, veterinary
infirmary and in time there will be a complete village of the
1870s. This Living Museum opens in April and closes in October. It
is open seven days a week and at any time you can tour each of
these points of interest and actually see work in progress at each
farm for this particular time of the year.
Now for the threshing. Threshing was being done with a Woods
Brothers steam engine and this engine was made in Des Moines, Iowa.
Threshing was not in progress when I arrived. Sixteen-year-old
Richard Behrens of Williamsburg, Iowa was looking after the engine.
I learned that he is no newcomer to steam engines and that he has
helped out at the Mt. Pleasant, Iowa threshing show and various
other places. When the threshing started, I met Bob McLaren of
Manilla, Iowa who was also on the engine. I learned from him that
he used to own this engine. He had sold the engine to Leslie Sterek
and when he passed away Mrs. Sterek donated the service of the
engine to the Farms. The engine was belted to a Huber separator. At
the time I took the picture of flail threshing, Dave Jones of
Waukee, Iowa, was giving the demonstration.
Another activity of ‘Threshing Day’ was a parade with
around 50 entries including 14 horsedrawn vehicles. The Vickers
families of Adel and Creston, Iowa, had three different entries: a
2-pony hitch, a 4-pony hitch and a 6-pony hitch. A restored
stagecoach was part of the parade and I think also gave rides. A
number of restored Model T Ford cars, other old cars, old tractors,
and the up-to-date farm equipment including a new IHC 1460 axial
flow combine and a new John Deere 4640 tractor with 6-bottom plow
were parade attractions. David Campbell of Lamoni, Iowa, a Central
Hawkeye Gas Engine member, paraded a trailer load of old gas
engines. In a grove of trees other Hawkeye members exhibited
engines.
On the grounds near the Oak Grove State stop, a re-enactment
group of Dragoons (that in the mid-1800s were known as the Cavalry)
were camping. While I was visiting at the stagecoach stop, the
shopkeeper, Darwin Thede, had these soldiers looking for Barry
Haglan who Darwin said was squatting in Indian territory. He said
the scoundrel had also defrauded the store. I don’t know how
this came out but I did hear some shots coming from the 1840
farmstead and I really don’t know who got who.
