Sec. 703 Curtis Street Mason, Michigan 48854
As we all know, another season of steam shows has come and gone.
We, as a club, are now looking forward to a winter of steam
meetings and planning next year’s show. I wish that all shows
could have enjoyed the good weather and fine crowds that we
did.
We, as in most parts of the country, had dry hot weather most of
the months of May, June and July. All of the grass had dried up and
fire could have been a problem. We finally received a substantial
rain about two weeks before our show. This and some more rain made
our grounds green and eliminated most of our fear of fire.
Things got started on Friday morning with a good bunch of
engines and a fair crowd. We proceeded throughout the day with
lumber sawing, shingle mill in operation, threshing and
plowing.
Also for the first time in four years, we had our very large
crane, which runs on steam, fired up and running. We used it to put
logs on the roll way of the sawmill. This machine was built for the
Raymond Pile Driving Company and was used mostly for that purpose.
It had a new all welded boiler put on in 1956 so we are in good
shape as far as the boiler is concerned, although we still have to
replace at least one tube before next year’s show. We had many
compliments from people as they watched this fine old machine work.
It is very quiet and as smooth as silk to operate.
Our sawyer, Ken Lewis, did a fine job of operating the sawmill
as always. We sawed with many different engines during the show and
also tractors. I don’t know how many logs there were but
everything went along like clock work for all three days.
The shingle mill brought in by Bev Myers and his son, Lon along
with their 10 HP Advance, sawed many shingles which people carried
off as souvenirs.
The threshing machine was brought in by Lee Clark; he was also
separator man. The grain was short this year but good and dry so
the threshing went very nicely.
When they were done threshing Paul Bollinger baled the straw
with an old Ann Arbor baler. This is the kind where a wooden block
is inserted every so often with slots in it. A person on one side
of the machine sticks wires through these slots and a person on the
other side wraps these around each other and this ties the bale.
When I was a boy at home we had one of these too. If you
weren’t careful you would wire a block into the bale, and would
have to open the bale to get it out. You would get by with this
once in a while, but if it happened too often, you were told to pay
better attention.
On Saturday we had a weight transfer sled come in so that we
could put on an engine and tractor pull. This was open to our club
members and their equipment only. There are no prizes but we sure
had a lot of fun.
We were able to plow all three days as always, and with as many
engines as possible. We use a six bottom plow with 18 inch bottoms.
This puts quite a load on a 20 or 22 HP engine.
Our good friend John McDowell brought his power eater. This is
an excellent machine as it puts a varying load on an engine, and he
gives you as much or as little as you want.
Other exhibits, we had them. We had them poked into every
available spot. This was achieved by a very able Jim Luks who does
a super job. These exhibits ranged from all kinds of gas engines to
most anything you could think of.
In our diesel engine building, things were kept popping and
banging. Also in the small steam engine display there was a fair
amount of equipment.
The ladies had many fine things that they were selling such as
caps, T-shirts, sweatshirts, buttons and ribbons, also plates and
cups. They do much toward making the show a success.
We had a good crowd for the dance on Saturday night and I am
sure that it was enjoyed by all that attended.
There is also a flea market where you may browse or buy as you
wish. Sometime during the parade we try to put on a little comedy
act which the people like very much.
As the winter progresses we are making plans for a huge Advance
and Advance-Rumely steam engine display. This will be our feature
for the year of 1989. There will be on display also much literature
and sales promotional items. We wish to extend a personal
invitation to everybody; it will be a trip and show well worth the
time spent.
As a member of this show I wish to thank all the people that
came and all the members and exhibitors for their participation.
REMEMBER July 28th, 29th and 30th of 1989. See you then!
