MY EARLY DAYS

wasn’t looking. Then, I got that I could line up, set and move
through the help of an engine and machine expert, a Mr. William
Phillips. I learned a lot from him, as he and his father had a
machine and boiler shop. He taught me how to set a valve, find dead
center, put in flues and etc.

Mr. Geo. Bower, who lived in Randolph, came to see our rig run.
I got to know him pretty well and he asked me how much I was
getting a day and he laughed when I told him one dollar. He said
they paid $5.00 a day in North Dakot and that he had a section of
land there and owned a big Gaar-Scott rig there. The next season, I
went along with him and ran his engine at $5.00 per day. It was a
25 hp. firebox, return flue, straw burner. You had a fireman
burning straw, so it was easy running an engine there. I had the
best of luck and had no breakdowns or accidents. This was in 1904
and I was 20 years old then. In 1905, Mr. Bower had his own son to
run his engine, so he had me write to John Jestad about running his
engine for 1905. He recommended me to him and Mr. Jestad hired me
by mail, although he never knew me before.

I left Randolph and arrived at his place to see him about the
job. When he saw me he laughed and said he thought I was too young
and too small to do a good job on that big engine. The engine was a
25 hp. Gaar-Scott, straight straw burner, about 8 years old. I had
a new governor shaft made and rebabbited it in and centered the
engine and reset the valve, adjusted the bearings and got her
steamed up. Then, he said if I could get the separator out of the
shed without breaking all the chains, I would have the job. Well, I
had good luck again. He had a m. chain and I had to be careful so
with 60 pounds of steam, I pulled it out two feet. It was uphill
and soft ground, so it was not easy. I let it roll back and pulled
again a little further. The next pull, it rolled out on hard ground
and I got the job. We started about the 10th of August and got done
the 15th of Octoberno trouble, accidents or breakdowns. Mr. Jestad
ran his own thresher, a double belted Advance, 32 inch. He was a
fine man. I did a good job for him and he and his whole family
treated me fine. Mr. Jestad sold his farm and moved to Canada, so I
lost the job for the next year but he referred me to Mr. Jake
Umdahl of Galesburg, N.D.

I wrote to Mr. Umdahl and got the job again by mail. If I was
the man that worked for Mr. Jestad, he would be glad to have me. I
got to his farm the first week in Aug. 1906. The Umdahls lived
about 4 miles west of Galesburg. I had never seen his engine, so
didn’t know what I was getting. The engine was a 35 hp.
Buffalo-Pitts, fire box, return flue. There were 6 children in the
family, 3 boys and 3 girls. Arthur was the oldest boy and he was
19. Arthur wanted to be the fireman for me but his folks said it
would be too hard of work for him. We fired up the Buffalo-Pitts
and played around with it had Arthur help me start it up and he
soon convinced his Dad he could fire. So we started the run about
the 10th of Aug. and I got home in Oct. I taught Arthur how to line
up and handle the engine and he was able to run it for his father
the next season. The nicest family I ever met was the Umdahl
family. Mr. Umdahl raised me to $6.00 a day for the work I did for
him.

In 1936, Mr. Phillips, the man that did so much for me in
helping me to learn to run and repair engines, went with me on a
trip to Galesburg. We only found one man that I knew-his name was
John Kettleson. He knew me when I was working in N.D. as Mr. Umdahl
was related to him. We had a nice visit with Mr. Kettleson and he
also invited us to a fine dinner.

The first thing Mr. Phillips did when he saw I was going to run
in N.D. was warn me about the bad water there which was hard on
boilers. Here was his warnings I. Never let the water get low. 2.
Never carry more pressure than the factory test. 3. Never run a
strange engine unless you are sure your fuseable plug is ready to
melt out in case of low water. 4. Use the best steam cylinder oil
and plenty of it. I put all big quart size lubricators on those big
engines and ran them wide open no oil pumps back in those days. No
engine will run right with a poor grade of oil or without enough
oil.

Well, that’s my early days steam engine experiences now I am
82 years young no straw or coal, so the steam is going down fast. I
like to take in all the steam shows that I am able to see and I get
a kick out of watching some of the old-timers.

The steam engine has always fascinated me. When I was a lad I
made engines and played with them. Before I was married, and while
farming, I operated an engine for my uncle. This involved
threshing, shucking corn, steaming tobacco and beds, hulling clover
seed.

In 1924 I bought my first steam engine. It was a Baker 23-90. I
have operated 8 steam engines in my time. I used a steam engine for
18 years operating a saw mill. Then I operated a cane mill for 10
years with a Minneapolis steam engine.

When combines took over I sold my engines and equipment to my
sons David and Paul. David still steams tobacco beds with the Baker
23-90. He put it on rubber to save time on the roads. I invested in
a Speicher ditching machine and ditch for the farmers.

The 8 engines that I have owned and operated have been, Baker
19-65, Baker 23-90, 20 HP Nichols & Shepard, 16 HP Nichols
& Shepard, Advance 20, Frick 24, Port Huron 19, and a
Minneapolis.