OZARK Steam Engine Association

2339 S. Fort Springfield, Missouri 65807-2301

Our show is not the biggest, but we feel that we put on a very
good show for the public to learn about how our forefathers had to
work hard for what they got.

Our club started about 1961, or 1962. At the present time there
are about 12 of the larger steam tractors and several scale model
engines of several makes and sizes. We have a very large boiler
that runs a hundred horsepower Brownwell engine. In that building
there is a steam electric generating plant that was used in
Mountain Home, Arkansas, to provide electricity for the city. There
are two hoisting engines that were used to lift material off rail
flat cars in Branson, Missouri, when Empire District Electric built
Power site Dam on the White River at Forsyth, Missouri, from 1910
to 1912. They lifted the material off the flat cars, swung around
to the barges on the river, and used a small tug boat to take them
down stream to where the hydroelectric plant was being built. Then
the tug boat would bring the empties back and get loaded barges to
return.

Joe Hardin’s vertical shingle mill. This mill is very rare,
since most shingle mills are horizontal. Joe found this mill in a
barn that was not in use, and was able to acquire and rebuild it.
The six horsepower Russell handles it very well. The mill was
stationary, but is now mounted for easy transportation.

Joe Hardin, of Caulfield, Missouri, with a recently restored and
rebuilt Russell. Joe found this engine in central Kansas as a
portable, brought it to his shop, and converted it to a traction
engine. It is very smooth and quiet.

These two engines had not been used since the dam was completed.
The engines and equipment were kept in a building that had to be
torn down to get them out. Our club members moved the engines to
our show location in 1990-91.