Past Shows Reviewed

The University of California-Davis Antique Club put on a good
show with J. I. Case equipment, though someone stole our tongues
for the horse binders after the show. In August I went to the
Irricana, Alberta, Canada three-day show. Very good show. I learned
a lot and picked up binder canvasses and parts. Murray Olsen gave
me enough canvass for four binders, so I gave Pioneer Acres two
brand new J. I. Case canvasses or drapers for their 16 ft. Case
combine for the J. I. Case Show in 1994.

Then I headed on down to the National Show at Yakima,
Washington, for four days. That was good, especially watching an
old pro like Paul Hahn on his J. I. Case steamer belted up,
starting a big one cylinder gas engine. Good to see there are still
men around who can handle a steamer for what it was made for. I
also took in the Barnes Show in Belgrade, Montana, in 1991. It was
worth driving 1,000 miles to watch Austin Monk handle the 40-120
Peerless. A lot of top engineers and action at that show. It’s
the kind of show I like, where you see equipment doing what it was
made to do, not just sitting around shined up better than the day
it left the dealer’s.

If you check back to the November/December 1985 issue of Iron
Men Album, you’ll find a railcar of steam equipment being
delivered to Ken McCrary of Davenport, California. Here are a
couple of pictures taken in 1990 of Ken doing some practical work
and having a play day with the Bucyrus Erie steam shovel, digging a
road up the hillside and leveling up the land around his machinery
barn. He was doing a first class operating job, and he has more
equipment now than engineers or crew to run it. He does have two
young engineers coming on.

I also miss the late Arlo Jurney’s pictures and stories, so
I’m sending a picture I took of Arlo in 1977 at Saskatoon,
Saskatchewan.