REUNION REPORTS

During the two days that provided ideal weather conditions for
the occasion, they saw enacted, the various farm operations – much
as they had been performed forty and more years ago.

Steam was king during these two days. The present day tractor,
combine and pick-up baler were left in the shed and steam and its
accompanying machines took over. Thirteen steam traction engines
and three portables were put through their paces, much as they had
done many years before. First, there was steam threshing and
baling; then sawing. Another engine then made short work of a load
of green corn by cutting and blowing it into a 40 foot silo. In a
few minutes another engine produced wheat flour and corn meal with
a Buhr stone mill. At other times, an engine could be seen
demonstrating its power on the fan. Twice daily, these brightly
painted giants of yesterday were paraded around the barn yard so
that all might have an opportunity to see and hear them.

The old gas tractor was not forgotten. Included in the show were
a 1921 Oil Pull 20-40, a 1935 Minneapolis 27-42, a 1914 IHC 8-16
Mogul, a 1915 IHC 10-20 Titan and a 1914 Allis-Chalmers 10-18. All
were in excellent repair and beautifully refurbished.

Attracting much attention was a well-kept horse power baler,
made by the Panama Hay Press Co., Kansas City, Missouri, in 1904.
This machine was in daily operation, being operated by a beautiful
team of horses.

Engines shown were: Peerless, Frick, Huber, Scheidler, Keck
Gonnerman, Advance-Rumley, Port Huron, Case, Baker, Russell and
Aultman-Taylor. Other machines included Frick, Huber and
Aultman-Taylor threshers; Ann Arbor Baler and a Buhr Stone feed
grinder.

Membership rolls in the association continue to increase and an
entirely new form of entertainment is being provided for the people
of the area. The officers and directors feel that their work and
efforts expended in presenting this annual show are appreciated by
the public. Plans are already being prepared for a bigger and
better event for next year.

PAUL F. CROW, Charleroi, Pennsylvania

The Richland County Steam Threshers Club Reunion

The men and officers of The Richland Co. Steam Threshers Assn,
Inc. would like to take this opportunity to express our sincere
thanks and appreciation for your advertising in the ALBUM. We know
that it takes a lot of time and effort on your part to make this
possible.

The 1960 show was the biggest and best of our shows so far! This
was only possible by the cooperation of men like Mr. Earl Logan,
our chairman; Mr. Sam Yeater, Vice-Chairman; Mr. Marion Lutz,
treasurer; Mr. Harry Moomaw of Dover, Ohio, Mr. Walter Luke,
Baltic, Ohio, Mr. S. J. Hoagland of Mt. Vernon, Ohio, Mr. Fred
Ammeter, Mansfield, Ohio and a host of others including the ladies
of our organization whom we all owe for their part in it a big
thanks.

The show which featured 21 Steam Engines and several large old
Gas Tractors, Saw Mill, 2 Pans, 4 Threshers, Shingle Mill, old
Flint Mill, Prony Brake, Ladies Tent, Steam Roller, etc, all in
operation, was a success.

We would like to express our thanks to Mr. Geo. Edinger, Mr. L.
H. Little and the other men of the Miami Valley Threshers group for
their help and cooperation this year in making our show a
success.

This year we featured an Antique Auto Show which we think was
appreciated by a lot of people both young and old. There were some
30 old cars of all makes and in very fine condition.

In a meeting Oct. 9, 1960 we elected the following officers for
the coming year: Chairman, Mr. Earl Logan, 1392 Beechdale Dr.,
Mansfield, O.; Vice-Chairman, Mr. Sam Yeater, 220 Rhein Ave.,
Mansfield, O.; Ass’t Vice-chairman, Mr. Fred Ammeter, 620 Lex.
Ave., Mansfield, O.; Sec’y, Mr. Thomas J. Woodard, Rt. 3,
Bellville, O.; Ass’t Sec’y, Mr. Ralph Weidman, Rt. 2,
Wooster, O.; Ass’t Sec’y, Mr. John Boner, 397 N.Trimble
Rd., Mansfield, O.; Treasurer, Mr. Marion Lutz, Rt. 5, Mansfield,
O.

The 1961 show will be held at the same location the first
Saturday and Sunday of August unless something unforeseen should
come up which would change our plans.

In closing, we once again want to thank you and your staff for
their fine cooperation and hope that you are repaid in health and
happiness.

Secretary, THOMAS J. WOODARD, Rt. 3, Bellville, Ohio

The Miami Valley Steam Threshers Reunion

Although it is pretty late to be reporting on last year’s
show, there may be some of your readers who would like to have a
run-down of events.

Our 1960 show was the biggest in our history and when it closed
on Sunday evening everyone was pretty well worn out. The gate
keepers were going in circles and our fine sheriff’s deputies
kept traffic moving nicely.

Friday was a nice warm day but not too big a crowd. Saturday was
quite windy, so much so that it was hard to get messages over the
public address system. Then on Saturday afternoon one of the boys
was working his Baker a little hard on one of the fans and before
you could say ‘Jack Robinson’ a load of wheat that had been
pulled up on the leeward side caught on fire. As in most cases, the
fire truck was at the opposite end of the park and before it could
get back the wheat was a total loss. The wagon was upset but it
suffered considerable damage.

About an hour after this excitement the wind storm hit and three
of our large tents went down. No injuries reported except for one
child that was struck on the head by a falling tent pole. It was
just one of those days!

We had quite a nice assortment of large engines, about
twenty-three in all, two 6 hp portable engines, and quite a number
of models of various types, mostly three and four inch scale. An
item that drew a lot of attention was an old burr flint mill owned
by Ralph Amstutz of Richwood, Ohio. Lee Gaeke of Bucyrus hooked his
6 hp Fleming traction engine to the flint mill and they ground
wheat meal and corn meal for our visitors.

We also want to extend a special welcome to those who
participated in our show for the first time. They were: Earl Logan
of Mansfield with his 12 hp Aultman Taylor; Bun and John Boner of
Mansfield with a 20 hp Peerless; Schwilk Bros. of Lancaster with
their 20 hp Leader; Rufus Shockey, Marysville, with a 40 hp Case;
Harvey Roszman of Upper Sandusky with a 16 hp Huber; Rinehart and
Long, Marysville, with a 19-65 Baker; Charles R. Strain of Fairborn
with his 21-75 Baker; V. E. Mulherin of Columbus with a 60
Caterpillar tractor and Arthur Hartzler of West Liberty with a
25-50 Baker tractor.

Fred and Sam Paul of Frankfort, Indiana, added a lot to the show
this year with their road locomotive. They did a wonderful job
entertaining the ‘small fry’ and hardly got time for a
coffee break.

The opening day of the show was declared by our president,
George Edinger, as ‘Tustin Day’ in recognition of their
faithfulness over the years: they are J. Russell, George, Paul, Ira
C. and W. Lewis Tustin.

The Shawnee Antique Auto Club gave us a nice parade and drag
race on Sunday afternoon and brass plaques were awarded the owners
of the cars. After serving the Miami Valley Steam Threshers for the
past several years the president, George Edinger, and the
secretary, L. H. Little, asked to be relieved of their duties and
to elect other members to office. At our regular membership meeting
on December 4th the following were elected to serve for the coming
year:

President, Lawrence Apgar, Rt. 1, Bellefontaine, Ohio;
Vice-President, Chester King, 252 Northwestern Ave., Springfield,
Ohio; Secretary, John E. Logan, Rt. 4, Urbana, Ohio; Treasurer,
Byron Beatty, Windsor Ave., Urbana, Ohio; Chaplain, Dane King,
Springfield, Ohio.

The show this coming year will be held in Goshen Memorial Park,
Mechanicsburg, Ohio, and the dates will be July 28, 29 and 30,
1961.

We hope that those of you who have not yet visited our show will
make an effort to come this next year. You can find plenty of old
engineers (and some young ones) to talk ‘shop’. Especially
we want to thank the steam engine magazines for their publicity and
fine advertising given us through the years. Enclosed are some
pictures you might want to use at some later date.

L. H. LITTLE, Secretary, Urbana, Ohio