Rt 3. Fredericktown, Ohio
I am sending a picture of my 20 H.P. Minneapolis steam engine
No. 8567. built in 1924. It is in A-1-condition with new flues,
cleaned, painted the original colors and Ohio State inspected.
I use it on my sawmill which is a wonderful power and cheap to
operate. My mill is a three head block with a 56 inch saw. I
really works nice. I also made a log turner from an old hay tedder,
grain binder clutch, an airplane starting motor, h.p. electric
motor and a drum with cable wrapped on it. It will turn the largest
log with ease and saves a lot of back strain.
I do the sawing even through I am 72 years old and my wife Emma
does a fine job of off bearing. Our youngest daughter, Lareta
Goossens, who you see in the picture with the youngest of her three
children and myself, fires the engine and can start it very
smoothly. I was amused once when we were sawing pretty steady and
the logs were very large, she said the water was a little low and
the injector would not put water in the boiler. So I went to her
aid and as we had been pulling pretty hard, the injector was hot so
I drew a quart can of cold water from the faucet I have on the rear
water tank and poured it down over the injector and it took hold
immediately so that solved her problem.
We also have another daughter who’s husband, Kenneth Jewell,
and our son, Leland Winand, has helped a lot in the mill too. The
largest log that we have sawed was 49 ft. 10 inches and it squared
16 inches. Some log! We have just finished the last of the 75 logs
that was in and are closing down for the winter but hope to open
again in the Spring.
I enjoy reading the Iron Men Album very much to see what other
steam fans are doing. I have threshed and fed the seperators day
after day and ate a lot of dust but guess it didn’t hurt me.
When the whistle blows for dinner it is like a factory, the work
stops and so will I for this time.
