Box 53, McNabb, Illinois 61335
Old time farm machinery and steam threshing was featured at the
53rd Marshall-Putnam Fair at Henry, Illinois on July 20 and 21,
1974. It took a lot of work to put it on, but everyone agreed that
it was worth it.
Howard and Harold Mueller of Castleton provided the IH binder to
it work. We used Francis Read’s old H Farmall to pull the
binder. Jim Quinn of Henry, Joe Monier of Sparland and several boys
helped shock the oats.
Walter McCasky of Toluca had his 16 H. P. Aultman-Taylor in top
notch shape for the fair. Herb McCasky of Toluca fired the engine
for Walter. Elmer Klein brought his 28 inch Nichols Shepard
thresher. It ran like a new watch.
Fair goers enjoyed watching and quite a few got to pitch
bundles. Some, for the first time, some, for old time sake. Gas
engines were also a big hit.
It was probably the smallest show of the year. But, it was fun.
Instead of a lot of machinery and few spectators, we had the basic
machinery and a very appreciative crowd of non-collectors. Perhaps
we will see more of these one engine shows, with luck.
