SOOT IN THE FLUES

woods in proper attire and armed with determination and equipment
to capture their prey there also were other kinds of hunters who
came in campers, autos, by foot – you name it, properly attired to
keep warm and armed with cash in pursuit of the object to capture,
whether it be pictures, books, sewing machines, old pans, threshers
and engines models, and hundreds of other items – at the Korn Krib
Auction Sale at Earlene Ritz-mans.

Mother Nature favored us with much better weather than we had on
September 27, the original date of sale (we had a flood) thus it
was held November 1st. Personally, I was a bit disappointed in the
fact the crowd did not number over approximately 300 throughout the
day. We had all anticipated many more antique hunters.

I had a chance to meet a few of the wonderful folks from the
Magazine Families (I.M.A. and G.E.M.) Mr. and Mrs. Ed Roberts and
son of Columbia Station, Ohio, sat in the row behind me and we
exchanged conversation throughout the day – they made several trips
to the car with precious items they purchased.

In the row beside me were members of the John Kauffman family of
Mount Joy, Pennsylvania – now I did not know John, but I wish I
would have – he must have been a man of great accomplishments –
I’m sure he was, for not only did he have 14 children, but
there were so numerous items at the sale that he had, built by
hand, as threshers, engines, etc. and so many hand painted pictures
– very detailed and very beautifully done that were offered for
sale and they all brought a fine price. It was quite touching to
see such a representation of one family there to buy what they
could of the handiwork their father (or grandfather) had fashioned.
They spent over $2000 to get some of the items back and the smiles
and tears made evident – to them they were worth every penny!

John Kauffman had also painted many signs and he had done two
for Elmer Ritzman with the name ‘Iron-Men Album Magazine’
on them and a farm or threshing scene below the heading. One of
these signs went to Roy Lehman of Mount Joy, Pa. who brought the
auctioneer’s gavel to rest at $340. I questioned Mr. Lehman
later and he said – ‘Well, I didn’t want to go quite that
high, but you see I had to have it – he was my friend and I knew
him personally!’

The other sign I purchased for Gerald Lestz (our editor) under
his authority as he could not be at the sale – this sign was made
for Elmer when the Iron-Men Album Magazine’s address was Port
Royal, Pa. and Elmer carried this sign on many trips to the
Reunions. He used it when he set up at the Shows to advertise his
magazine. It brought $210.00 That’s yours truly with the
sign.

The engines were sold late in the afternoon – a Lansing – as far
as we know the only one of its kind in the world and a Birdsall –
both engines went to the same man – Paul Russell, Route 1, of
Morrisville, North Carolina so I suppose there is another Happy
Steam Man or about to be, because I believe up until this time,
Paul has been mainly interested in gas engines.

Met some other lovely people from Engine Land – a Harold and
Grace Sapp from Ithaca, New York; William Starkey of Laytonsville,
Maryland; Howard Gibble of Mt. Joy, Pa.; and Blain Strickler of
Washington Boro – sorry I did not get to meet many more, but you
know the auction was their first interest and you don’t get too
much time to visit.

The Long Brothers from Port Royal, Pennsylvania had the auction
and did a terrific job -everything was so well handled and
organized, and they are really friendly, jovial fellows which makes
for an enjoyable day – they even had heaters along and had them
going in the tent as it was quite crispy in the morning and
evening.

After the engines were sold they started to sell the books –
must have been about 4 o’clock and they sold books until after
9. AND they still weren’t finished (I never saw so many books!)
Finally they decided to sell the rest in one lot and it went to Roy
Glessner of Mechanicsburg, Roy, in turn is going to classify them
and sell them to interested folks.

Many of you will remember Roy as he used to do the cartoons for
the Iron-Men Album Magazine, which are missed by many of us these
days. Anyhow, Roy has an ad in this issue pertaining to the books,
take a peek at it – maybe there will be some books you are
interested in buying.

Much, much credit goes to the Star of Hope Sunday School Class
who worked, and I mean WORKED so faithfully and diligently in the
food tent – they were there at 6 in the morning until 9 that
evening. And the sad thing was they had prepared so much food. as I
told you we expected a larger crowd, so while they did realize some
profit, the class is still selling items that were not used – in
other words this time we had a flood-of disappointment, but we
shall Praise The Lord Anyhow – for ‘All things work together
for good to those that believe in God and are called according to
his purpose’ Romans 8:28. One thing good already – it was fine
fellowship and no one failed in their duties to which they were
assigned – but don’t mention chicken corn soup to anyone –
without protecting yourself! (We have so much left we will have to
have a soup sale later on in the winter.)

All in all, with all things considered, I believe it would be
stated as a good auction and I’m sure Earlene feels she did the
right thing by trying to get these items of earlier history into
the hands of folks who will preserve them the same as Elmer had
done. Undoubtedly, there had to be some mixed emotions throughout
the day as the items of Elmer’s hobby were distributed to many
people from different States. We trust they will be endeared to
them as they were to Elmer. And so, with that, I guess we can say
‘Korn Krib Klosed’.

H. L. STACKHOUSE, 236 Sunset Drive, Encinitas, California 92024
is a newcomer to the IMA Family and is interested in Case tractors
and is working on a 2′ scale model. (Welcome Howard, we hope
you like our group).

ELMER W. STANDLEY, Box 17, Hunter, Kansas 67452 has this to say:
‘I’m sending for another year of your wonderful magazine. I
have read it from cover to back and enjoy it more than any paper or
magazine I am taking. On page 14 of Nov.-Dec. 1975 issue there is a
photograph of a Case threshing machine in operation, Engine 6 HP 18
brake Hp, $500.00, Separator 18 x 36 in. steel, hand feed, folding
stacker, $300.00. And you ask if anyone could tell you the year it
was built. Well, I have an advertisement post card I received in
August of 1910 with the identical picture on it so that must be
very close to when they were selling at that price. Good Luck and
Best Wishes to All.’ (Thanks Elmer for the nice comments and
for the information).

D. C. GALLBRONNER, Box 1814, Charlotte, North Carolina 28232
comments:

In the Nov.-Dec. issue of IMA I am impressed by the cover
picture of the Two Stack Minneapolis Steam Traction Engine and I
also notice the reply of Mr. Harry Fischback of Kettlersville, Ohio
to the question of Mr. Laurence Bohlmeyer in the July-Aug. edition
in regard to the two stack engine of which very few were built.

The reason for the two stacks is that they were used on Double
Cylinder Engines with each Engine having a separate exhaust stack.
There must not have been much of an advantage in this exhaust
system because many other manufacturers built double cylinder
engines and used only one stack. I saw two Frick’s Double
Cylinder jobs with single stacks operating at different shows this
past summer.

Your two Magazines IMA and GEM bring back a lot of memories to
one, who when younger worked on the old steam threshing and sawmill
outfits and for around fifty years has been active and hopes to
continue so in the power machinery business.

SORRY! Yes we are very sorry that the beautiful picture on the
cover of the Nov.-Dec. 1975 IMA had the wrong caption inside. It
should have read: ‘The name of the steam engine on the cover of
the Nov.-Dec. 1975 issue is a two smoke stack engine built by the
Minneapolis Threshing Co. in 1904. They were built in five
different horsepower sizes. Courtesy of Harry Fischback,
Kettlersville, Ohio 45336.’ (Someone, some how put the same
caption in as was in Sept.-Oct. issue for the cover picture). We
are appalled at errors such as this – again please forgive!

JULIAN G. BAYLEY, Agri-press Canada Ltd. Box 39, Hensall,
Ontario, Canada NOM 1XO sends an explanatory letter about the trip
that was advertised in the May-June & July-August issues –

Unfortunately, we had to cancel the steam tour through lack of
support. While I am naturally very disappointed about this, I think
the reasons can be mainly put down to the state of the U.S. economy
at the present time. We had a lot of response to our advertisements
and to the various mail shots we did and we spoke to all those who
gave us their telephone numbers. In the end, we had 18 definite
bookings for the trip, which was just not sufficient to make it
economical and give us the advantage of bulk discounts. The
interesting thing was that the price wasn’t criticized and I am
sure if the economy was back on a normal plateau we would have been
successful.

We intend to offer the tour again in 1976 and hopefully we will
be much more successful. We had gone to a lot of trouble to make
sure the program we had arranged was as full – ‘as
possible’ and I can assure you we will do this again next
year.

One area which did cause a problem was that we came across two
small groups who had sent our reservation forms back to the
secretary of their local association and they were not forwarded to
us. I won’t go as far as saying that that made the difference
between going and not going but we do know of another dozen people
who would have joined us.

I am wondering whether or not I could make an apology through
the columns of your paper to all those who took the trouble to
write in and also make the point that we will be ‘trying
again’ in 1976. Also I would like to thank you for your help
when the idea of this tour was developed.

(We are sorry too the trip did not finalize as planned and
certainly wish you much better luck in the future, Julian. Thank
you for sharing your letter with us – I’m sure many folks that
could not go were interested in knowing the results).

GENE A. DRUMMOND, Route 1, Orient, Ohio 43146 says: ‘I want
to thank you for printing my article on the 30 HP Avery my brothers
and I own. I have gotten much favorable comment on the article in
the 1975 Nov.-Dec. issue page 37. To answer the question most often
asked: NO – the engine is not for sale. In fact, since the Album
picture was taken, the Avery has been completely dismantled, sand
blasted, painted and is now being restored back to original as when
it left the Avery factory at Peoria, Illinois in 1910.’

JAMES E. ANKNEY, 1047 Holgate Avenue, Definance, Ohio 43512 has
an old Emerson Brantingham tractor that has two wheelingham tractor
that has two wheels in front and one large wheel on the rear, no.
20806, 12 draw horsepower. He is wondering if any of the Iron-Men
Album readers know any more about this tractor.

LOWELL NEITZEL, Route 2, Box 286, Mora, Minnesota 55051 wrote to
tell us he has a 6 cylinder Wisconsin water cooled 95 HP straight
tank. According to the manufacturer that built this engine, it is
one of three known left in the world (comments, anybody?)

STEVEN R. BENHAM, Dept. of Geology, College of William and Mary,
Williamsburg, Virginia 23185 asks: ‘I would like to know if
you, or any of your friends know of any good books, either in print
or not, on the construction techniques and principles used in the
building of traction engines which were built in the early 1900s,
including Keck-Gonnerman, Case, Aultman-Taylor, etc. I am also
interested in making a steam engine model and would like help on
information on where to write for plans and etc. for building a
model.’

A communication comes from A. R. LAVATURE, 602 W. 12th Street,
Trenton, Missouri 64683 -‘Having used there old machines in
daily routine on the farm in Vermont for many years prior to World
War II, I have a strong feeling for them. In my travels and
discussion with owners and users of them, I find it rather sad that
they are now falling into the hands of speculators, buyers, dealers
whose sole aim is profit from their exchange. For those of us who
enjoy their function, when belted up to an equally old mill, saw,
pump or other tool, their acquisition is now becoming expensive or
prohibitive.

Perhaps, however, some of these fine old engines that were
relegated to the hedge row, ditch or dump will find their place in
someone’s care, who will take the time to make them once more
into an operating machine. A pox on those who hoard them for
profit! (Did I hear a lot of Amen’s just now?)

Last month I had a nice visit with Mr. and Mrs. Howard Latham of
Denton, North Carolina. They stopped in for a chat as they were on
vacation and traveling up this way. They were telling me about
their show which is held at the Denton International Airport -this
year was the Fifth Fly-In and Thresher’s Reunion.

This is interesting for the Shows are doing quite well and they
have no organization, no members, no fees – some folks just decided
to get together five years ago because they saw a need for a rescue
truck and building. So under the leadership of Brown Loflin, Route
3, Box 240-B, Denton, North Carolina 27239 and Howard Latham, they
started by just having a community day and since Brown and Loflin
own an airplane and both are pilots, they gave plane rides – at a
fee of course, and the first show realized $400.00. They have since
built the building and have the rescue truck. They are now working
on a building for the South Davidson Volunteer Fire Department.
This year they realized $1800 – I think they said that was just
from the food they sold as they do not charge or have money making
activities. But they really have the interest of the community and
they all get out and work together – isn’t that wonderful to
hear good stories like that insert of all the sad things the
newspapers report.

Now, when they have their shows they have combining, sowing,
threshing, and old time machinery, corn meal grinding, gas engines,
moonshine still, antiques on display and other items. The show is
held for two days and they have entertainment each night. -Country
music on Saturday and Gospel Sing on Sunday night. Sounds real
homey!

They also boast the original gold ore ‘stamping’ machine
from the Coggins Mine at Eldorado.

They are growing and I’m sure we will be hearing more from
the group and we say ‘Hats off to a fine bunch of concerned
citizens. Good luck!’

And that about winds up this column as we look forward to a New
Year together – my advice to anyone for the future – PRAY! -PRAY! –
PRAY! – What this country needs are more people who pray more, and
more people who prey less. – Prayer doesn’t change God, but
changes him who prays. – And this I found and thought it worthy –
‘I sought my soul, but my soul I could not see. – I sought my
God, but my God eluded me. – I sought my brother, and I found all
three.’

Bye Bye and God Bless each one of you