‘What I’m missing information on is the location of his
28 HP Minneapolis #8361; 8 HP Peerless #17741; unknown HP Huber
number unknown; a (supposed) scale Case engine and a 36 x 56
Aultman-Taylor wing feed thresh machine. There was some talk that
some of these engines could have been moved to Niobrara, Nebraska,
or La Motte, Iowa. I suspect the A & T separator is the one
where he said he sold it, and he is dead now also.
‘So, if any of you can help me out, trying to locate this
equipment, I’d sure appreciate it. The more I find out about
Uncle Joe, the more I’m impressed with his knowledge of this
hobby. There are people still alive who remember him connected with
the engines, but every year there gets to be less of them.
‘To contact me, call collect (320) 762-2706 or (320)
763-7099, or write to the above address.’
We received some great old pictures sent to us by RONALD SEVART,
111 N. Cherokee, Girard, Kansas 66743:
His 30-60 Aultman-Taylor gas tractor might be the one owned by
Ralph Hall of Atwater, Minnesota. This is an excellent machine
receiving excellent care.
‘#1 (previous page) shows J. C. Sevart, and the Saint Paul,
Kansas, crew. Grandad Sevart is on the water tank. Great-grandad
Sevart is standing by the front wheel of the separator others are
unknown. The engine is a small Advance, HP and gear not known. The
picture was probably taken in 1916 or earlier.
‘#2 Is another picture of the Advance. Great-grandad Sevart
is standing beside the engine. Grandad Sevart is on the water tank.
The boy behind the steering wheel is Billy Beechwood. It is said he
died in a boiler explosion later on, but not from this engine.
‘#3 is a nice shot of the Rumely separator and crew.
Great-grandad Sevart standing by the front wheel. Grandad Sevart is
shown sitting in the feeder. The rest are unknown.
‘#4 was taken in October 1916. The engine was a 16 HP Baker,
serial #890. Great-grandad Sevart bought this new in April of 1912.
The engine still exists today. The man on the engine could possibly
be Grandad Sevartothers unknown. Note the telephone wires above the
cab of the engine.’
RALPH F SHIVELY, 4078 Township Road 30, De Graff, Ohio
43318-9609, sent us some more great photos of long ago saying,
‘Thought you might like these pictures taken years ago in my
neighborhood. The only thing I know about picture No. 1 is that it
was a threshing rig in the West Liberty, Ohio, area, date
unknown.
‘Picture No. 2, taken around 1918, is a snapshot of Jess
Headings (left) and F. H. Fisher on a steam road roller. Jess
Headings was the father of my neighbor, Doris Ward.
‘No. 3 is a picture of Ed Painter standing beside his Huber
steam engine. Ed was the owner and operator of this rig and did
custom work in the Quincy, Ohio, area in the ’30s. Regrettably
the perfectly good engine was sold for scrap during WW II.
Side shot of Califon basket factory started 1889. Operation was
virtually unchanged from start to finish and survived at least
three fires.
‘No. 4 is another snapshot of Ed Painter’s steamer and a
gasoline truck he used for hauling water. My neighbor, Stewart
Ward, shown posing beside the truck, worked for Ed during his high
school years; in return Ed would do the threshing for Stewart’s
father without charge.
‘I enjoy the Iron Men Album very much.’
A. E. BURR, Burr’s Big Bear Farm, R.D. 3, Box 1352,
Honesdale, Pennsylvania 18431 sent this update on an article in a
recent issue. He says, ‘In the March/April issue of the
Iron Men Album, I read an article by a man named E.
Gladkowski of Jamesburg, New Jersey. The article was about the
Califon Basket Factory in Califon, New Jersey. It said that the
factory had closed after 105 years of operation. I immediately
tried to contact Mr. Gladkowski to find out where the factory was,
but to no avail. I did find an E. Gladkowski in the adjoining town
of Spotswood, New Jersey, but he denied writing the article. So, I
started pounding the telephone, and finally contacted the Califon
Police Department. They told me that the property was being handled
by a real estate broker and they gave me her name. The broker told
me that the property was under contract and the closing would be
soon.
‘I knew that time was of the essence. I finally contacted
the present owner. He informed me that he had tried to give the
equipment to the Smithsonian but they wanted him to pay for the
rigging and trucking at $15,000 so he declined. I offered to remove
the equipment and replace the back of the building that had to be
removed to get the machines out, also to patch the roof after
removal of the smoke stack. He agreed to give us the whole
operation if we could start removal immediately.
‘Two days later we were loading the boiler on one of our
trucks. We found the machines all operable, including the steam
engine. The plant was practically the way it was when started in
1889. After about ten loads we now have the entire basket factory
here at the Big Bear Farm Museum and Park. When I said WE moved the
basket factory, the other half of we is my wife, Carol.
‘We have started to build a building to house the equipment.
We plan to operate it by steam, as it was, and to produce a limited
amount of baskets. If there is anyone out there who has any
information about basket veneer production, or Saranac basket
machines, we would like to hear from them.’
