SPECIALS

6, and 7. This means that all year around, planning and activities
never end. I will try and elaborate now on some of the special
happenings that took place during 1976. Emil Svanda, a close
associate with me for 21 years with steam shows will furnish some
pictures and captions to accompany this story.

In June 1976, we chartered a Greyhound Bus to take 44 of us
steam buffs to the John Deere Foundry and Museum at Moline, Ill. We
boarded the bus at Davis Junction at 8:00 a.m., on June 18th, and
made our first stop at the John Deere Historical Site at Grand
Detour, where we toured the blacksmith shop and the first home of
John Deere. We ate dinner at a large country restaurant near
Lyndon. We arrived at the John Deere at East Moline at about 1:00
p.m., where we were greeted by four foundry guides. The two hour
tour was great, especially seeing the melting of steel and iron
scrap in one of the foundry’s four 15-ton electric arc
furnaces. The chemical composition is accurately controlled and
temperatures range from 2750 to 2850 degrees Fahrenheit. The
molding, the sand and cores, and the cleaning and finishing of
castings really was enjoyed by all. We next visited the John Deere
Company Administrative Center and floor museum at Moline. We
arrived back home at 7:00 p.m. same day, hoping again to take
another group tour soon.

This 80 h.p. Case steam engine found a new home at Hickory-Oaks
Farm in July 1975. The giant engine next in size to the 110 h.p.
Case has been idle 40 years. The rusty skeleton looking steamer,
minus numerous tubes and parts, was painted and restored within one
year by its new owner, George W. Hedtke. Course, George as usual
had a lot of help from his many steam show friends. The huge
bunkers for the 80 Case have been made as per original by a
Wallace, Nebraska steam engine buff, Mr. Harold Woods, at a cost of
$1400. Delivery will be made about March 1, 1977. Pictured here is
George W. Hedtke at the front wheel and his friend of 41 years,
Louis V. Johnson of Stillman Valley, 111. A chuckle can be seen
between the two engineers, knowing that grease is used for the
engine axles instead of being oiled with a oil can. A city
photographer thought this was a good way to pose for a picture in
the Rockford paper. The 80 h.p. Case was engineered by Louis V.
Johnson during the 1976 show with good performance.

Next coming up was our 1976 show. This meant get busy and get
all of the engines in good operating conditions. Engines need
repairs just like people, especially at older age. ha! During the
1975 plowing demonstration, an unfortunate incident took place on
my 110 h.p. Case steam engine while pulling the 14 bottom John
Deere plow. The babbitt bearings which were badly worn through the
years since 1911, caused the 5 foot differential gear to slightly
twist sideways. Realizing the tremendous pull of the 14 bottom plow
would cause further damage to the spur gears, we did not use the
110 Case for plowing the last 2 days of our show. As a great
surprise to the hundreds of spectators, two smaller steam engines
were hooked together by a heavy duty chain to pull the 14 bottom
plow the last two days of the show at Hickory-Oaks Farm. This
proved to be quite a sight and a plowing demonstration. Thanks goes
to so many fine activities at North Central Illinois Steam Power
Show. Engineers are on hand not only from the state of Illinois,
but from Kansas, Idaho, Montana, Michigan, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri,
Nebraska, Wisconsin, Ohio, and other states not registered. Plans
got under way following the 1975 show as to when to repair the 110
Case. A conference was held by my annual friends, Harry Woodmansee
from Dowling, Michigan, John Schrock from Rives Junction, Michigan,
and Dennis Jerome from Hoopston, Illinois, as to when to start the
overhaul job. It was decided to do it just 3 days before the 1976
show. After the oat crop was cut, bound, and shocked in July, the
60 by 144 foot storage building at Hickory-Oaks Farm was emptied of
its engines and other farm machinery. The 110 Case was pulled under
a large oak tree for shade for its repair work. Timed like a clock,
Harry, John, and Dennis, arrived 3 days before our 1976 show. Large
railroad jacks were used to raise the rear wheels off the ground
one at a time. The large axle pins were soon removed and the 2 ton
wheel lifted by a Case Company fork lift from the axle. Next came
the 5 foot diameter differential gear which was laid on the ground.
Work began fast and furious. Harry and Dennis disassembled the
spider gears from the large differential gear, and templates were
made to rebabbitt these bearings. John Schrock proceeded to build
up the shaft for the big gear with an electric welder. The welding
was ground down by John, so the shaft would become its original
size once again. Dennis Jerome, who is a machinist, supervised the
making of a new bronze bushing for the center of the differential
gear. This overhaul job was quite an undertaking, and many thanks
goes to Harry, John, and Dennis; also other engineers who gave
their helping hand in some way or another. Very successfully, the
gearing fit like new. The gears ran true and the 110 Case pulled
the 14 bottom plow with ease all 4 days of the 1976 show.

Attention also was turned to the 80 h.p. Case steam engine, a
newcomer to Hickory-Oaks Farm in July 1975. It was rusty, a
skeleton looking engine minus numerous tubes and parts, and setting
idle for 40 years. It got a new look within one year and was in
operation during the 1976 show, all restored and painted, except
for the bunkers which didn’t get made by show time. The bunkers
are being made at a shop at Wallace, Nebraska, as per the original
style by Case. They will be installed by show time 1977 on the
80.

Our next happening and a surprise came when I received a letter
from our good friend and sawyer, Vincent Duetsch of La Motte, Iowa,
advising that he had built a stage coach, and if someone could come
and pick it up at La Motte, he would donate the stage coach to
Hickory-Oaks Farm as a Bi-Centennial gift. Needless to say, our
Vice President, Thomas Draus, and my neighboring friend for years,
John Sandvik, took a low trailer and made the trip to La Motte to
get the stage coach just a few days ahead of our 1976 show. The
stage coach is a great addition to Hickory-Oaks Farm, and many
thanks to Vincent Duetsch.

‘A Threshing Bee Queen’ is very well recognized annually
at the North Central Illinois Steam Power Show, Inc. Pictured here
is Mrs. Floyd (Virginia) King, Kings, Ill., who was selected as the
1976 Threshing Bee Queen at Hedtke’s Hickory-Oaks Farm. The
1976 Queen is a long time worker of North Central Illinois Steam
Power Show. The annual steam and horse power show was held at the
King Farm for 7 years, before the show moved to its permanent site
in 1974 at Hickory-Oaks Farm. Mrs. King is seen seated here in a
two-seated surrey prior to parade time on Sunday, August 8. She is
holding a bouquet of golden stalks of grain and cut field flowers,
a growth at Hickory-Oaks Farm, presented to her by the Hobby
Ladies, as a tradition of harvest time.

Our show opened on August 5, with beautiful weather all 4 days
of our 1976 show. A tremendous crowd appeared each day to see our
numerous field demonstrations of old time farming, using various
steam engines, large gas tractors, and 8 teams of draft horses and
mules for power. The unusual fascinating demonstrations of
horsepower threshing and evolutions of plowing seems to take the
eye of the spectators. Camp Fuller, a Civil War Reenactment Unit of
Artillery, Infantry, Calvary, and Fife and Bugle Corp, was a great
attraction during our Bicentennial show year. The firing of the 3
big cannons twice daily shook Hickory-Oaks Farm. A special antique
auto made its first appearance at our show last year. It was a
large touring Austin Car built in 1911, now owned by Howard Somers
of Linden wood, Ill., and his brother Merlin Somers of California.
The unusual car, in very good condition, has always been in the
Somers family. It was purchased new in 1911 by Will Somers for his
son, Ralph Somers, as a wedding gift. Ralph in turn handed the car
to his two sons, Howard and Merlin. Also a 1911 Chicago Motor
Wagon, with a cylinder opposed engine with a friction chain drive,
made its first appearance at our last year’s show. After being
sold for junk several years ago and stood outdoors for 25 years, it
was rebought about 5 years ago in Chicago, and restored by its
proud owner, Floyd Eyster of Rockford, Ill. The motor is air-cooled
and runs good. These two old vehicles certainly added to our daily
parade.

We tried something new last year during our show on Saturday
night. It was a home talent show which proved to be a lot of fun
and enjoyment for everyone. It was headed by Miss Dawn Hayenga and
her brother Rodney of Kings, Ill. During this show I made a
surprise announcement, naming Mrs. Floyd (Virginia) King of Kings,
Ill., as our ‘Steam Show Queen’ for 1976. Mrs. King
received a great hand of applause from the officers and audience.
She rode in the parade on Sunday in a 2-seated surrey pulled by a
team of horses. Leading the parade on Sunday ahead of the Ogle
County Taxpayer’s Liberty Bell Float, was Todd Andrew Svanda,
age 8, and his sister Renee’ Lynne Svanda, age 4, properly
uniformed in the celebration of the Bicentennial year, being a
drummer boy and a flag bearer girl. Their dress wear was made by
their mother, Linda, in Colonial Style. They are the children of
Mr. and Mrs. Larry Svanda of Oregon, Wisconsin, and grandchildren
of Mr. and Mrs. Emil Svanda, and Mr. and Mrs. Floyd King.

The 1976 year was an outstanding crowd year at Hickory-Oaks
Farm. It was a record breaking crowd. On Sunday the exit lane was
used for incoming traffic to get the bumper to bumper cars off
highway 72. It was great, even though additional help had to be
sent to the admission area and the parade had to be delayed half an
hour. The weather was perfect, oat crop for threshing was good, the
machinery performed without fault, and the splendid cooperation of
the numerous engineers and the spectators each day was greatly
appreciated by the officers of the North Central Illinois Steam
Power Show. We are looking forward for another great year in 1977,
trusting that all of you can again pay us a visit at Hickory-Oaks
Farm.