Route 4, Huntington, Indiana 46750
My friend George Melby asked me to write this up when I attended
their show in September 1975. Notice I called this a reunion and
that’s exactly what it is. All of us young and old get together
to relive old times, visit old friends and make new ones. Some have
asked me why I drive 900 miles to see a show. Well I love these
big old steam engines and tractors which did their part in building
the country. Up here I can visit with the Melby Bros, Henry
Johnson, Milton Martenson, Art and Sid Bayliss, Danny Roen, Bill
Krumwiede, John Rysse from N.D., Harold Ottaway from Wichita,
Kansas and scores of others all at one doing.
Here you see the big Rumleys, Advance and Gaar Scotts, plus the
30-60 Oil Pulls, 30-60 Russells, 35-70 Minn., 30-60 Aultman Taylor,
20-40 Minn. Universal and a score of others. The new museum
windmill etc. just thrown in.
One of the most inspiring things happened at the Sunday morning
church service when a community choir furnished the music and was
led by 79 year old George Melby in striped overalls. He got up,
pulled off his jacket and led that group like a professional. It
was touching and very inspiring. I asked George later where he got
his training and he replied he got his music from his mother’s
side of the house and he had been at it for over 50 years.
Now, I am not the only one from the lower states to come up
here. There were 12 from Indiana for the doings this year. This is
the only place where they plow with steam and a ten-bottom plow and
thresh with a separator equipped with wind feeders attached. Come
up and see for yourself next fall!
