RR3 Shawville, Quebec, JOX 2Y0
My good friend Tom Quinell from Hungtingdon, Quebec, phoned me
before 6 a.m. on August 20th to find out if I was going to thresh
that day at the show. It was raining ‘cats and dogs’ at the
time. We were on the phone and Tom asked, ‘Are you going ahead
today?’ I said, ‘Yes if it stops raining.’ We had
loaded all the grain the week before and had it in the shed to dry.
Anyway, from my place to Tom’s is 3 hour drive. We hung up the
phone and by 9 a.m. it stopped raining and the boys here had the
three engines all fired up. We belted up to the mills and were
ready to thresh by 10 a.m., when in came Tom. He sure didn’t
waste any time! Well, we had all three steam threshing outfits
going. The show crowd kept coming and with three mills and three
engines going at the same time, it was sure quite a sight!
David Strong, from Perth, firing Sawyer Massey portable engine.
I think he has enough wood to do the winter there. That’s Henry
Behm from Cobden, Ontario, looking on. Henry likes threshing very
much he comes here every year.
My good wife Evelyn and my daughter Vera Lynn Campbell were
getting the dinner ready. The noon whistle blew. We had put through
quite a bit of grain by this time, and we all headed for the house
for dinner. They had roast beef, roast pork, and pumpkin pie with
the wife’s special ty whipped cream from the cows, all five
gallons of it. She just ‘buried’ the pumpkin pie in it.
Sure went down real well! Lots of ladies were helping Evelyn with
the meals and people were bringing food in. We sure had lots to
eat!
Keith Miller firing a Sawyer Massey traction engine. Look how
easy Sawyer Massey engines are to fire just see how relaxed Keith
is!
I think we could have stayed and had Christmas dinner! After we
had dinner we started to thresh again and then along came the
fiddle players and we had music all afternoon and evening until 12
p.m. We had supper at 6 p.m. and had another snack at 12 p.m. We
really did eat a lot and it was fun. Evelyn said we served 300
meals that day! For all the help from the ladies who came and
brought food, we say, Thank You!
Arnold Feibig from Dacre had to take his engine that day and
thresh in Ontario. It was a steam threshing too, so Ken Barber from
Renfrew, Ontario, came and fired the Case 45 that day. Ken is a guy
who likes long strokes and heavy flywheels. I generally call Ken
‘Old Flywheel,’ ’cause if there is no flywheel on the
engine, Ken wants to put one on anyway.
This picture is of my father-in-law, Grant Beattie, 92 years
old. He says the only thing better than my marrying his daughter
was an American Able engine. He had one of them, years ago, sawing
lumber. He thinks they were better than Sawyer Massey. We don’t
agree on this!
My good friend from Perth, David Strong, comes to fire the
Sawyer-Massey portable engine. He likes steam trains and horse
carriages. Perth, Ontario, is 2 hours from here and he is always
here to fire the engine in the morning, too. I don’t think
these boys sleep at all! Keith Miller comes from Eagenville,
Ontario. He comes the day before and helps get things ready for the
next day. Sure is a great help. This year Stanley Wiedmark from
Ottawa, Ontario, came with the Sawyer-Massey model engine. This
made three Sawyer-Massey engines and one Case. This is now known as
Sawyer-Massey country up here in Pontiac County, Quebec. Stanley
and his dad, Gordie Wiedmark, also have a Case Model engine, but
this being Sawyer-Massey country, they choose to leave it at home.
Anyhow, is there anyone of you steam men out there who know where
there are shows that have three steam threshing outfits going all
at the same time? Please let us know about them in IMA.
Sawyer Massey engine threshing. Look fellows, not even an
engineer in sight! Look at the smoke rolling out of that baby
let’s see the Case do this.
Our magazine is sure getting small again, so all you guys get to
writing and maybe it will get like the old Sears catalog! Maybe we
have to write something that someone won’t like to get them to
write a story, but maybe that might help!
Say fellows, right now I am redoing an 18 HP Waterloo engine
that was at the ploughing match at Pembroke, Ontario, this past
fall. The gear was broken on it and I am fixing it. This engine is
an 18-20 with low wheels, 54′ x 16′. I never saw an engine
with wheels this low. This has the same wheels as my Sawyer-Massey
traction engine but it has a 20 HP boiler. The boiler is a ?’
plate all-welded boiler built at Boiler Smith at Seaforth, Ontario,
175 pounds per square inch pressure. This boiler was built about 10
years ago.
When I get this engine finished I will let you know how it all
turned out. We are doing a complete overhaul on it now. Yours in
hot water, Eric Campbell.
Three complete steam threshing outfits running at the same time.
This equipment all belongs to Eric and Evelyn Campbell of
Shawville, Quebec.
