1511 Iglehart Avenue St. Paul, Minn. 55104
The Annual Scott-Carver Show was held August 9th and 10th at the
regular show site about two miles from Jordan, Minnesota, a short
distance off Highway 169. The weather being favorable, activity was
carried on well this year.
Stack threshing with Bill Olander’s outfit, a 32×54 Case
care of Jim Mollenhour, engineer, was in progress on Saturday,
August 9th when I visited the show.
A Gopher thresher, No. 7, was used for some of the threshing,
powered by a gas tractor. The gopher threshing machine was built
during the 1920’s by a company formed at New Prague, Minnesota.
Evidently competition with the big companies was too great, so it
failed to survive.
Threshing machines owned by the Scott-Carver Association were
used on Sunday, being powered by steam engines and gas
tractors.
Ralph Kerkow operated a Rosenthal Steel corn shredder with a
10-20 McCormick Deering tractor. Lumber sawing with Rudy Adams in
charge, drew the attention of interested spectators. Most of the
steam engines including Erwin Morrel’s 15 HP Advance ran by
Florian C. Karl; Joe Selly with his 22 HP Advance and John
Schoening’s 50 HP Case took turns on the lumber saw and the
threshing machines.
Marvin Boettcher’s 30-60 Aultman-Taylor; Roy Pearson’s
Nichols and Shepard 20-42 HP; and John and son, Bill Shoening with
their 35/70 Minneapolis, were available for the heavy belt jobs, or
for plowing in the field.
In the field of smaller activity, Herman Pieper of Jordan, was
operating a drag saw with an upright small steam engine. Eisner
Machacek of Northfield was on hand with his 1915 scale model 65 HP
Case. Log sawing, shingle sawing, lathe sawing and feed grinding
were in progress.
There was a large exhibit of small gas engines from eight or ten
HP to 1-1/2 HP. Several makes of farm tractors were on display.
Some small model tractors and miniature cars were on
exhibition.
There were some tractors on hand that are really interesting.
Frank Boehne always brings his Allis Chalmers, rated 25-40 but he
says it has a larger engine and is capable of 50 HP in the belt.
Mike Kovich brings his Lawson tractor which he says has developed
60 HP in the belt. Each of these tractors, I would say, would be
four plow size. Mike says his Lawson along with a 32 inch thresher
were purchased from an individual in the vicinity of Hudson,
Wisconsin, by a man who threshed with the rig several seasons in
the Jordan locality. He drove the tractor pulling the separator
from Hudson, Wisconsin to Jordan, Minnesota. It took him two or
three days. Rumor has it that he crossed the old spiral bridge at
Hastings, Minnesota in the night. The tractor is on rubber now, but
at that time, it was on steel.
At the Scott-Carver show, I met Mr. and Mrs. Roy Pearson, Rt. 2,
Shakopee, Minnesota, owners of a 20-42 Nichols & Shepard gas
tractor. Mr. Pearson used it many years threshing with a 30 x 52
Red River Special separator.
In the Exhibit building, I was greeted by Ray Lins and Jack
Strand, steam engineers in charge of half a dozen stationary
engines. One was a 36 HP Atlas engine in fine condition; a James
Leffel 42 HP, 165 RPM, has a 10.5 inch bore and a 12 inch stroke.
Ray Lins is the owner.
Another engine in this collection is a small upright owned by
Erwin Morell. Another is a Buffalo Forge engine built at Buffalo,
New York. There is also a 5 HP James Leffel, 250 RPM. The last we
came to was a 12 HP Troy engine, 250 RPM. It was used to power
stokers in Hibbing High School prior to 1930. Steam for these
engines comes from a 30 HP boiler installed in a shed built on to
the building. Ralph Harvey is the blacksmith and has a shop
complete with a line-shaft.
Quilt making and soap making were demonstrated. In a smaller new
building, antiques were for sale. Bill Dey and son, Darrel, showed
a 1/3 scale 65 HP Case.
The Anoka Engine Club, George Benson told me, has a membership
of 85 members. They brought an 8 HP Case traction engine, restored
by Henry Lahr, St. Cloud, Minnesota, a club member. Russel Persain
was the engineer. The Anoka Engine Club also showed a halfdozen
tractors and quite a display of small gas engines.
I met, or rather renewed acquaintance, with Reuben Olander of
Minneapolis. He attends several shows and likes to pitch
bundles.
I enjoyed a chat with Reuben Boettcher who was general overseer
of the show.
I met Mark Alexander of Dundas, Minnesota. He attends several
shows; some of them by plane. He operates a lumber sawing business,
cutting wood into any dimensions. He is the engineer and owner of a
210 HP steam engine, so he should have power to spare.
The Stage Coach Fast Draw Club of Shakopee staged shoot outs at
various times during the day. They carried heavy six-guns on their
hips, I suppose similar to the heavy colt revolvers the Jesse James
gang carried when they tried to rob the Northfield bank almost one
hundred years ago. Fortunately, the shells they fired at each other
were blanks, so no one was hurt. Last year they brought a cannon
which they fired at intervals, shaking up the countryside.
Music always gives any show a lift, and Harold Koerner of
Minneapolis, entertained both days with a Lowry organ. He played
numerous requests.
It was by chance that I saw Bill Olander and Erwin Morrell
together and they told me about the way they staged the first Steam
Show held at Jordan in 1964. Their equipment used, included two 22
HP Advance engines, as they each owned one. The threshing machine
used was Erwin’s Buffalo Pitts Niagara Second, 36 inch
cylinder. All bundle wagons, there were 3, and a grain wagon, were
drawn with heavy draft horses weighing a ton each. No tractors were
allowed. Fifteen hundred people came the day they threshed. One
interested man who came was the late Joseph T. Rynda, ‘Steam
Engine Joe’. People came from the Dakotas, Iowa and Wisconsin.
The show was held two consecutive years. Both years in the evening,
following the show, a banquet was held in the Masonic Hall, in
Jordan sponsored by the Eastern Star. Even though the show was not
a financial success, Mr. Olander and Mr. Morrell are proud of the
fact that they promoted the first Steam Show in the Scott-Carver
locality (Scott and Carver Counties). Later the Scott-Carver Old
Threshers Association and Gas and Steam Festival was organized. It
is a growing show with much activity.