The Steam Bug Bit

threshing for these farms using the Case steam engine until 1923
when he got a gas tractor. My father still wanted him to use the
Case engine to do our threshing and for the next two years paid him
an extra $15.00 a day since it took more time to get the equipment
ready and longer travel time. I remember, at the age of eight I
would watch by the hour the crank travel back and forth. I loved to
get up on the platform and pull the rope on the whistle at noon and
evening. The steam bug had bit me!

I moved to the United States in 1935. After my discharge from
the Navy in 1945 I had a neighbor, Frank Dee, who was building
model train locomotives. He wanted me to build the
³/₄‘ scale, but as we were renting our
home I didn’t feel I should put down a track not knowing how
long we would be there. I located Arnold’s Frank Hilliker in
Denver, Colorado in 1988 with 1′, 2′, 3′ and 4′
scale Case engines. catalog on the 1′ scale Case steam tractor
so, working with his and Cole’s castings I was able to build
the 1’.

I needed more than a hammer and screw driver to get the
necessary machinery to set up a shop so I took a second job. I was
working for the Navy 8 hours a day on swing shift. I was able to
get a 4 hour job in a pattern shop. Then I bought a 9′ x
36′ South Bend lathe. Drill presses were scarce right after the
war so when Sears advertised in the Oakland paper that they had
three 17′ bench drill presses without motors, I figured I could
switch the motor from the lathe temporarily. My wife and I with our
one year old son went by bus to purchase one. Now Sears would
deliver this on Monday but being a man without patience, I wanted
to take this 85 pound drill press home with me on the bus. We had
brought our son in a metal stroller and I decided it would be just
the thing to transport the press. My wife, being easily
embarrassed, would have no part of it and walked home carrying our
son quite some distance. I proceeded to the bus stop and when the
bus arrived the driver asked what I was going to do with that
thing. I told him. He, being a kind hearted man, helped me on with
it. Since then I think I have developed more patience or else my
wife has become used to my antics!

I finished my 1′ scale Case in 1946, then built the 1′
scale Case thresher and water wagon, finishing them in 1948. The
next several years were required to establish and run my own
business. This has kept me busy until I semi-retired in 1985. I
then started the 2′ scale Case, finishing it in 1986. Next came
the 3′ completed in 1987.

I have just now completed the 4′ Case steam tractor,
however, haven’t been able to fire it up yet. I have had a
reoccurrence of melanoma cancer on my heel which was operated on 3
weeks ago. The Lord willing, I hope to be back on my feet soon. I
am anxious to steam up this last engine. I know this 4′ scale
will be the climax of my dreams!

I showed the 1′ Case steam tractor and thresher at the
Milton, Ontario Show in 1967 and have shown at the Norwich, Ontario
Show since 1971 except for 2 years. After showing just the Case
tractor, thresher and water wagon for over ten years, my wife
suggested I should add something and make a threshing scene. This I
did, ending up with a fully equipped Ontario farm scene, including
barn, furnished house, outhouse, grain field with wagons and men
loading the sheaves, Case tractor running the thresher with a man
throwing the sheaves from the wagon into the thresher, grain wagon
with the bags. There are pigs in the pigpen and chickens in the
chicken yard. The chicken house has the roosts and nests built
inside. There is a windmill pumping water, a hay field with wagon
and hay loader, two different kinds of hay rakes, a pasture with
horses and woods with wild animals. And by the barn is the cow pen
with different breeds of milk cows. Pigeons are sitting on the barn
roof and silo. This little scene covers an area 8 feet wide and 24
feet long. I made everything except horses and people.

Being a new member of the J. I. Case Heritage Foundation, we
hope to attend some of the shows in the near future. My wife and I
are looking forward to meeting you all.