Centuria, Wisconsin
Well, winter was a little late getting way up North this year,
but like always, we got it. Good thing we humans don’t have
anything to do with that, even if there is some talk about giving
it a try. I bundled up the younguns and No. 1 contender for head of
the house, and went down to St. Croix Falls to the movie the other
were going to control the weather in the future. Seemed like they
were going to create a new storm somewhere to subside an old storm
somewhere else. Well I’ve heard about two heads being better
than one !
Harris Johnson, my pa, stopped in the other day. He said
he’d been overhauling the governor from my 65 Case. It was
giving us a little trouble last fall. I stopped out there today and
he had it all back together and in tiptop shape. He said something
about a fellow being there looking over our saw-mill and the 16
H.P. Atlas engine and 15 H.P. return flue boiler. Well I guess pa
put a price on it for him and he said something about if he could
sell a pair of horses he’d take it. Since my dad had a heart
attack, I guess we won’t be using it anymore.
I’ve got dad’s 45 H.P. Case here at my place, Centuria,
Wis., and dad’s got my 65 Case at his place, 4 miles south of
Balsam Lake, Wis. In September, we walked the 45 H.P. Case to
Centuria for their yearly Threshing Party. It’s about a ten
mile trip from pa’s over here. We made it in 5 hours. When we
came through Balsam Lake, the county seat for Polk County, about
half the town was out to cheer us on our way. We stopped for a cup
of coffee and by the time we were ready to pull out, I’m sure
all the kids in town were there. It was about two miles out of town
before the last of them turned their bikes around and went back
home. Some of the old timers said it had been at least 30 years
since the last engine went thru town. Well about 60 gals, of water
and a good size pile of slabs later, we pulled into Centuria. When
I turned her into the alley in back of my home, she wasn’t even
breathing hard. I gave a long pull on the whistle and my 12 yr. old
son, who was with me on the trip, turned to me and said, ‘I
think she’d make it all the way back, too, dad.’
Well, my neighbor, Arvid Stark, was at the program with his 50
H.P. Case. He had it buckled up to his 28′ separator to give
the crowd their money’s worth. Henry Sawyer, from St. Croix
Falls, was there giving Arvid a breather once in a while.
Henry’s a real grand guy to have around. One of my injectors
was giving me a little trouble, so he came over and helped me to
take a little piece of scale out of the check valve.
I came through Mondavi the last part of November so I stopped at
George Loomers and Lloyd Loomers, but neither were home.
I don’t know if you had heard that Clinton Jackson, founder
of the Jackson Lumber Harvester at Mondovi, had passed away this
summer. Clinton was a grand guy, a fellow you could sit and talk
with all day and have real admiration for him. We will all miss
him. Clinton sold me his 65 Case two years ago.
Well, I haven’t cleaned my deer rifle yet, after taking
advantage of a fat little 6 pointer this year, so I suppose I had
better close and get at that. I hunt with the bow a lot and have
taken three deer with it so far. Lastyear I took a big 200 pound
buck. If I had to choose between the gun and the bow, I’d have
a gun to sell real quick. It isn’t the kill so much anymore,
but the hunt that’s important. I think if more would adopt this
idea, they would end each year with a successful hunt, kill or no
kill. We might even end up with a couple more hunters alive for the
next year.
Just remembered, when we went through Balsam Lake with the 45
Case, a fellow hollered out and asked how fast we were going. One
of the kids on a bike yelled-‘She don’t go fast, she goes
slow.’
