HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Citizen, 1996-09-04, Page 36J & H CAMPBELL TRANSPORT LTD.
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We welcome the Threshers and wish them many more
successful years.
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(519) 523-4204
A warm weCcome to everyone attending the
35th Annual Pioneer Thresher Reunion
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Congratulations and best wishes to
the Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion
on their 35th Anniversary
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WE EXTEND OUR BEST WISHES
to everyone attending the 35th Reunion of the
Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association
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TILE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1996. PAGE A-17.
35th Pioneer Thresher Reunion
Steam engines once apex of farming technology
To look at the bulk of a steam engine and
to hear the formidable noises one can make,
a person can realize just how far farming
technology has come in the past century.
But at one point these monster machines
were the apex of technology and farmers felt
blessed in how simple threshing had
become.
Threshing is the act of separating grain
seeds from straw. Before the steam engines
came along, everything had to be done by
hand. Threshing was first done by trampling
the cut sheaves with oxen or by hand
pounding the grain with flails.
Before the tree stumps had been removed
from the fields, the grain was cut from
between them with scythes or cradles which
With the Huron Pioneer Thresher Reunion
and Hobby Association marking its 35th
anniversary this year, reminiscing recalls
changes which have taken place through the
years.
When the concept was first developed well
almost 40 years ago, the aim of the reunion
was to reunite a gang of men who had
travelled the countryside performing the task
of threshing farmers' fields.
That original group consisted of the
Hallahan brothersof East Wawanosh,
Dennis, Willie Joe, Danny, John, Simon and
Raymond as well as Alec Manning, Jack
White, Hugh Chisholm and many other local
men.
Notices were sent to other threshers in the
community, informing them of the planned
gathering. Machinists who had worked with
the steam threshers and owners of machines
were invited to show off their equipment and
discuss old times.
The first reunion, held at the old Orange
Hall in Blyth, apparently caused somewhat
of a commotion. Upon arriving at the hall
the Orange Master refused the threshers
entrance. Assuming some liquor had been
consumed, the Orange Master would not
allow then into the building.
Since indoor activities had been curtailed,
the men carried on their party in front of the
hall. Several had brought fiddles and other
musical instruments so they began playing in
would leave the grain cut in a windrow. The
grain was then gathered in sheaves by hand
and bound with a knotted handful of straight
stalks of grain.
When the stumps had later been removed,
reapers pulled by horses were used. The
reaper left grain in bunches which had to be
bound by hand into sheaves and stooked by
hand in long stooks of ten or twelve sheaves
and left to dry. The dry stooks were brought
into the barn into mows.
One or two men pitched the sheaves onto
the wagon to a man whose job it was to
drive the horses and to build the loads.
Some well-trained teams would obey
commands to go and stop while the man on
the wagon built the load.
When the new steam-powered machines
the street.
As the group carried on, the street began
to fill with spectators and soon overflowed.
The Orange Master, having decided the
threshers weren't such a bad group after all,
let them into the hall.
For the next four years the group of men
got together at an old horse barn. They had
five steam engines on display and
entertained spectators with their homegrown
style of music.
The contribution of the threshers' wives to
their reunion was never overlooked. The
women provided an excellent meal in the old
thresher way, cooking good hot meals with
plenty of homebaking too. The selection
included pies, cakes and home preserves.
By the fifth year, with the popularity of
the reunion changing it into a community
activity rather than a private social
gathering, the original members decided to
set up committees to provide more
entertainment, fiddle and stepdance contests
and to bring in more threshing machines.
As the years passed, the event just
continued to grow in its ability to pull in
spectators and exhibitors.
After managing the show for 23 years, the
threshers decided it was time to incorporate
the show.
This was the biggest change for the
reunion. Instead of all the members par-
ticipating in the planning, 15 directors were
chosen.
were put into use, threshing only took a
matter of minutes instead of the hours it
previously took. By 1890 the big heavy
machinery was very popular.
A threshing outfit consisted of a steam
engine, a grain separator, and a water tank
which was a large, enclosed wooden tank on
a wagon. The tank was filled with water
from the farmer's well, or a creek, or river.
For a few years, all three pieces were drawn
by horse. By 1900 the steam engine pulled
the separator from farm to farm and horses
pulled the water tank.
Three men went with each 6utfit. One
would operate the steam engine and keep it
full of water and stoke it with wood. The
second man looked after the separator, and
the third man would act as tankman and had
to be able to handle a big team of horses.
Threshing was still a laborious task, but
with the invention of the steam engine, it
was a task that took considerably less time.
Incorporation biggest change
of Reunion's 35 year history