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30th Annual Huron Pioneer Thresher & Hobby Association 1991 Reunion, 1991-09-04, Page 19THE CITIZEN, WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 4, 1991. PAGE A-19. LHuron‘Pioneer‘Thresher Reunion 91 Steam engines passed down through families The Thresher Reunion, and the hobby of keeping old tractors and steam engines, has become a family tradition for many people who have passed their interest, and Machines fascinated young boys Continued from page A-18 starts to drive the thresher and to smell the smells of warm straw. After we watched the machine set up there'd be a race to the granary to be there by the time the first kernels tinkled down the grain spout and onto the newly- cleaned granary floor. Working in the granary was something we were all eager to do and the younger we were, the more eager we were. When the threshing began we'd shovel the first bit of grain so many times it was nearly ground to chop, but later, when we sank to our knees in the mounting hills of grain, the novelty would wear off. Nearly everyone threshed from the stook by the 1950's but one neighbour still gathered his grain into the bam to wait for the threshing crew to finish elsewhere then come and thresh his grain out of the bam. Some of the earliest money I earned was helping in the mow to move the sheaves around after they’d been dropped into the mow from slings. One experience I never had was working with the steam engines but for youngsters, this must have been even more exciting. The ordinary tractor just doesn’t have the interest of the chucking, whirring, steam-whistling steam tractor. About the closest I came to the steam engines was visiting my uncle's farm on in some cases their equipment, down from father to son. Two of the steam engines at this year's show, for instance, will be operated by the next concession where a neighbour across the road had a threshing gang that used what must have been one of the last steam tractors in the area. It was a mysterious thing, black and green and gleaming. As a teenager earning spending money by working on farms in the summer I got to experience being part of the threshing crew, probably one of the last ones in the township by that time. I was one of the young bucks who tried to spear a whole stook and prove my manhood by heaving As a teenager earning spending money by working on farms in the summer I got to experience being part of the threshing crew, probably one of the last ones in the township by that time. I was one of the young bucks who tried to spear a whole stook and prove my manhood by heaving it to the top of the load. The oldtimers would shake their heads and express dire warnings about being worn out before dinner. I ignored them of course. They were right, of course. The farm isn't the way it used to be in the days of threshing crews. Farm neighbourhoods aren't the way they used to be in the days of the threshing gangs. Technology changes of course and in a competitive world we have to change with it or find ourselves changed against our wills. Yet when the cost of change gains something in efficiency but loses something in the important things like human friendship, it’s hard to term it “progress”. sons of the men who originally brought the engines to the show. Emie Allen of Stratford has had his 20 horsepower 1907 George White steam engine for 20 years but recently has turned it over to his son-in-law Warren Priestap of Sebringville. The 83-year-old said he had offers from others to buy the equipment but he wanted to keep it in the family. The two men recently spent three months giving the machine an overhaul getting it ready for the Bly th show and other appearances in the area. The two men have been working together with the engine for several years, taking it to as many as eight or nine shows a year. Mr. Allen became interested in steam engines as a hobby because of memories he had from his youth. "I fooled around with one when I was a kid. It's something that gets in your blood." Over in Auburn, a big 1911, 75-25 Case steam engine sits on the back lawn at Bill Andrews' home, except when it's off at shows like the Thresher Reunion. Mr. Andrews inherited the big steamer from his father Warner who operated it for several years until his death. Bill Andrews, with help from Bill Vincent ot Auburn, helped his father operate the machine the last few years. Best Wishes to the Huron Pioneer Thresher Association 30th Annual Steam Show & Reunion ,— ‘AIR CONDITIONING‘PLUMBING‘HEATING \ & ELECTRICAL & G B & G ELECTRIC BRUSSELS 887-6747 Bill has repainted the machine this year but hasn't had to take it to other shows but Blyth. His father had a long relationship with the big engine since he first saw it when he went west on a harvest excursion in 1928. It was nearly 40 years later that he persuaded the owner to sell it to him. The machine would have originally cost $2350. He bought it in the 1960's for $1,200. Warner and Bill spent the next several years getting the machine ready for action again. Typical of western tractors, it was much more powerful than the tractors used in Ontario. It developed 75 horse power and could power large threshing machines that could keep four men busy feeding sheaves in. The engine has an 11-inch piston compared to six-inch pistons on most eastern machines, giving it more power. Warner was proud that the only unoriginal part of the machine was the smokestack, which was from a 1914 model. The original stack was destroyed in a trucking accident. Warner had experience with such tractors. In 1928 he fired a similar engine for 31 days during his trip west. INDUSTRIAL COMMERCIAL RESIDENTIAL & FARM WE EXTEND OUR to everyone attending the 30th Reunion of the Pioneer Thresher and Hobby Association OUR ELEVATORS ARE READY TO RECEIVE YOUR 1991 CORN & SOYBEANS SNELL FEED AND SUPPLIES LTD. 523-9501 WESTFIELD R.R.3 BLYTH for your 30th Annual Thresher Reunion PRINTING IS OUR BUSINESS •Colour Printing •Posters •Letterheads •Envelopes •Labels •Business Forms •Carbonless Forms •Business Cards Main St., Blyth BLYTH PRINTING INC 523-9211 WELCOME TO BLYTH and the 30th PIONEER THRESHER REUNION DAVE S CAR OILING DRUMMOND ST. E., BLYTH 523-4343 "WE USE HOT, ACID FREE, NEW OIL" Hood------ Inner Fenders Doors & Door Posts Underside \ Dog Legs Inner Fenders __Trunk Lid Starting September 3 Open Daily including Thresher weekend