Clinton News-Record, 1983-08-31, Page 31LL
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Welcome
to the 22nd Annual
TIIRESNER'S
REUNION
7
6141117.
Aft 51.1.•624
Come in and sae us or give us a
call and let us help look after
your crop.
MnVV/IEOEMS
ZOORN
NE
* M1$ED MAW
NoasnNIIfr
Elevator Division
Blyth, Ontario
52s -on or 523-4241
1
is one of the fun events that takes place at the
esher Reunion. This contestant shows that it
hands and feet to keep things upright in this
n. The contest is filled with impressive skill and
antics. I wonder if our forefathers did It this
Blyth Standard photo)
ough the area, stop
our Threshermen's
GASSORD SPEC/Al
NDAY SEPTEMBER 9-10-11
Ice -
BEEF
TURKEY
Includes: Our famous
Mulligatawny soup or juice,
mashed or french -
fried potatoes, vegetable, 20
SELECTION SALAD BAR, roll,
tea or coffee. Dessert: Pie of
your choice.
DEBBIE'S
RESTAURANT
N: Seven days a week 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.
By Shelley McPhee
Wheat has been a major
crop in Huron County for
more than a century. James
Scott in his 1966 book The
Settlement of Huron County
wrote that by 1850, wheat
was the most popular crop
with oats coming second.
Some 15,400 acres of wheat
were grown on Huron soil,
yielding 214,739 bushels.
Oats covered 8,271 acres and
brought in 199,141 bushels.
Scott wrote, "Previous to
1850 the annual yield of
wheat, according to the
Thomas McQueen M The
Journal of Transactions of
the Board of Agriculture in
Upper Canada, was less than
3,000 bushels. By 1856,
100,000 bushels of wheat
were shipped from the little
port of Bayfield alone.
Incidentally, this marks the
beginning of the only period
in its history that Bayfield
showed any signs of com-
mercial success. For a few
years a great deal of local
wheat was taken by wagons
to elevators down on "the
flats" in Bayfield to be
transported by water for sale
elsewhere in the country or
for export. Slowly this in-
dustry fell off as more and
more wheat was carried by
rail to the port in Goderich.
If a railway line had its lake
terminal in Bayfield the
story might have been dif-
ferent, but another and
larger centre once more took
precedence and eventually
Bayfield's role as a shipping
point for wheat dwindled to
nothing."
With the steady increase of
the wheat acreage, farmers
began using new and un-
proved cultivation and
harvesting methods and by
1871, Scott wrote, there were
591 threshing machines in
use, 6,295 fanning mills, 995
reapers and mowers. Much
of this equipment was made
locally.
Scott wrote, "The final
phase of the development of
agriculture came with the
advent of the threshing
machine and steam engine.
Now crews of men would
move from farm to farm on a
regular schedule, threshing
the wheat. Threshing days
became a tremendous
community events and
countinued to be until the
combine came into general
use. Today there are very
few of the old type threshing
outfits !eft in Huron County
but for 50 years this was a
prominent feature of farm
life and the threshing
machines were made in
foundries right in the county
itself . "
The harvest season was, as
James Scott, described a
time for men and women,
boys and girls to join
together in work and in fun.
The Blyth Standard M its
September 2, 1964 issue
reported, "To listen in on a
conversation of the men who
manned these smoking
giants, in their working
days, one feels that a
threshing bee was something
they enjoyed even if it was
work. You hear discussed,
'We used to rise at 3:30 a.m.
on a brisk October morning
to fire the engines and clean
the flues, feed and harness
the horses. In the farm
kitchen savory smells of
home cured ham and eggs,
bowls of oatmeal porridge
and buckets of coffee issued
forth on the crisp morning
air. To hear the rattling of a
farm wagon miles down the
gravel road as the sun was
bursting into view in the
east, flooding the trees with
sunlight and in their autumn
foliage they in turn
projecting their magnificent
colors for all to see.' To hear
conversations such as these
of the tom foolery that went
on that times makes a
younger person think that
progress didi rob us of those
days."
Isaac Cranston of Ashfield
Township owned one of the
powerful threshing
,machines. The township
history book Frontier Ways
to Modern Days recalls the
work of the iron giant in the
early 1900's.
"Isaac owned a threshing
machine and did barn
threshing for years. At that
time the sheaves were but in
the barns and threshing
wouldn't be finished until the
first of November. The men
who ran the threshing
machine usually stayed all
night at the place where they
were working. Some of the
places, the women didn't like
their bedding all dirtied with
threshing dirt. One night the
men didn't have enought
covers so they got up and put
their clothes on and went
back to bed.
"Another place they were
coaxed to stay all night but
didn't known why until the
next morning. The farmer
had sold a team of horses
they day before and had $400
in the house and didn't want
to be alone.
"It has been related that
on February 14, 1934, Isaac
shovelled out his lane, pulled
the machine out and went to
as ur1.l j.,,,aier
thresh for a farmer who had
a large barn full of sheaves.
This operation took a couple
of days."
For women too, harvesting
was a busy time as they
prepared meals for more
than a dozen hungry, hard
working men. F
In a July 1883 issue of the
Clinton New Era a
refreshing new drink recipe
was published.
"Among the many cooling
drinks recommended for the
harvest field is the
following: to one gallon of
water add one cup full of
boiled cider. It is an
agreeable drink and without
bad effects, provided that
the water is pure."
Threshing days were not
without serious tragedies
and accidents. One early
newspaper item recounts,
"A most terrible accident
occurred on the farm of
Malcolm Cameron, Stanley
Township, which resulted in
the death of a highly
esteemed resident. Arthur
Wanless was engaged in
threshing for Mr. Cameron
with his steam engine when
an explosion took place and
the engine was blown to
atoms. The foot board was
crushed and fell upon a man
named Munn of Hay
Township. He was badly
scalded and terribly in-
jured."
And there were years the
crop prospects were equally
as disastrous. In August
1883, The Clinton New Era
reported, "As it is now a
well -ascertained fact that
the wheat crop is not one of
the worst, but the very
worst, in this section, in the
memory of the oldest in
habitants, considerable
anxiety is being felt as to its
affect upon the physical
interests of the community,
as it is the most important
crop of the farmer, the most
money being obtained
through it, and the one which
he looks to for paying his
store bills. If this crop alone
was the only one which the
farmer had 'to complain
about the prospect might not
be so gloomy, but there are
others that will not yield
very great returns."
Still it is the memories of
successful harvests, of
neighborly good will and
work that remain most
prevelant in the minds of the
old time farmers. These
memories and the love of the
big steam machines help to
keep the enthusiasm and
attendance high at events
like the Pioneer Thresher
Show in Blyth.
Welcome
Threshermen Reunion
VISITORS.
...during your visit to Blyth stop
at Yvonne's for...
Homemade
Hamburgers
Milkshakes, Ice cream Cones, Take -Out Dinners
(Also tables inside)
(lours: Mon. to Friday 7:30 a.m. - 9:00 p.m.
Saturday It a.m. - 9 p.m.
Sunday 11 a.m. - 8 p.m.
Yvonne's
Take -Out
At the Sunoco Station.
In the centre of Blyth,
east side of Hwy. 4.
Page11
A threshing scene from days gone by. (photo courtesy of Dan Hallahan)
Transportation comes in all shapes and sizes at the Blyth Thresher Reunion. These
gentlemen were caught by the camera enjoying a drive through the community park
grounds. They were all decked out for the fine, sunny weekend. The fellow on the left is
wearing a traditional Stetson, while the driver is sporting a modern umbrella hat. (Blyth
Standard photo)
A