Sawing & Threshing, 2003

Bill Smith's 20 horsepower Minneapolis runs as good as it looks, providing motive power to Marv Rustad's sawmill. Bill has worked on this engine for the past several years and this was it's first showing since restoration was completed. Doug Klein is firing and Ellen Smith is engineer.

 
Making an appearance at the show for the first time in over 20 years is this little Rumely Oil Pull model W, owned by Paul Grotophorst of Baraboo. It is driving the club's historic Konkel Band mill. The band mill crew consists of Jeff Jaedike, Roger Kessenich, Chuck Sprecher and Jason Yanke. These men have made a lot of badly needed repairs to the mill over the last few years and it is running better than anyone can remember.

 
The crew in the Shingle Mill Shed had a good weekend, sawing shingles out of cedar, then branding them with the club logo and offering them for sale as souvenirs.

  
The Brethorst Family's Port Huron is seen here driving the Birdsell Clover Huller donated to the club in 1990 by the family of Walter Meisel. John Birdsell received his first patent for the clover huller in 1855, and the design of his machines changed very little from 1881 until the end of the company in 1931. This machine was built in South Bend, Indiana.

 
These guys could have a show all by themselves! Mark and Neil Manke, of Lodi, WI, own this Advance Rumely 28 inch Threshing Machine, driven by their 1922 Rumely Oil Pull Model G. Neil is feeding the bundles into the machine and Mark is on top of the machine, keeping an eye on everything. Dan Richards is tending to the oats filling the wagon box.

How could we have a John Deere feature without a John Deere Threshing Machine? John Deere got into the threshing machine business in about 1930 by purchasing the Wagner-Langemo Co., of Minneapolis. These machines were built in two sizes, 24 x 40 and 28 x 52.

This threshing machine was built by the John Goodison Co. of Sarnia, Ontario, Canada , and was bought new in 1923 by Alex Pierstorff. It was donated to the club in 2002 by his sons, Robert Pierstorff, of Verona, WI and Gary Pierstorff, of Newberry, SC.

This all steel Avery threshing machine was built in the early 1920's in Peoria, IL. Avery also built a variety of steam traction engines and gas tractors.

        
This A. D. Baker threshing machine was built in Swanton, Ohio and belongs to the club. In addition to building steam traction engines and threshing machines, A. D. Baker also invented the well known "Baker Valve Gear" used on steam locomotives all over the world.