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- Edgerton Reporter, August 1982 page ? and last page
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Farming techniques that were employed in the early 1900s in harvesting crops -- old-time threshing, plowing and sawing logs using steam engines and gas tractors -- will be re-enacted once again over Labor Day weekend when the Rock River Thresheree Association holds it[s] 26th annual reunion at Thresherman's Park. Members of the Thresherman's Association, clad in typical turn-of-the-century garb, pose with an old-style thresher fired by an Advance Rumely steam tractor that lumbered over the fields years ago. |
With each piercing shriek emitted from coal-fed steam engines to the deliberate lumbering of grand steel wheels, there's a sense of Americana in the majestic giants which furnished the farm power of yesteryear.
For a quarter of a century now, members of the Rock River Thresheree Association have been reviving the antique farm power for a public showing at the Thresherman's Park, located south of Edgerton on Highway 51 at Cox Road.
Rambling over the 105-acre park site for the past 25 years -- recreating those early mechanized farming methods that carved a legacy in the land for nearly a century -- are steam engines, threshing machines, grain binders, plows, corn shredders and silo fillers to name just a few.
Sheaves of grain gathered from two fields have been stacked by pitchfork onto wagons in preparation for the thresheree which will be held Sept. 4, 5 and 6 at the Thresherman's Park. The three-day show is considered southern Wisconsin's largest display of steamers, gassers, gas engines and old farm machinery.
The sheaves of grain stacked on the wagons are ready to roll onto threshing machines intact and roll out once again as separated oat and chaff.
Since 1957, the Labor Day weekend has been threshing time for the 110 members of the association. The Rock River Thresheree, which club president Glenn Beedy of Beloit and his crew are now gearing up for, draws about 20,000 people each year to its three-day run.
The clock will once again be turned back to just after the turn of the century and the days of early gas and steam powered tractors and other machinery.
"People who are history minded really have a root in this club," said Don Lux, vice president of the association.
For those who visit the Thresheree during Labor Day weekend, it will be the sights and sounds of a bygone era.
A limited checklist of the types of farm machinery that will be on display include eight steam engines, several Rumely OilPull tractors, which are run by kerosene but cooled by oil, McCormick-Deering grain binders and one gigantic Aultman-Taylor engine.
The association owns the park, a few tractors, a miniature steam train and an Advanced Rumely. It also stores equipment belonging to its members, which are used at the annual thresheree.
"We'll be pulling all this out the week prior to Labor Day," Beedy noted. "People will bring in some smaller gasoline engines for the thresheree, but as far as big stuff, we don't have any brought in. We might have 15 to 20 people who haul in small tractors or trucks."
And by the time the show is completed each year, antique collectors and displayers are already booking entries for next year's reunion, which dates back to John Horton's first show on his farm back in 1957 and moved to the park four years later.
The Fulton Congregational Church assisted Horton in laying the groundwork for the thresheree during those early years.
Each year, displays of the farm machinery that bridged the gap between ox-drawn plows and today's diesel-powered equipment while etching a livelihood in the land, come from as many as 30 states.
"Some people come to us an say their grandfather used to do it (thresh or plow with steam and gas tractors) and they wonder what it was like," Lux said.
Of course, ongoing demonstrations of the antiquated farming techniques that allowed the American farmer over the years to move from the small family farm to the vast spreads that have become the bread basket of the world will be conducted each day.
These will include threshing with steam engines, plowing with an old nine-bottom plow powered by steam and gas tractors and wood cut with a steam-powered saw mill.
Obviously, the threshing is the big draw at the thresheree, but this year's program has other attractions as well.
There will be shingle mills, corn meal graining, a flea market, and other entertainment by Janesville Green Beret Drum and Bugle Corps.
Among the craft demonstrations are the somewhat latent are form of barrel making or coppering [coopering], pottery making on a potter's wheel and designing or leading stained glass.
There will be a big parade each day at 2 p.m. and new this year will be the Sheltie Drill Team.
Some of the old standards that have made the association's gathering a popular event each year include the Cannonball Express, an old steam locomotive that has been a family favorite since it first rambled across the thresheree tracks in 1963-64.
