A 3-inch rain during the early hours Aug. 7 left water puddles and mud, but it didn’t dampen the spirits of Hanley Falls Pioneer Power members for its annual threshing show.
The group traces its origin to a 1976 Bicentennial celebration when Arlan Gustafson displayed one of his pieces of antique machinery.
From that humble beginning an organization grew with dues for its members and officers who took the lead preparing for their annual demonstration of vintage farm equipment. Gustafson, president of Pioneer Power, and Roger Dale, vice president, displayed several of their antique implements and tractors.
Gustafson and Dale own an 1870s Ellis Keystone wooden thresher manufactured in Pottstown, Pa. They purchased the hand-fed thresher from the widow of its original owner who lived near Clarkfield.
People interested in learning how their ancestors harvested crops don’t have to go far to find a threshing demonstration during the hot days of summer.
Gustafson’s reason for participating in Pioneer Power is simple.
“It was something we grew up with. Most of us in this were the age of our grandkids today. I compare it to the old railroad buffs,” he said.
This year’s show featured Massey-Harris-Ferguson tractors and Canadian-built gas engines.
Verlin Ellingson, a gas engine buff from the area, is a retired machinist, welder and farmer. “Gas engines are older than tractors, so I like them,” he said, referring to his collection of over a dozen small engines.
Ellingson travels with his engines to a number of shows across the Midwest. He also spreads the word about the Hanley Falls event while exhibiting, and, as a result, new exhibitors attend Pioneer Power’s show.
Rudy Adrian from Manitoba brought an impressive display of Canadian-built stationary engines. These engines, popular in the early 20th century, powered everything from washing machines to corn shellers.
A placard on his display describes the sound of a stationary engine: “The engines are prized as much for their distinctive chugging, wheezing and popping exhaust noise as they are for the bygone era they represent.”
Transporting 18 tractors of various sizes was no small undertaking, but Donald Herzog, Morrison County tractor collector, had the help he needed. A semi, trailers and six sons combined to bring the collection to Hanley Falls. Herzog’s featured exhibit included Massey-Harris tractors primarily from the 1940s and 1950s. With the help of his sons, he has restored each tractor.
“I suppose it was ’94 when I got my first one,” he said. “A lot of people help me.”
Herzog has had offers to sell the entire collection, but he isn’t willing to part with the ponies, colts, mustangs and pacers, as the early tractors were identified.
One of vice president Dale’s prize possessions is the 1918 Ronning one-row silage chopper Dale and his wife own. The machine was invented by Adolph Ronning of Boyd, the man who later invented John Deere’s roll-a-matic front end.
“It’s possibly the only one existing today,” Dale said. Half of Ronning’s more than 400 patents were ag-related. Among his other patents are ship rudders, army ducks, oscillating semi axles, and stick power controls for the M46 General Patton tank.
The two-day Pioneer Power Threshing Show, held annually the first weekend in August, is held on the four-acre site of the Hanley Falls Agricultural Museum. The free museum is open during the threshing show, and a flea market provides visitors a chance to find a treasure from an earlier era.
