1310 S. 9th Street Watertown, Wisconsin 53094
The little crossroads settlement of Burnett Corners, Wisconsin,
is home to the Dodge County Antique Power Club. On August 3 &
4, 1996, the Power Club presented its 28th annual Antique Power
Show.
Even with clear blue skies all weekend, there was quite a bit of
gray at the show grounds. That gray was caused by a large display
of this year’s feature: Ford and Fordson tractors and related
machinery.
The Ford feature turned out better than many people expected.
There were 42 registered Ford exhibitors and approximately 50 to 60
pieces in the Ford feature. There was everything from working
tractors as common as dirt to beautifully restored pieces and a few
quite rare units.
One Ford collector commented that since Ford isn’t often
featured at these shows he made it a real point to be there for
this one.
The oldest piece in the Ford feature was a 1919 model F Fordson
tractor owned by the Neumann family of Waupun. They also brought
two later Fordsons. Donald Lund, Hartland, brought a 1923 Fordson.
There was a total of five of these pioneer tractors.
Orville Schmidt, Campbellsport, and Rosemary Schmied, Watertown,
both brought different Model T tractor conversions.
Howard Fischer, West Bend, displayed a 1925 model TT Ford truck.
Edward Babcock, Juneau, drove over in a 1928 Model A.
There were at least half a dozen 9N’s at the show. The most
eye-catching was an aluminum hood 9N with serial number 16 which
was brought in by Dwight Emstrom of Galesburg, Illinois. That
brightly polished aluminum hood was hard to miss.
John Poch, New Holstein, displayed a 9N on steel wheels. Ralph
Bluhm, Mequon, brought his 9N with a Dearborn two-wheel dump
trailer.
There were maybe four of the somewhat rarer 2N’s in
attendance. Eugene Miller, Watertown, and Charles Hammer, Beaver
Dam, each brought one.
There were plenty of 8N’s at the show, probably 20 of that
model.
The most notable of that group include a 1949 8N with Funk V8
conversion brought by Palmer Fossum, North-field, Minnesota; Joe
Luriak, Menasha, also brought an 8N V8 conversion; Bob Wenzlaff,
Kewaskum, brought an immaculately restored 8N; and Dwight Emstrom,
Galesburg, Illinois, also brought an 8N with a Ford Dearborn grader
conversion mounted on it.
Don Rice, Juneau, displayed a 1954 NAA with Arps half-tracks.
Don also brought a 9N on steel and several other pieces.
Daniel Guenterberg, Iron Ridge, brought a 1956 model 600 with a
one-arm loader and a Dearborn utility box. He was somewhat
reluctant to bring this tractor since he uses it every day on his
dairy farm, but he thought he could get by without it for a couple
of days.
Chris Kangas, Dousman, displayed a 1957 Fordson Major
Diesel.
Derek Quam, Madison, displayed his 901. Dave Bradley, Fox Lake,
brought his 981 in striking gold demonstrator paint. Dave just
finished painting the tractor and got it back together about a day
before the show.
The club was given an old Dearborn-Wood Bros, combine, it was in
excellent condition and operable. Each afternoon Jim Zahn, Juneau,
hooked it to his Farmall M and made a few rounds in the standing
oats.
Power Club members sold raffle tickets for a nicely fixed-up 8N
and some other prizes. Ticket sales were very brisk. In fact,
tickets were virtually sold out by the middle of Sunday afternoon.
The winners were drawn at the club banquet in October. Rodger
Breselow, Mayville, held the winning ticket and is now the proud
owner of a 1951 8N.
Along with the Ford feature, the rest of the show was very
successful as well. This was the Dodge County Antique Power
Club’s third show at its permanent Burnett Corners
location.
Three years ago the club finally made a big decision and
purchased 66 acres near the village of Burnett in central Dodge
County. Those 66 acres of cropland have seen quite a few changes.
The exhibit and parking areas have been seeded, several roads and
driveways have been put in, several smaller buildings have been
moved in, a permanent shelter was erected near the food stand, and
a large shelter was erected for farm toy dealers and craft
displays. A tractor pull track has been graded and fenced, and a
lot of brush has been cut, low spots filled and high spots
graded.
Future plans call for erecting a large pole shed to house
several permanent exhibits. The largest of those is an
Allis-Chalmers steam engine-generator set club members removed from
the old Monarch Range factory in Beaver Dam.
Of course, there were all the other activities people have come
to expect at the Antique Power Show: logs were cut into lumber on
two sawmill rigs; a couple acres of oats were threshed (for a
change this year the shocks were actually dry); Jim and Wayne
Kassube, Lake Mills, set up a Rosenthal corn shredder and an IHC
stationary baler and demonstrated their use; Pete Schimming, Beaver
Dam, cut some standing corn with an IHC F-12 and an IHC corn binder
and then ran the corn through a Fox silo filler.
Four steam engines were in attendance this year: a Case 65 HP
owned by Bill Lanzendorf, Beaver Dam; an 1884 Rumely owned by John
Raemisch, Dane; and a 60 HP Advance and 65 HP Case portable engine
both owned by Ralph Noggle, Slinger.
Saturday afternoon saw an antique tractor pull with 65 pullers
entered.
There was genuine horsepower on the grounds in the form of a
team of Belgians owned by Bill Ladwig, Hori-con, giving wagon rides
and doing a little plowing as well. Ralph Bohn and Roy Schwefel,
Watertown, also brought their team of mules to give wagon
rides.
The tractor exhibit gets bigger every year. A nose-count Sunday
morning showed 173 tractors on the grounds at that time.
The gas engine exhibitors were set up around the outside
perimeter of the exhibit area (where many can catch some shade). It
was hard to get an accurate count but there seemed to be several
hundred engines on hand.
A large flea market was set up between the parking lot and the
main exhibit area. Many craftspeople and farm toy dealers were set
up under the new 40′ by 130′ shelter. The shelter was
completed about a week before the show.
Plenty of food and refreshments, including steamed sweet corn
and a chicken barbecue Saturday evening, kept everyone from going
hungry.
Next year’s show will be August 2 & 3 and will feature
Minneapolis-Moline tractors and machinery. For more information on
the Dodge County Antique Power Club or the Antique Power Show call
(414) 386-2441.
