Sec., The Major County Historical Society. P.O. Box 555,
Fairview, Oklahoma 73737
The 1993 three-day 8th annual Old Time Threshing Bee at The
Major County Historical Society in Fairview, Oklahoma, was a big
success. The show features threshing, baling, 12-bottom plowing,
milling, corn shelling, and the newest feature, a sawmill, all run
by turn of the century steam engines, as well as antique gas
engines, antique cars, antique tractor pull, and food, food, food!
An added attraction was celebration of the 100th anniversary of the
Cherokee Strip Run of 1893the great race for land that opened up
part of northwest Oklahoma for settlement.
For the third year, all the 6th grade students across the state
were invited as guests of The Major County Historical Society to
experience life as it was for their great-great grandparents in the
new state of Oklahoma. Over 1,300 students, teachers, and sponsors
converged on the historical society grounds Friday, September 24.
They viewed demonstrations of threshing, baling, 12-bottom plowing,
and prony brake. The demonstrations were narrated by Amos Rixman of
Nashville, Illinois, helping the students to truly understand what
they were seeing, both mechanically and historically. There were
gunny sack races, turtle races, buttons on a string to make, a
pioneer storyteller, a cowboy poet, a pioneer camp, traveling
salesman, a wagon train encampment, buggy and stagecoach rides, a
parade of equipment, and, a special highlight, reenactment of the
Land Run in which students participated, policed by the 4th Cavalry
K Company from El Reno, Oklahoma.
The Threshing Bee has become a very popular event with the
students as well as the teachers. ‘This was one of the best
field trips we have ever taken. Our children do not know much about
farming and I feel that this aspect of history is very important
‘Tyrone Public School, Tyrone, Oklahoma.
The Major County Historical Society is preserving the past
through the preservation of antique farm machinery and by teaching
our youngsters, as well as people of all ages, through living
history demonstrations, what life was like in rural Oklahoma in the
early 1900s.
The 1994 9th annual Old Time Threshing Bee will be September 23,
24, and 25. For more information write or call: The Major County
Historical Society, P.O. Box 555, Fairview, Oklahoma 73737, (405)
227-2265.
