The Butterfield Advocate Butterfield, Minnesota 56120
The Butterfield Threshermen’s
The Butterfield Threshermen’s Association (Butterfield,
Minn.) hosted its fourth annual Steam and Gas Engine Show the
weekend of Aug. 15-16, 1970 under bright sunny skies.
The crowd saw the beginning of a pioneer village along with the
usual machinery activity. A rural school and a historic church were
added to the wooded lakeside Bee site, with plans to continue
adding historical buildings from year to year.
But the news was the machinery. Over 20,000 enjoyed the
Butterfield weekend show and they saw expansion of both the steam
and gas tractor exhi-hits. Joe Steinhagen of Dodge Center, Minn.
ran his 1924 – 24 hp. Ferdinand Kitten, as well as his 1902 – 18
hp. Huber, two real collector’s items. Lloyd Belden of Cottage
Grove, Minn. was another new exhibitor operating two beautifully
conditioned Case steamers, one 40 hp. and one 50 hp.
Gas tractors have always been a top draw at the Butterfield
Show. Our motto is not to exhibit a machine unless it’s
restored and running, and this was again the case in 1970. Over 50
tractors chugged during the show, and among special note were the
addition of Art & Dave Buhler’s huge 35-70 Minneapolis and
Ben Bloemke’s 30-60 Aultman-Taylor.
The wood exhibit continued to be of top interest in what seemed
like a continuous tither of activity. When a steamer or gas tractor
wasn’t running the saw mill, spectators could watch a planer,
shingle mill, lath mill, circle saws or one of three wood
choppers.
Literally hundreds of gas engines, big and small, chugged
through the two days. Two of the rarest were Ole Lund-berg’s
6-hp. Kansas City Lightning manufactured in 1902 and Ed
Streich’s 1905 7-hp. inverted Hart-Parr. The Lightning is a
single cylinder, 4-cycle engine of opposed piston. But they were
just two of many, and all were running!
Threshing, of course, was always an attraction during the show,
and the steamers and gas tractors drove a variety of separators,
from John Buschena’s 1880 all wood Case to Art Ommodt’s
36×58 Minneapolis with wing feeders. Scale models included the
popular Avery separator built by Gerrit Havelaar of Hudson, S. D.
powered by Ted Lang’s half-scale Case.
Warren Shank of Millersville, Pennsylvania, took his
broom-making equipment and his very good miniature working model
gas engine to Florida at the Haines City show in March 1971.
Harvesting oats in 1925 near Sibley, Iowa. This
binder is being pulled with a Fordson tractor. It is operated by
Mr. Vollink entirely by lines from the binder seat. The man
standing near the Fordson is my brother, Herman Timmerman.
Lang presented another first during the show, too. Both
afternoons he fired his 2/3rd scale of a civil war cannon which he
built during 1968-69.
Perhaps the most interesting new exhibit, especially for the
kids, was Max Borchert’s hand-made locomotive which he called a
mini-train. The steam engine, pulling four passenger cars, gave
rides throughout the show and promises to be a top attraction for
years to come.
Special displays, as in past years, were a favorite with the
women. Not only could you watch lefse being made over an old cook
stove (and eaten too!), rope being made, cotton being spun and
carded, but you could see collections of antiques, wrenches,
buttons, as well as early implements like the hand-powered corn
shellers.
It was a great weekend of fun which promises to be even better
on Aug. 14-15, 1971. A campground on the show site is being
developed for distant travelers (and there were over 40 campers in
1970) to make the show a pleasant memory. Add to that the
convenience of shaded food stands, rest stops and the cool lake
breezes and you have an event which would be fun for the whole
family. We hope you’ll visit Butterfield this summer!
