H.C. Route, Box 4l8 Motley, Minnesota 56466.
Here’s a picture of a gas engine that my father used in the
1930’s. He had it mounted on a 4-wheel iron wheeled wagon and
had a buzz saw mounted on the wagon also, with the pulley of the
buzz saw belted to the engine pulley.
My father would go around the neighborhood custom sawing fire
wood for farmers. He pulled the wagon with a team of horses and
when he went as far from home as seven or eight miles he would
leave the ‘saw-rig’ at the farms and walk behind the horses
to bring them home. The next day he would drive our old Model T
Ford car to the place he had left the saw-rig and that farmer would
pull the rig to Dad’s next sawing site, usually the next
neighbor down the road. This usually went on all fall and when Dad
had finished the last job he would walk the horses to the last job
site and bring the rig back home.
I inherited the saw-rig and still have it, though the wood parts
of the wagon are rotted away. Many times through the years someone
will stop in as they drive by and ask to buy the old engine. It is
very precious to me and I wouldn’t think of selling it. During
the Depression in the 30’s my dad’s small wages for sawing
wood often were the only income we had when the cows were
‘dry’ before winter calving. I don’t know what kind of
engine it is. Stamped on a metal plate on the engine is ‘Engine
No. 103008, RPM 425, HP 5E’.
