February, 2011 President`s Report Longaberger Basket Bingo

February, 2011
John Frank, President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chuck Coles, Vice President . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Donna Haugh, Secretary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Doug Creswell, Treasurer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Allan Bandel, Newsletter Editor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Museum Telephone — 410-489-2345
Club web site — www.farmheritage.org
410-531-2569
410-489-4717
410-489-4728
410-489-5832
410-489-7875
_____________________________________________________________________________________
President’s Report
by John W. Frank
It is hard to believe that another year has passed. The
year 2010 marked the 15th year that the Howard County
Antique Farm Machinery Club has been in existence.
Fifteen years of annual Farm Heritage Days, Farm
Heritage School Days, Howard County Fairs, Spring
Auction Sales, public and private school educational
programs, and literally tens of thousands of volunteer
hours working to assure the preservation of our
community’s agricultural heritage. It also marked the fifth
year for the Living Farm Heritage Museum which equates
to 5 years of museum development, capital construction
projects, grounds maintenance, school tours, youth group
tours, Basket Bingo, meetings and thousands more
volunteer work hours. It also marks a year of presenting
existing and new museum programs like Eagle Scout
projects, Colonial Camps, Boy and Girl Scout tours,
Haunted Hayrides, Holiday Open Houses, Wounded
Veterans Deer Hunts, Museum Tours and the acquisition
of hundreds of additional items donated for display at the
museum. When you try to digest the whole thing, it is
hard to believe all that was accomplished. No progress
could have been possible without the continued
dedication, support and work effort from our volunteer
members, community support and support from our local
and state elected officials.
As successful as 2010 was, I predict that 2011 will far
surpass our recent successes and raise the bar to make all
future years a challenge to eclipse. So here is farewell to
a successful year and to dear friends who have passed.
Then here is looking forward to 2011 with determination
and enthusiasm equal to that exhibited by our forefathers
as they persevered to build a future that we enjoy today.
____________________________________________
Longaberger Basket Bingo
by Virginia Frank
On Saturday, March 12, 2011 we will hold our 4th
Annual Longaberger Basket Bingo Games in the Dining
Hall at the Howard County Fairgrounds. There will be 20
regular games, 3 specialty games and 3 raffles. Tickets
are $15.00 in advance and $20.00 at the door.
For more information or to purchase tickets, call Rebecca
Lorah at (410) 988-8069, or e-mail her at
[email protected].
We are also looking for donations to sponsor our baskets.
To sponsor a basket the donations are $50.00 or $100.00.
To fill a basket the donations are $25.00 or $50.00. To
sponsor or fill a basket contact Virginia Frank at (410)
531-2569 or e-mail at [email protected].
____________________________________________
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James Clark Main Display Building
by Phil Greenstreet
perhaps at the Howard County Fair in August, both
Members will need to renew their membership on 1
January, 2012. There are no partial-year dues.
We now have the permit to go forward with the
plumbing. We also have a nice donation that will let us do
the groundwork in the near future. After Farm Heritage
Days, we plan to clear the building, lay out the serpentine
walkways and then put the project out for blacktop bids.
The donation should also help to cover this phase.
_________________________________________
Please consider making a tax deductible DONATION
and/or PLEDGE to help support the Museum! Checks
can be made payable to "Howard County Living Farm
Heritage Museum" and may be sent to Club’s Post Office
Box address in care of:
MEMBERSHIP - A New Year Begins!
by Judy Singley, Membership Chm.
Benefits of Membership. The most important benefits of
Club Membership are to be a part of and to further the
Mission of the Howard County Antique Farm Machinery
Club. Members:
• Help to preserve our agricultural heritage through
programs, presentations and multifaceted displays
designed so that guests can learn by experience the
way of life in historical Howard County Maryland and
aid in preservation efforts.
• Will receive the Club’s Regular Newsletter, The
Rusted Plow.
• Enjoy Voting Privileges at Club general meetings.
• Qualify for Liability Insurance Coverage as a Member
in good standing at Club sanctioned events [with some
provisos].
• Can participate in Special Events for Club members
and guests.
• Can participate in Displays at various events.
• Can participate in Club Field Trips.
• Enjoy great Fellowship!
Annual dues are only $15.00 per person. This rate was
instituted in 2010; the very first ever adjustment in Dues!
We encourage you to pay your very modest dues now and
pick up your MEMBERSHIP CARDS at one of the
Meetings to avoid the mailing costs of $0.44 postage each
plus cost of the envelope!
See Judy Singley at meetings or functions. She can issue
cards at any Meeting or function. But if requested, a
Membership Card can be issued and delivered to you by
return mail after receiving your check.
The Club's 2011 MEMBERSHIP year began on January
1 and will end on December 31, 2011. Regardless of
whether a member pays his/her dues in January or later
Treasurer, Doug Creswell
Howard County Antique Farm
Machinery Club
P.O. Box 335
West Friendship, MD 21794
__________________________________________
Asset Management
by John H. Foertschbeck, Chm.
Asset Management Committee
Asset management is a relatively new term for members
of the Howard County Antique Farm Machinery Club
(HCAFMC). Asset management is just another name for
inventory control. Since its beginning, the club began
acquiring numerous farm related artifacts and equipment
ranging literally from hatpins to large farm machinery.
The current inventory includes: furniture, kitchen
paraphernalia, small farm implements like corn shellers,
seed cleaners, cradle rakes, large farm equipment like
tractors and combines. One of the early attempts to track
these acquisitions was an Excel spreadsheet. The sheer
volume of items and place to store them rapidly became
a significant challenge.
When I first joined the club, John Mihm “volunteered”
me to tackle the inventory system. I have a background
in information technology and enjoy developing
automated systems. After several meetings with
President John Frank, I quickly realized that the size and
scope of the club’s inventory and intention of developing
a first class museum required more than a spreadsheet.
One of the first things I did was to search the Internet for
existing inventory packages – no sense re-inventing the
wheel! In July 2006, I contacted several local small
museums and met with Mrs. Heidi Campbell-Shoaf,
Curator, Historical Society of Frederick County. Heidi
shared with me that they and literally hundreds of other
local history groups throughout the country, Canada and
the UK were using the Pastperfect museum software
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system. Armed with this background, I contacted
Pastperfect and downloaded a demo copy of their
software.
I was immediately impressed with the scope of the
package, its use by so many museums, and its relative
user friendliness. After doing some hands-on testing I
recommended that the HCAFMC purchase a copy of the
program. My recommendation was accepted and we then
began inputting data.
Some of the features that make the Pastperfect package
especially relevant to the HCAFMC needs are:
Standard Naming Conventions make it easier to find
and classify objects. The program includes a complete
table lookup function for identifying and classifying
objects. These tables are standard definitions used by
museums all over the world. There are times when
identifying an object can be difficult, but using the predefined definitions helps make the process a lot easier.
The program has three predefined levels; 1. Category, 2.
Sub-Category and 3. Object. For example, a “Category”
entree for “T&E for Materials” could have a sub-category
of “Agriculture T & E”, and an “Object Names“ of
“Stripper, Grain”, or “Thresher, Separator”, or “Tractor,
Farm”, etc. This may appear to be confusing but using
these program-supplied names eliminates typing errors
and helps insure data integrity.
Unique Object Identifiers. The HCAFMC adopted the
industry standard individual identification that includes
a four-digit year, three-digit accession number and a
three-digit object number. For example: 2006.044.001,
2008.003.028. The accession number is a sequential
number assigned to each donated collection. A collection
may be a single object or hundreds of objects.
Photographs may be associated with objects that can
subsequently be used in listing, printouts, etc. We made
a conscientious effort to photograph items as they were
inventoried and included the photos in the database.
There are fields to include a wide variety of identification
factors including: origin, size, shape, source, present
location, condition, control data, and much, much more.
The program comes with a number of reports and a
facility to create custom reports. The custom reports
require some computer programming skills.
Getting Started back in 2006 and armed with
Pastperfect, we started to physically inventory the
hundreds of objects already on hand. Around that time
the club also acquired several semi box trailers to
“temporarily” store the smaller objects in a secured
location. Several volunteers worked many hours
documenting and tagging objects. One of the biggest
problems was just getting to objects already packed,
sometimes haphazardly, into the trailers.
Since 2006, we have acquired, displayed and even,
disposed of numerous objects. The Hebb House has been
a showplace for museum-class household objects for
many years. We were able to take many of the objects out
of the trailers and put them on display when the dairy
barn was restored in 2007-2008. The completion of the
one-room schoolhouse also provided space to display
many of the education-related objects. In 2010 we were
able to setup some temporary displays in the new
museum building.
Ultimately, we hope to setup permanent displays
throughout the complex but especially in the new James
Clark Display Building, possibly as soon as 2011!.
Needless to say, managing an ever-changing inventory of
donations is very time consuming. One could easily
spend a couple of days a week all year long and still not
be up-to-date. Unfortunately, for many different reasons,
we have not been able to devote that amount of time and
effort on this very important project. Finding volunteers
to do the paperwork seems to be even more difficult than
inventorying the objects.
The HCAFMC has a large inventory of objects that
should be put on display. Numerous objects need to be
restored or just cleaned up. Others need to be taken out
of the inventory and disposed of, preferably in the club’s
auctions. The bottom line is that despite a great start, we
have fallen behind. Now we need to regroup, find more
volunteers, and improve our record keeping and display
capabilities.
One of the first steps to regrouping is to form a working
committee that will be able to record and track objects as
they come into the HCAFMC. Members of the
committee will be responsible for recording basic
identification data, e.g., contact information of the
donor/source of the object(s), general description of the
object(s), storage location, any unique background data
relating to the object(s), assign a sequential control
number and affix an identification tag to each object.
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Please contact John H. Foertschbeck if you are interested
in getting involved in this project. John can be reached at
(410) 795-1490, or emailed at: [email protected]
__________________________________________
What was a
“Self-Help” Coordinator?
by Art Boone
During the early 1960s, the Kennedy Administration
activated the 7th Special Forces, which became known as
the “Green Berets”. To fund this elite specialized group,
the Administration laid off thousands of civilian laborers
who were working at various installations throughout the
country.
As a result, an order went out to all Company-Size Units
that general maintenance would henceforth be performed
within each military Unit. Each Unit was to designate a
responsible individual to be trained and assigned as the
“Self-Help” Coordinator.
empowered. No questions were ever asked as to what we
would be doing with what we procured.
Since I was in a Military Intelligence Unit, my primary
duties came first. But I would arrange with my Section
Leader to make time, when possible, to do my new
second “duty” – which was to be the “Self-Help”
Coordinator.
_________________________________________
Wings – Not Always for Angels
by Art Boone
Many air-related accomplishments result in earning an
award that resembles a pair of wings. I suppose that for
the most part, wings came from inferences in the
Christian Bible, or from Middle Ages works of art, where
heavenly icons, or angels, were depicted with wings.
But, be that as it may, I have accumulated 4 pairs of
“wings” of my own.
Well, guess who that turned out to be? The First Sergeant
didn’t hesitate to order me as the willing “volunteer”. For
three days, I hopped into my Jeep and drove to the “SelfHelp School”. There, the classes reviewed a number of
technical 16mm films, in black and white of course,
which were formerly for civilian trainees. After that, the
training was mostly hands-on.
Some items we learned to do were replacing things such
as window panes and screens, electrical switches and
receptacles, florescent lights and ballasts, toilets, sinks,
and plumbing fixtures, door hardware, roofing shingles,
patch concrete and linoleum flooring. Also, I was now
everyone’s buddy because I alone knew how to stop that
obnoxious “banging” of the steam radiators by purging
the air out of them, which was a task to be done quite
frequently; and dangerous, as a matter of fact.
The only incident I recall in my handiwork was knowing
how to replace a light switch without turning off the
electricity. In demonstrating to my assistant how it’s
done, there was a large “pop”, and smoke, and I had
welded the screwdriver to the terminal. I never did that
again!
Once a month, I would peruse my Company with a
clipboard looking for deficiencies. Then, we would go to
the Quartermaster with a list of materials and tools
needed, as well as my “Self-Help” card. We felt sort of
1st:
In 1962, I got my first wings at Fort Benning,
Georgia when becoming an Army Paratrooper.
2nd :
The second pair was in 1964 from the U.S.
Parachute Association for becoming a licensed
sport parachutist. They became “gold” when I
accumulated 1,000 skydives.
3rd :
The third set was in 1968 when I qualified for the
FAA Certificated Parachute Rigger license,
meaning, I could inspect, repair, and pack
emergency parachutes.
4th:
The last was the Private Pilot wings acquired in
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1982 as a result of getting my FAA license to fly
airplanes.
All of these “wings” took considerable time, effort and
inspiration to earn. But, looking back now, each
accomplishment seems to be merely a short blip in time.
________________________________________
canning. Both men met with many challenges and
limited success their first year, however, subsequent
years proved profitable and saw the expansion of the
“new” industry throughout the area.
The 1910 Howard County Directory listed as canners George Driver, Poplar Springs, J.J. and Harry Fleming
and A.B. Sellman & Bros., Watersville.
Club Cook Book Project
by Virginia Frank
We have been trying to compile a Howard County
Antique Farm Machinery Club cookbook for almost a
year now. We are so close. All we need are about 5 - 10
more recipes. We are looking for main dishes, meats,
sides, etc. If you have a recipe please send it to Debbie
Linton at 4654 Skidmore Road, Westminster, MD 21157.
We need these by February 24th. Please send your recipe.
This will be a fund raiser for the club.
________________________________________
Canning Companies
Along the Potomac - Part I
by John H. Foertschbeck
Historic Background. Almost every household in “the
country” canned vegetables from their gardens. Mason
jars and pressure cookers became vital accessories for
every kitchen. Of course, one didn’t have to be in the
“country” to be familiar with canning. I can remember
when my mother would can tomatoes grown in our little
6’ X 12’ garden in the back of our Highlandtown
rowhouse. Everyone had their favorite recipe’s and
canned vegetables helped feed many families until the
next growing season.
Commercial canning in our area was relatively shortlived, less than 100 years. Canning companies popped up
in Baltimore during the 1850’s. Baltimore was the second
largest city in the U.S. and a major transportation center
for both shipping and the railroads. It also had a large
immigrant population, especially after the Civil War, to
do the hard work. Initially oysters were the prime crop
canned, followed by various fruits and vegetables.
Canning took a little longer to reach Western Howard
County and Southern Carroll County. It wasn’t until after
the Civil War that large scale canning operations were
attempted in our general area. In 1868 and 1869,
Benjamin F. Shriver in Westminster and Louis
McMurray in Frederick experimented with commercial
The Mount Airy Canning Co., Mt. Airy, was
established in 1915 with the factory completed and in
operation by August 15, 1915. The officers at that time
were: N.H. Fooks, president; R.M. Peacock, manager and
head mechanic; and Walter R. Rudy, assistant manager.
They packed approximately 150,000 cases of peas, lima
beans, corn, tomatoes and sauerkraut a year. During a
peak season the factory employed approximately 250
persons and five persons year-round to label cans and
ship out orders by rail. The B&O railroad siding
permitted loading directly from the warehouse door.
The canning company maintained their cash flow by
selling the canned goods before they paid the farmers.
Farmers were paid for peas in August, beans in October
and corn and tomatoes on December 1.
The plant was developed on the property once occupied
by the Mount Airy Cold Storage Company, which was
one of the largest meat distribution facilities on the East
Coast. Work began on the factory April 10, 1915. The
buildings spread over five acres and included a 50 X 50
foot warehouse, a 60 X 80 foot processing room and a
husking shed. There was an engine room with two
boilers and two engines. There were three viners to hull
peas and beans. That factory had its own well that
supplied all the water needed for the canning operation.
The factory canned goods under the “Boris” brand name,
which were shipped north to Philadelphia, New York and
Boston. After sitting idle for a while, the buildings and
land were sold at auction. During WWII, the new owners
rented the warehouses to the government to store war
supplies.
“The end came via a bankruptcy proceeding in 1941. The
last year the old pros were gone - Fooks, Peacock and
Rudy were either dead or out of the business. Their
replacements bought some cans that year which did not
fit the lids exactly, cheap, or so they thought. The cans
had to be stamped in a die to stretch them ever so
slightly. Many of them cracked at the seam in the
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process. The result was that many cans spoiled and blew
up in the warehouse. The tough part was that the
explosions could not be predicted, and sales soon dropped
to zero. The company went broke.”
Part 2, which will cover the Woodbine, Morgan, Hoods
Mill and Sykesville Canneries, will be continued in the
next issue (June, 2011) of The Rusted Plow.
__________________________________________
John Fleming and Sons, Watersville, was one of the
first local canning companies. This plant operated from
ca. 1890 – 1910 and was reportedly located in Howard
County on Bloom Road off of East Watersville Road in
Poplar Springs. They processed hand-packed tomatoes.
Three-Mile Haunted Hay Ride
by Sue Romanic,
A.B. Sellman & Bros., Watersville, was the location for
another tomato packing house, from ca. 1910 to the mid
1940’s. This plant was located in a field in Watersville,
just off of Watersville Road.
Nimrod Davis, who grew up in Watersville, remembers
his mother working at the canning plant peeling tomatoes.
He vividly remembered the “aroma” from the tomato
offal and the fact that everyone would get “free” tomato
plants every spring from the area where the waste was
dumped. After the plant closed, neighborhood kids would
roller-skate on the concrete floor. Nimrod lamented that
he could not afford skates and missed this activity.
William Frizzell who was born in 1935, another life-long
Watersville resident, also shared some memories of the
canning company. William’s mother worked in the plant
peeling tomatoes. Lon and, later, his brother Ralf Sellman
operated the canning company, a general store and hotel.
The Sellman’s sold the canning plant to “Knowles” who
also operated the Mt. Airy Canning Co. at that time.
The exact date the canning company was built and placed
into operation could not be established. We believe it was
most likely between 1910 and 1915 when there was a big
demand for canned goods generated by WW I.
During WW II, William remembers German POW’s
working in the canning factory. Some of the prisoners
were quite friendly and even occasionally bought candy
and ice cream for the neighborhood kids. The Germans
were kept at a camp on MD Route 144 near Cooksville.
The canning operations stopped after WW II and the
building was used first to warehouse 55-gallon drums of
lard for the government and then to store hay and straw.
The building collapsed under the weight of heavy snow
in the mid 1970’s. Today all that remains of the canning
company is a vacant meadow and an old steam-driven
boiler enclosed in what’s left of a brick building.
Haunted Ride Organizer
Thank you to everyone who helped to make both the
2010 3-Mile Haunted Hay Ride and the Kiddie
Halloween Hay Ride at the Howard County Living Farm
Heritage Museum the resounding success that they were!
Helped by great weather on all 6 nights and both Sunday
afternoons, the volunteers raised over $7600, making this
one great fund-raiser for the museum!
In addition to all of the Antique Farm Machinery Club
members who drove wagons, rode wagons, collected
money, and served refreshments, several members were
out there all 6 evenings to help haunt the hay ride. We
are deeply grateful to the National Honor Society
students from Centennial High School in Ellicott City
who stepped up and helped to haunt the hay ride on
several evenings. Cub Scout Pack 456 Den 2 (and their
parents) from Sykesville, MD were very scary at the
“wrecked school bus” and with the “creepy clowns” in
front of the One Room School House.
There were also many behind-the-scenes volunteers who
stapled an endless amount of faux spider web to the
ceiling of the back porch of Hebb House, decorated each
of the spooky scenes along the 3-mile course, painted
tombstones, strung together miles of electrical cords, let
us borrow their generators, painted a faux stone fence for
the cemetery, figured out how to build light fixtures that
would come on automatically as the tractor approached.
It took at least 6 people working 9 full days to do the set-
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up and decorating for the 6 evenings of the hay ride.
Even though the 2009 event got rained out all but the last
two evenings, we actually had return attendees this year!
One volunteer actor reported overhearing a person on the
ride exclaim, “Wow! They changed it this year!” as the
wagon went past the Psycho-style shower scene.
We are already beginning to plan the 2011 3-Mile
Haunted Hay Ride which is scheduled for Friday and
Saturday October 14, 15, 21, 22, 28 and 29 from 7 to
10 p.m., and because this is a fund-raiser, the fee is $15
per person, which is actually quite reasonable for a
haunted event.
For the 2011 3-Mile Haunted Hay Ride, we need help
with all of the following:
We need people to give us feedback as soon as possible
about what worked and what we need to improve for
2011.
We need people to share their ideas for scary scenes we
might include in this year’s haunted hay ride, and we
need people who are willing to come and paint, build, setup, act in, and tear down those scary scenes.
We need people who would like to help us recruit
corporate sponsors prior to July 1, 2011 so that we can
offer to pay the actors who are willing to show up each of
the 6 nights and play the same role. Other than the
weather, the biggest challenge of doing the haunted hay
ride has been not having enough volunteer actors to bring
each scene to life on every night. We already know of one
local bank that is willing to help us, but to be able to offer
a stipend to the actors, it is going to take having a lot of
corporate sponsors on board! If your business wants to
help us make the 2011 3-Mile Haunted Hay Ride Fundraiser the best one yet, please let us know as soon as
possible! We need to have the fliers about the 3rd Annual
3-Mile Haunted Hay Ride and the Kiddie Halloween Hay
Ride available at the Antique Farm Machinery Club’s tent
just inside the entrance to the Howard County Fair during
the first week of August, which means we need to have
all of our corporate sponsors lined up no later than JULY
1, 2011.
We need people who can help with costumes and makeup for actors (we can teach you if you don’t already know
how). We need people who are willing to help keep the
dressing area (the front room in Hebb House) as tidy as
possible before, during, and after each evening of the hay
ride. We really need someone to take care of washing the
costumes and repackaging the costumes for storage at the
end of the event.
We need people who can commit to acting in the haunted
scenes on all 6 evenings, whether we raise enough money
to pay them a little something or not.
We would like to create a giant spider that can be seen
from Rte 144 as people drive by the museum. The spider
has to be large enough to span the road and tall enough
to drive a tractor under. It also needs to be easy to set up
and take down so that we can use it for more than one
year. Any engineer/carpenter/creative types able to figure
out how? Please help us!
We would like to create a giant fire-breathing dragon that
lunges out toward the people on the hay ride at the “toxic
waste dump” area of the hay ride (for those of you who
weren’t there, this was the area to the left of the dairy
barn where the antique excavating equipment is often
located near a large pile of dirt.) I have been told that
there is a way to do the fire-breathing part safely, and I
know how one amusement park made a giant snake head
lunge forward, but I need someone who can actually put
it all together and make it work.
We need someone who can build and paint a LOT of
tombstones over the summer. We can donate the
plywood for these.
We are looking for something that can serve as a large
witches’ cauldron. This item must be able to withstand
being outdoors.
We need someone who will put up the Hay Ride
direction signs that we have to point people from Route
32 to the museum very early in the morning to catch the
early commuters on Friday Oct 14, 21 & 28. We need
someone who will take down those direction signs at 10
p.m. on Saturday Oct 15, 22, & 29.
As you can see, the 3rd Annual 3-Mile Haunted Hay Ride
Fund-raiser will require as much help as you can offer,
because even with getting started now, it is far too much
work for just a few people to do. We want and need your
participation! If you can help with any of the early
behind-the-scenes parts of making the 2011 event the
most profitable Halloween fundraiser to date, please
speak to Sue Romanic at the February Antique Farm
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Machinery Club Meeting or contact Sue by phone or text
at (410) 995-0435 or by e-mail at
[email protected]
________________________________________________
Dad’s “Self-Propelled Wagon”
Catches on Fire!!
by Allan Bandel
Spending most of my youthful “formative” years on the
family’s Howard County, MD dairy farm during the mid20th century, was an enjoyable and valuable learning
experience. Those years were highlighted by numerous
events, most of which were mainly routine. But some of
them were quite memorable. Although rare, an occasional
occurrence, such as a truck fire for instance, really added
some “spice” to those normally routine days.
If ever there was a downside to farm life though, it had to
have been related to the fact that farming is still one of
the top ten most dangerous occupations. Fortunately, only
on a very few occasions did I, as a youth, experience any
farm-related incidents that came close to being terrifying
or life threatening, at least that I recognized as such at the
time. I have wondered sometimes though, how our
generation ever survived that phase of our lives without
something unfortunate happening that could have put our
personal safety, in jeopardy. One such exciting event that
had dangerous potential, but fortunately left everyone
physically unscathed, is still firmly imprinted in my
memory.
Remember from the last newsletter, one of Dad’s socalled “self-propelled wagons” that we nicknamed “Old
Smokey”? It was a beat-up old 1934 Ford truck that
for many years had been used daily to haul heavy 10gallon milk cans into Baltimore. Well, the continuing
saga of this old truck resumes here. To review, it was
dubbed “Old Smokey” because its nearly worn out
V-8 engine had a hefty “thirst” for consuming large
quantities of engine oil and thus left a big cloud of blue
smoke behind it most of the time. Of necessity then, we
always kept a gallon jug of SAE 40 motor oil in the cab
just to quench the noisy old V-8's endless demand for
lubricant.
This old truck was really quite a “junker”. Dad had
acquired it fairly cheaply for use around the farm. It was
not really in good enough condition to be taken regularly
out on the public roads. So Dad enjoyed referring to
thisold vehicle, less as a truck, but more as one of his
motorized “self-propelled wagons”.
You might also remember that “Old Smokey” had
a few other peculiarities that were distinctive. Its vacuum
booster-assisted mechanical brakes (not hydraulic)
always kept us guessing about whether or not we could
get it stopped safely in an emergency before running into
some immovable object. Its one missing front fender,
dangling headlight, and twisted front bumper, were all
reminders of some of the many close encounters that we
had previously experienced while operating it.
This event in which “Old Smokey” played a rather
dubious starring role, took place on one of those hot, dry,
summer afternoons in July, 1953, a perfect day for
combining wheat. Dad and our hired man were
combining in one of our farm’s long narrow fields that
for some distance, ran parallel to the ¾-mile-long gravel
farm lane of one of our next-door neighbors. This
particular lengthy, uniformly wide, strip of land was one
of our favorite fields to farm. We liked this field because
of its unique, uninterrupted length that seemed to go on
forever. We liked the gentle manner in which it followed
the general contour of the land. There were few overly
steep grades to contend with, and our equipment could be
operated over relatively long distances without the need
to stop or slow down even when crossing the gentle grass
waterways or when making those sometimes difficult-tonegotiate right angle turns at the ends of the field.
The configuration of this field was especially desirable
when operating PTO-driven machinery. These
tractor/machine combinations could sometimes be
problematic when it was necessary to make a near right
angle turn. The straighter that you kept the PTO shaft
aligned between the tractor and the machine, the easier
it was on the equipment. When there was a sharp turn to
be made at the field’s ends, if great care was not
exercised,
damage to the PTO shaft’s loudly
“chattering” and protesting universal joints could occur.
On this fateful day, Dad was harvesting soft red winter
wheat, with our 1948 John Deere model “A” tractor and
a fairly new Case model “F” (or perhaps it was a model
“F-2") combine. It was a PTO-driven harvester equipped
with a bagger platform and a five-foot cutter bar (a
modest swath by today’s standards perhaps, but not
unusual for the mid-1950s). There were very few larger
family farm-size combines available at that time, nor
were there many combines around yet equipped with the
more modern bulk grain tanks either.
9
The best combining weather typically occurs after a long
series of hot, dry days. The hotter and drier the weather,
the more easily and thoroughly the small wheat seeds can
be separated from the grain heads. If the grain is not dry
enough, either because of plant immaturity, or because of
high atmospheric humidity, the grain may be too “tough”
to combine. It will be soft and not thresh out well, nor
will it store safely in the bin without quality deterioration
due to mold formation.
When the straw is really dry, the wheat kernels will most
easily “shatter” out of the heads. Dad taught us that you
should always pay close attention to the sounds made by
the combine and listen to hear the grain “rattle” as it
passes by the rapidly spinning cylinder. As the grain is
threshed, the hard kernels are thrown with force against
the metal insides of the combine. He considered the
“rattling” sound to be a desirable sign, indicating that the
kernels were hard and dry and were just right for the most
efficient threshing.
On one of those ideal July combining days, Dad had
informed me that after he had been combining for a
couple of hours, he wanted me to bring “Old
Smokey” out to the field and begin loading the heavy
sacks of wheat that would by then be lying about all
around the field, dumped there from the combine. After
5 or 6 bags had been filled on the combine, this became
a load on the bagger platform and the bags had to be
dropped to the ground, gently sliding off the end of the
bagger chute when a trip rope was pulled. The filled bags
of grain were thus scattered about all over the field,
usually in groups of 5 or 6 sacks in one spot.
In the process of moving the truck back to the far end of
the field where I was to begin loading, I at first followed
the neighbor’s narrow gravel lane as far as possible, then
gently guided the old truck across a shallow ditch and
into the field. As I approached the area where the
combine was running, I had to drive across some of the
harvested part of the field. The truck rolled over a lot of
freshly-cut loose straw deposited in heavy windrows by
the combine. Being a hot day, all of this straw was tinder
dry. Some of it, because of the large volume, brushed
against the underside of the truck’s frame, especially
against its hot broken-off exhaust pipe. There was no
muffler, of course, having rusted off years ago. Isolated
in the country as we were, rarely did anyone complain
about an occasional noisy farm truck passing by minus its
muffler.
While slowly rolling across the tinder dry straw, and
without forewarning, I was startled when I sensed
through the thick soles of my work shoes, that my feet
were becoming a lot warmer than they should be. A
quick glance down through a large crack in the wooden
floor boards of the rusty old cab, confirmed my worst
suspicion. Beneath my feet, and under the floor boards,
there was a raging fire, now completely engulfing the
engine compartment, and “licking” hungrily at the soles
of my shoes.
I allowed the old truck to coast to a stop before jumping
out of the cab. Looking back across the field to where the
truck’s recently made tire tracks were clearly visible, I
was horrified to see a smoking, smoldering, fiery trail of
burning straw, all the way back to the neighbor’s gravel
farm lane.
Dad, with the hired man who was working the combine’s
bagger, was some distance away, and unfortunately,
heading away from me toward the far end of the field and
was not yet aware of the fire. Alone for the moment with
the blazing truck, my initial concern was for the wheat
field. Would the whole field soon be set ablaze, perhaps
resulting in the loss of our wheat crop? I pondered, what
should I do? Even if I could have reached it, there was no
fire extinguisher in the truck. In fact, very few of our
neighbors even thought to carry a fire extinguisher on
their tractors or in their trucks in those days.
Another immediate concern was the truck’s gas tank. It
was located inside the cab, immediately behind the seat,
not far from the intense flames. What if the highly
flammable gasoline in that tank caught fire and exploded,
further spreading the fire?
Considering that the fire might soon grow totally out of
control if we didn’t get help, and since there was no
apparent way available for me to extinguish it, I did the
only sensible thing that I could think of. I set off running
across the field towards our distant farmhouse where the
nearest telephone was located. Why not use my cell
phone to call for help? What cell phone? In the mid1950s, even the comic strip character Dick Tracy’s
futuristic “Two-Way Wrist Radio” was no more than a
bit of “Buck Rogers” space fantasy. Who would have
ever thought back in the 1950s that such a device as a
mobile wireless telephone would ever become a widely
used reality?
When I finally reached the farmhouse, I breathlessly
10
explained to Mother about the fiery emergency out in the
wheat field, and told her she had better call the local fire
department. I then raced back out across the fields, on
foot, with the intent of helping Dad and the hired man to
try and control the fire, if possible.
To my vast relief, when at last I caught sight again of the
once fiercely burning truck, I discovered that Dad and the
hired man had already managed to extinguish the blaze
and were now just standing by, with big relieved grins on
their faces as I approached. They had used their wits and
put the truck fire completely out with the resources they
had at hand. How did they put the fire out? First, without
getting burned, they managed with a pole to push aside
the loosely fitting hood to expose the flames. Then, they
emptied several bags of wheat over the blazing engine,
(which they had a good fresh supply of on the combine).
The fire was soon smothered out. Puffed wheat, anyone?
Fortunately, the burning straw around the truck had not
spread. These small fires had gone out mostly on their
own. All of us were enormously relieved then that the
apparent danger was over.
Still breathless from my run across the field, I informed
Dad that the West Friendship Volunteer Fire Department
had been summoned and that they were on the way. We
could now clearly hear the high-pitched siren in the
distance. Dad’s initial reaction was one of astonishment
over the ridiculous, or as he might have put it,
“cockamamie”, action that I had taken. Secretly however,
I believe that he was relieved that the fire department had
been phoned. He realized that had conditions changed, if
the wind had suddenly picked up, for instance, the fire
could have conceivably been “fanned” quickly out of
control.
Nevertheless, I was thoroughly humbled and embarrassed
when I was told to proceed back across the field to the
main road and intercept the fire truck. We could now hear
its shrill siren coming closer. Since I had summoned
them, Dad wanted me to personally thank the volunteer
firemen for responding, to inform them that the
emergency was over, that there was nothing more they
needed to do. There was no need now for them to drive
the rest of the way out across the field. Finally, he wanted
me to suggest that they should turn around and return to
the fire house so that they could get back to their regular
jobs. He didn’t want the volunteer firemen to be
inconvenienced any more than they already had been.
Of course, since the volunteers had already interrupted
whatever projects they had been working on before the
alarm had sounded, and since they had already taken
time to come this far, they were not inclined to simply
turn back now without first checking the damage. The
firemen believed that their most prudent action was to
personally check on the status of the fire (which we
agreed was actually the right thing to do). After all, they
had not planned to come all this way just to be told by an
inexperienced, excited, still “wet-behind-the-ears”, but
now very humble teenager, that they should just turn
around and calmly go back to the fire house. They
wanted closure!
The smiling firemen just shook their heads, then put their
shiny red International KB-6 fire truck in gear and
continued on out to the wheat field where they checked
on the damage to the burned-out truck, soaked some of
the few remaining hot spots in the field, had a brief and
friendly visit with Dad, and then departed for the fire
house.
Apparently, the fire had started when the old truck’s
faulty carburetor had over-flowed, spilling raw gasoline
down over the V-8 engine’s hot exhaust manifolds.
Fortunately, the fire had not lasted long enough to cause
irreparable damage this time to Dad’s “self-propelled
wagon”. “Old Smokey”, like the mythical sacred
ancient Greek firebird, the “Phoenix”, was destined to
“rise out of the ashes” and be reborn.
After towing the fire-damaged truck to “Jr.” Frank’s
nearby repair shop, we learned that about all that was
needed to get the old engine running again was a little
work on the malfunctioning carburetor, followed by
installation of a new set of ignition wires, all of which
was taken care of within a few days. There was no need
to worry with replacing any of the burned off wires to the
lights. The lights, what few there were of them, never
worked anyway.
From that day forward, we were constantly reminded of
the fire whenever we used that old truck. The brown
rusty hood where the green paint had been burned off
was never re-painted. Why bother? Our handy old “selfpropelled wagon” was never supposed to be driven any
significant distance off the farm anyway.
This old, but still useful truck, also nearly caught fire on
at least one other occasion. Coincidentally, I happened to
be operating it that time as well. By then, we had added
11
a hydraulic dump hoist to make it more useful at silo
filling time.
While unloading grass silage into a trench silo on a
neighboring farm, I once again recognized that now all
too familiar and unsettling sensation of smoke and fire
(just smoldering this time fortunately) under my feet.
This time, it was discovered that the insulation had worn
off some wires running under the wood floor boards. This
caused an electrical short where they came into contact
with the truck’s metal frame. The hot wires had ignited
some old tinder-dry chopped hay. The small blaze this
time was quickly extinguished, and we soon resumed the
task of filling the neighbor’s trench silo.
internet is but a tiny fraction of this amount. The Howard
County Antique Farm machinery Club can obviously
save many dollars of its limited budget by using the
internet instead of the U.S. Postal Service.
Also, if you would prefer to receive your monthly
meeting reminders by the much more economical e-mail
route, then please inform Virginia Frank at
[email protected]. Simply indicate in a short email message that you prefer to receive your future
meeting notices AND The Rusted Plow now by e-mail.
It’s easy, efficient, “green”, and you will be making a
significant positive contribution to the Club’s finances.
____________________________________________
See Art Boone on Video
After all is said and done, there are a few good things that
can be remembered about
“Old Smokey”.
Recognizing that this “self-propelled” wagon was not a
very attractive old vehicle and that it was far from being
perfect, while it was still in “running condition”, “Old
Smokey” proved itself to be a very useful, and fairly
inexpensive motorized wagon to own and operate – a
valuable piece of farm equipment. In addition, while we
had those matchless “self-propelled wagons” on the farm,
they served their purpose exceedingly well and provided
us with a lot of unique memories, frequent excitement
when we least expected it, and best of all, occasionally,
some really cheap entertainment.
____________________________________________
Got Internet Access?
Why Not use the Marvels of Cyberspace
to Receive The Rusted Plow?
The Howard County Conservancy has created an
excellent short, but very informative, promotional video.
It can be viewed on their website.
The video includes a segment where Art Boone discusses
some of his memories about the Brown sisters, Ruth and
Francis. Art knew both of them very well when they
were Howard County high school teachers in the 1950s.
No longer living, the Brown Sisters’ farm is now the site
of the Howard County Conservancy.
T o w a t c h t h e v id e o, an d A r t , go t o
www.hcconservancy.org, on the web, then click on “New
Video” which can be found on the home page.
____________________________________________
The Club’s Website
If you have a computer with access to the internet, then
why not help the Howard County Antique Farm
Machinery Club save “a bundle” of money on the cost of
postage and paper by choosing to receive The Rusted
Plow electronically? Just go to the Club’s website,
www.farmheritage.org and access the current, or even
past issues. It’s quick, easy, economical, and sometimes
even in color. The electronic version also makes it easy
for you to copy, print, and save certain articles, even the
entire newsletter if you so choose. Why not give it a try?
Don’t forget to check out the Club’s website –
www.farmheritage.org. See for yourself what increasing
numbers of visitors are checking out more and more.
Read The Rusted Plow online. While there, if you find
that something should be added or revised, please
contact, or send a note, to any of the officers, or send an
e-mail to the site’s webmaster, Jenny Frecker, at
[email protected]. NOTE: there is an underline
(_) between “jenny” and “frecker”.
____________________________________________
As you know, postage rates just keep on climbing. There
just seems to be no end in sight. With each issue, there
are over 200 copies of the Newsletter printed and sent to
members through conventional mail. The cost of postage
alone, is over $100 for every issue. The cost of using the
Club Officers, Board of Directors
and Committee Chairpersons
The names of club officers and their telephone numbers
can be found under the masthead of The Rusted Plow.
12
Current members of the Board of Directors and
Committee Chairpersons are as follows:
Board of Directors:
Art Boone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Dick Claycomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Phil Greenstreet . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Walt Toney . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
John Mihm . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Chris Feaga . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
410-531-2644
410-549-2171
410-489-0403
301-854-6398
410-489-7704
410-531-3307
Club committees and chairpersons:
Technology/Web Site — Jennifer Frecker. (contact
her by e-mail at [email protected]) (NOTE:
There is an underline (_) between “jenny” and “frecker”.)
Hebb House —Virginia Frank - (410) 531-2569
Site Development & Layout — Dwayne Singley (301) 596-9723.
Bank Barn — David Haugh - (410) 489-4728.
Main Display Building — Phil Greenstreet - (410)
489-0403.
Fund Raising & Grants — Paul Miller (410) 4618335 & Charles Feaga (410) 531-5100.
Storage and Outbuildings — John Mihm - (410) 4897704 and Dick Claycomb (410) 549-2171.
Sunshine — Dorothy Frank - (410) 531-5555 (Notify
her regarding the need for cards in the event of
sickness, death, birth, etc.).
Asset Management — John Foertschbeck (410) 7951490.
Activities — Art Boone (410) 531-2644.
Membership Secretary — Judy Singley - (301) 5969723 or [email protected]. (NOTE: There
is an underline (_) between “wood” and “sing”.)
documents. Working tractor. Can be restored if you wish.
$2,000 OBO. Randallstown area. Call Kim at (443) 6108429 or (410) 594-7108.
For Sale. 1946 Farmall “A”, restored; 1949 AllisChalmers “G” w/plow, restored; 1951 McCormickDeering “W-9", restored; 1967 Simplicity 2110 w/snow
blower; 1960 Simplicity 725 w/mower deck; Sears 18/6
w/sickle bar mower, mower deck, front blade & wheel
weights; 1983 International 234 Diesel w/3pt hitch, front
& rear PTO; Allis-Chalmers B-10 w/front blade &
mower deck; Cub Cadet 106 w/ mower deck; Case 155
w/front blade; Economy All-Gear-Drive w/front blade &
mower; Economy Jim Dandy w/mower deck; Economy
attachments - cultivators, sickle bar mower, front blade,
rear blade, potato plow, moldboard plow, 2 harrows, disc
harrow, dump rake; Landpride 15-50 3pt hitch rotor
tiller; Landpride 25-60 3pt hitch finishing mower; 3pt
hitch PeCo Vacuum System; 3pt hitch 1-row cultivators;
3pt hitch 5-ft Worksaver blade; 3-ft pull-behind drop
spreader; Cub Cadet front blade; New Troy-Bilt Tuffy
Tiller (less than 5 hours); McCormick-Deering 2-bottom
Little Genius Plow; Cub 144 cultivators; John Deere No.
1 sickle bar mower; IH Big Six sickle bar mower;
McCormick-Deering corn planter; Rear wheel weights fits “A”, “B”, Cub, etc. Call David Haugh at (410) 9601181.
_________________________________________
Calendar of Events
Feb 21
General Monthly Membership Meeting.
Dining Hall, Howard County Fairgrounds,
West Friendship, MD.
For the betterment of the goals of our organization, your
club leaders would welcome any helpful ideas, your
constructive suggestions, and especially, your active
participation. Please feel free to contact them.
______________________________________
Mar 12
Longaberger Basket Bingo. 7:00 p.m., Doors
open at 5:30 p.m. Dining Hall, Howard County
Fairgrounds, West Friendship, MD.
Information: Refer to article in this issue of
The Rusted Plow.
Repair Services Available. Tractor magneto repair
Mar 21
General Monthly Membership Meeting.
Dining Hall, Howard County Fairgrounds,
West Friendship, MD.
Mar 25
Basket Bingo to Benefit Howard County
4-H All Stars. Doors open 5:30 pm, Bingo
starts 7:00 pm. Mt. Airy Fireman’s Activity
Bldg., Twin Arch Road, Mt. Airy, MD.
Tickets: Marjie at (301) 829-1449 or Martin at
(410) 443-8276.
(Wico, American Bosch, IH, Fairbanks Morse). Some
exchange units available. All work guaranteed. Fast
service. Also, carburetor, generator and starter repair
(including Ford Model “A” and Model “T”). Gil Hilsinger, 1538 Buckhorn Road, Sykesville, MD 21784. Call
(410) 795-3734.
For Sale. 1947 Farmall Cub tractor complete with a 50inch belly mower and a pull-behind plow. Original
13
Apr 13-15 Drop Off Items for 16 t h Annual
Consignment Sale. Set-up and registration of
consigned and donated items, 9:00 a.m. until
dusk at the Howard County Fairgrounds,
West Friendship, MD. Your Help is
needed!!
Apr 16
16 th Annual Consignment Sale. 9:00 a.m.
until... Howard County Fairgrounds, West
Friendship, MD.
Apr 17
Cleanup Day following Consignment Sale.
Your Help is needed!!
Apr 18
General Monthly Membership Meeting.
Dining Hall, Howard County Fairgrounds,
West Friendship, MD.
Association. Land Preparation for corn
planting. Museum Grounds, West Friendship,
MD.
May 16 General Monthly Membership Meeting.
Dining Hall, Howard County Fairgrounds,
West Friendship, MD.
June 4
July 2 Annual Cutting of the Wheat. (Approximate
date). Living Farm Heritage Museum Grounds,
West Friendship, MD.
Aug 6-13
May 7-8 Annual Sheep and Wool Festival. Howard
County Fairgrounds, West Friendship, MD.
May 14 Spring Plow Field Day and Demonstration
with the Maryland Draft Horse and Mule
Historic Maryland National Road Yard
S
a
l
e
.
Living Farm Heritage Museum, West
Friendship, MD.
66 t h Annual Howard County Fair.
Displays of vintage farm and household
items. Demonstrations of old time farming
and household activities. Howard County
Fairgrounds, West Friendship, MD.
“Coming out of the grave.” Three-Mile Haunted Hay Ride. October,
2010. Photo courtesy of Carmela Colatorti.