EPISODE 153 GRAIN FARMERS MUST HAVVE HATED DOCKING MACHINES
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alan skeoch
Oc.t 2020
“Take a seat, Alan…rain trying to sleet outside…good time to think…to remember”
HEADING: DOCKING MACHINES MUST HAVE BEEN HATED
Cold rain…almost sleet…falling today. Good time to try and sort through our collection of weird and wonderful machines
in the main barn. It has been years since I have done so. Seems like a treasure hunt … includes a chair for contemplation.
Contemplation? Yep, I sat down and stared at two machines that were uncovered once the flower pots and threshing machine
moulds were set aside. Two antique DOCKING MACHINES. Probably the only such machines left in North America. How
did I know that? I combed the internet under various titles like ANTIQUE GRAN DOCKING MACHINES and other word
combinations. No luck. You might do better but let me get on with the story.
The same year, perhaps 1980, we visited those hidden ICBM SILOS in North Dakota we also stopped at a grain silo near the Canadian
border. A huge wooden structure that, unlike the ICBM sites, stood out against the flat horizon.
“Hi, hope we are not intruding but could I take a couple of pictures of your grain silo?”
“Do what you want. We don’t get many visitors…matter of fact we don’t get any except for
the trucks loaded with grain.”
(I noticed two dust covered mini fanning mills in a forgotten corner)’
“What are those machines?”
“Old Docking machines…they go a long way back.”
“Docking machines?”
“Yep, we take a sample of every load of grain, dump it in the docker and then
calculate how much to dock the farmers’ load.”
“Weed seeds and rat dung as a percentage of total load.”
“Not so much rat dung but weed seeds for sure and other waste”
“Farmers must hate these machines.”
“They do…cuts into profits.”
“Still using those dockers?”
“No…they’re obsolete. New dockers are better.”
“What are you going to do with the old ones?”
“Nothing…we’ll get rid of them when we have time.”
“Would you sell them to us?”
“Sure…sell them cheap, how about $20 each?”
“I’ll give you $25 each.”
“Sold. Let’s get them in your truck…Not much room.”
This is the older of the two…perhaps once it was hand cranked. Both Docking machines run by electric motors so they are likely vintage 1920 or 1930 or 1940.
CONCLUSION
And so we loaded both docking machines…packed tight in our van. Two kids, two dogs, four sleeping bags, Coleman stove, coolers, dog food, human food, one giant tractor tube (our idea of a boat),
then Marjorie and me and now TWO DOCKING MACHINES. And a case of Coors beer for our visit with Wick at Lake of the Woods. Behind the van we hauled a pop up trailer. We must have looked like
a modern version of Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.
I sat in the barn today thinking about that trip. Good memories. One mistake somewhere along the way when the tractor tube broke loose and rolled like an immense do-nut into the ditch. We should
have deflated it rather than tie it to the truck roof. But how would we re-inflate it at a lakeside camp ground? I think we gave it away.
I hadn’t seen those Docking Machines for two decades. I knew they were safely tucked away in the barn though. This was a good time to give them the
exposure they deserved. So here they are…yours to admire.
alan skeoch
Oct. 2020
P.S. Just in case you wonder why I had trouble finding the Dockers, here’s a picture of things that blocked
my view. Each of these things is another story. The great wood drive pulleys were rescued when the
Massey Ferguson factory was demolished around 1990.