EPISODE 190 STATIONARY THRESHING MACHINE…UNWELCOME ANYWHERE FOR SOME STRANGE REASON
alan skeoch
dec. 2020
NOW THAT IS A BEAUTIFUL MACHINE…BUT I GUESS ‘BEAUTY IS ONLY
IN THE EYES OF THE BEHOLDER, NAMELY ME.
My previous Episode 189 tells the story of my impulsive purchase of 4 thresing machines at a Kitchener auction many years
ago. This is the story of the smallest of them. It was made in New Hamberg, Ontario sometime between 1850 and 1900 and
designed to sit on a barn threshing floor where the sheaves of wheat , oats or barley could be hand fed into the threshing cylinder.
Not many of these machines have survived the change from small farms to large corporate farms. As a matter of fact
not many people would even know what the machine did. IT could have had wheels at one time perhaps.
About 20 or 30 years ago I gave the thresher to the City of Mississauga and it was kept in the small barn beside the Bradley
Museum. Nothing was done to indicate the importance of the machine.
“That thing takes too much space”, some museum manager
decided…with follow up questions.
“What is it anyway?”
“Why do we have it sitting there?”
“Who gave it to us?” “Is there any paper work?”
“Let’s get rid of it.”
RING…RING…RING.
“Hello, Alan, how would you like a small threshing machine?”
“What colour?”
“Sort of a faded orange…quite old…stencilled says New Hamburg Manufacturing Company.”
“Do you know where it came from?”
“We have no idea. No paper work.”
“Well, let me tell you. I gave the machine to the City of Mississauga. It is an important artifact.
“It was yours?”
“Yes.”
“Well, we do not want it anymore…come and get it.” “Or it will be disposed of …”
Now that was a double shock…First, no one knew I gave it to the Bradley House museum decades ago
Second, they were dumping the machine and just by chance called
All this at my personal expense…I felt badly treated by my own city of Mississauga.
Almost like I had backed up and dumped a load of garbage. I still feel
let down. The ‘come and get it now’ phone call was a real slap in the face.
Sp I asked Andy to help once again. This time no safe place in mind until after the pick up.
I sent an email to the Wellington County Museum…seemed a good fit since they have an
immense historic barn with lots of room and the thresher was designed for a threshing floor.
No answer. NO ANSWER! Not just a ‘thanks but no thanks” but NO ANSWER AT ALL.
So what to do? “Andrew, we’ll take the machine to Bill Brooks…he owns a machine shop
in Rockwood and has helped in the past.
And that is where it rests today…two years later.
Imagine that. Here I have a very rare ‘flat to the floor hand fed threshing machine … a rare machine …and
no one has the imagination necessary to see that it is preserved for future generations.
After the urgent call…i.e”.Come and get it or it goes to the garbage dump”…my son Andrew helped immediately. Then Bill Brooks and his brother Joe Brooks helped.
They put it under cover where it sits today. The thresher would look perfect in the Wellington County Museum. The gigantic barn which is near empty. But no one will
respond. Bill Brooks cannot keep it forever. And our barns are full. What should we do?
Museums are loss leaders. They do not make money. They take up space. They are unnecessary. Right?
alan skeoch
Dec. 2020