My father,
Joe Rhode, loved to talk about the days when threshing wheat was powered by
steam engines. When Dad was growing up and when he became old enough to run an
engine, his uncle Charley Cobb, who ran several engines in the vicinity of Pine
Village, Indiana, taught Dad how to run steam. I ran my Case steam engine at
shows for nineteen years, and I can attest to the fact that learning to run a
steam engine is a steep learning curve! On the day after Christmas in 1996, my
father recalled the days before his uncle had begun my dad's training in the
operation of a steam engine: “My mother rarely would get up early enough to let
me go with Uncle Charley [her brother] to the threshing. [Charley left to fire
the engine] before dawn, you see. I had to wait until my grandfather could take
me to see the Reeves engine later in the day.”
![One of Fred Albright's Rumely Rigs in Pine Village, Indiana; Photograph in the Collection of Robert T. Rhode](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPuUCve4hTMlQaxqNFGZ0WgutV9SHtzmHSpzH0asmfOwJm6FJtAdOuTydh2HeqwtCeeXzVwM9Y-YQS61MYNzzvReKAp3yB8zWQ6rKLVQpD6XkVmQIAI4aSAOkFqPqV3LMPan_KNsut9h81/s320/4A.+Fred+Albright%2527s+Rumely+Rigs+1.jpg) |
One of Fred Albright's Rumely Rigs in Pine Village, Indiana |
My
father continued, “The Max family’s Advance engine was scrapped as junk.”
Incidentally, I have made sour milk drop cookies from Elsie Dowden’s recipe,
which was handed down to me. The recipe came from Elsie’s mother. Elsie most
likely baked the same cookies for the threshing crew surrounding the Advance
engine on Jay Max’s ring.
![One of Fred Albright's Rumely Engines in Pine Village, Indiana; Photograph in the Collection of Robert T. Rhode](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj44MEbAd-KhlqrjsD6ff8_zmwyKbTlJ6oWOgnKtgN17fdzCgwKL6hPOSZLRfew3qe5-ojmfQpHZdOut-nYLOIphDgHG_rGsPBdwFKVRjtCtWmfiSxPRc5HpukKk0xIL3TEIIXIDHazjCp7/s320/4B.+Fred+Albright%2527s+Rumely+Rigs+2.jpg) |
The Other of Fred Albright's Rumely Engines |
Dad
said, “One of the [two] Rumely engines burned in a shed fire at ‘Oklahoma.’” An
area of houses near the grain elevator was nicknamed “Oklahoma.” The two Rumely threshing rigs were owned by Frederick “Fred” J.
Albright (1876–1965). Fred’s brother, Joseph
R. (born 1861 or 63), ran one of the engines. My father remembered Fred as the
owner of a grocery store in town. Although I have no proof, I think that Fred
and Joe are standing beside the Rumely engine in a photograph that Eric Brutus
gave me. Early one summer, a fire destroyed the shed where the engines and
threshing machines were housed. Residents of Pine Village speculated that
children had set the blaze. My father said that at least one of the engines and
probably both threshers were lost.
![Possibly Fred Albright and Joe Albright Standing Near One of Fred's Rumely Engines in Pine Village, Indiana; Photograph in the Collection of Robert T. Rhode](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjl_wTWSFOcdkEREfEwDccaIN1bvHzSdm6JUlZ7WiTqAHmw3x9llECqxsow7HoCBNYwiih06t3MnljPzEpvvn15T7fo9kRwT43n9y_f5BFCfrARdVhJwS9Ex6yJ0C5KIScwP2n8pT6nuSiC/s320/4D.+Fred+Albright%2527s+Rumely+Rigs+4.JPG) |
Maybe Fred and Joe Albright Standing Near Rumely Engine |
Dad also told of a Keck–Gonnerman steam engine that was purchased
new in 1928 by the Fleming family south of West Lebanon. “It threshed for four
years then sat unused for eight or nine years,” Dad said. “Then it was cut up
for scrap during World War II.”
![Fred Albright Threshing Near Pine Village, Indiana; Photograph in the Collection of Robert T. Rhode](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvlwEQcU6YzPTEIxwyYgC4j4DTRvbjGNkUH2PoYf12wZdfvZV6ICkhiKirandtiuS7wsISfaIQAa65My6jxsbPNDomTAxWNfFzwpFkoys1_zVl3i56zs9UDpbX6kLzMxUlviLCRwnQXazZ/s320/4C.+Fred+Albright%2527s+Rumely+Rigs+3.jpg) |
Fred Albright Threshing Near Pine Village, Indiana |
On the 28th of November in 1996, my father told of a Huber steam
engine north of town: “[The] water tank on the Huber was a wood-stave tank with
a thin metal skin, which had rusted away on part of the bottom edge of the
tank. I saw the tank smoking when the engine was threshing on a hot summer day
of barn threshing at a tall barn in a low area where the heat was trapped. It
was on [my grandfather] Tom Cobb’s farm. The engineer was Jake Kiger, an
easy-going guy, not excitable. He was slow moving, but every movement counted.
He had a white mustache and would whistle through it. I was five or six years
old. The water wagon would pull up, and a hose from the injector would be
placed in the water wagon. Water was used directly from the water wagon until
the water hauler decided it was time to go get more. He would take a hose from
the nozzle at the bottom of the water tank in back and insert the hose in a
small livestock tank beside the engine. He would fill that livestock tank then
take off for more water. The hose from the injector (with a brass screen) would
be placed in the small livestock tank. Joe Williams also used a small livestock
tank with his Reeves outfit. No one got excited about the Huber water tank when
it began to smoke—except me [because I was] afraid of fire. Probably, Jake …
started some kind of ejector to fill that tank so it would not get too hot.”
![Joseph C. Rhode Standing Beside Joe Williams' Reeves Engine Being Run by Joe's Uncle Charley Cobb Near Pine Village, Indiana; Photograph in the Collection of Robert T. Rhode](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBRtbKEUIA6e1iExOHC4tejgORlOiLYrl49anUcT-XeH9HQhPZL-SSGUltOelozeErD5FK-WdJl4_815gGL1xINAKLzcYiTLMCKB5xERMdLDqqgFFQ-OHDStDXJL-i6ZjNLI_f8HPcMYlU/s320/4L.+Reeves+1.jpg) |
Joe Rhode Beside Joe Williams' Reeves Engine Being Run by Charley Cobb |
While we were seated at the kitchen table, my father gave me
instructions to sketch maps of threshing rings and sawmill engines around our
hometown.
![Joe Rhode Near Reeves Engine Threshing on Engine Owner Joe Williams' Farm; Photograph in the Collection of Robert T. Rhode](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEinTbY6BSv6u8ONXSXaOPBY340WweuQtcUbm-vKBdhbEOrM8n-vOERQtvgZet7AfYlaDvAeN6szAv-qfwZjtrMn7fipR_rn9m2fFGB0-X3JDCY0JeerEa8dlajIumag7aX5vhkRx9XrRujY/s320/4M.+Reeves+2.jpg) |
Joe Rhode Near Reeves Engine Threshing on Joe Williams' Farm |
On my father’s birthday in 1996, Dad discussed the so-called
“bucket run,” which began at the Builta farm, “went west to Edgar Akers, out
the angling road, up Lovers’ Lane [for the] first two houses on that road, back
west to the next road to Perry Short’s farm, back down west to the place just
west of my grandfather’s, then back to [State Route] 26 to where Jim Dill lived
(Burgoyne Davis owned the farm), on to where Sherman Carter lived, to Andrew
and Martha Rhode, to the next house—Doc Fenton’s (rented by Earl Simmons)—on
west to Dave Hale’s on the north side of the road, to ‘Toss’ (a pronounced
abbreviation ‘Thos.’ for Thomas) Young, then back to the creek road to do
little jobs for small farms owned by Burl McDonald, Ed Shoults, Fred Dowling,
Ed Bowman, Orval Maxson’s place, Bill Cox, then
up the road to the north to Bill Milligan. Men carried dinner in a
dinner bucket instead of the women having to cook a big threshing dinner. They
used basket racks on the bundle wagons. This run hired Jack Strickler to thresh
for many years but hired others, [such as] Jake St. John. Joe Williams did it
two years in succession while someone filled in where he [usually] threshed.”
![Chart of Threshing in Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana, by Robert T. Rhode 1](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVLbqlmu21hB_HxB4npD-bDtxq4P1cv9uPWWREWxsylI-KVMtML6PomYPpKasemf3QL-Hw8Z3m9ch5YCJLCpur1Cm-kie_YIGFrtOXgV7l3-h663j1cY50judtGRoSM2UlKp2iKOHU3AI_/s320/4E.+Map+of+Threshing+1.JPG) |
My Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana 1 |
My father explained, “Bucket-run workers had two feed boxes on the
two back corners of their basket wagons and did not take their horses inside
people’s barns along the run but fed the horses from the wagons. The sills
extended back farther than normal to hold the feed boxes.” As my father fondly
recalled the lavish threshing dinners that other rings offered, he said, “It
must’ve been the least pleasurable to work on the bucket run of any run with
which I was acquainted.”
![Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana, by Robert T. Rhode 2](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKop8wTBoTWbnJTH47VVI_Uuwm1BV0_ReHb2NcR3fFxPpibaJV5apg9UL-ehBkckdIpTPQGH8fKXqdGFMHPIWFNH4RNm0tOuy1vKHhR26WOaua6wwtDXopcYEL5Nlbs7uX7QdkKIR2N55H/s320/4F.+Map+of+Threshing+2.JPG) |
My Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana 2 |
![Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana, by Robert T. Rhode 3](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFuJCQ4EDy4Rtj0IlQ7NiksGsgYAcn2nBMqH3p6Gf4wDKpTQeQQUMykydCgpSxHZyUgfTxfMn_9ohUhCkqfA_m4tRiJajlOl1jnk6OJy-Cd0-IlOIiMq7F5FBiytBK2ZJmgO-Ye-4cupYb/s320/4G.+Map+of+Threshing+3.JPG) |
My Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana 3 |
![Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana, by Robert T. Rhode 4](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgikFWydChoSTg3sxuMXA0UP6AIgDtiuL1YDA-H5DEQSn4xXAjrvlht76Flb1f2agVCf-WhLHLKDW-4rMkY52OmORUMTmC1bPUCJi_Gq6mp3bxpTunqnu3OpGofQrgXpXfO3s6eXfkbUQH3/s320/4H.+Map+of+Threshing+4.JPG) |
My Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana 4 |
![Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana, by Robert T. Rhode 5](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiDVEdExfo0JOGiOXbgP5-HBvWalXRLG5VsxYPP0rgpoIjkzBJynwCNyfIlV4onRFCoYkP69vUd66b9Pj-2b1maEb6RcFrWac5s5EQmBLdWpv_iZzTlpAqazcBN1zaaK5ejNlE997GgGsC/s320/4I.+Map+of+Threshing+5.JPG) |
My Chart of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana 5 |
![Diagram of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana, by Robert T. Rhode 1](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhGRwgiUN8ta4sPiyZ8uESrP2wk4Ve__jspVlhif3kmjlkJj11hc-HMk17iI5H15trKJFNgKQjEJFpcx3Jxz94J8EWk9mZt6gZ83CZV41RnUwEefezWYLXMOrer4kmrJlKf-u1FHNOU10V4/s320/4J.+Diagram+of+Threshing+1.jpg) |
My Diagram of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana 1 |
![Diagram of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana, by Robert T. Rhode 2](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpqmKcSPDvTEEQLywc0WIdVzreHUuXsRH3LuaKVEL387ZzbMIqf-M0HihAIuTRiW0UHag1EJNfKrCtEXd_E0oazMsbu4IWhbxfhKS0ZVubRDlu6s2HRCXyKzj_9yHVvOjPcLT5MCBEKC-T/s320/4K.+Diagram+of+Threshing+2.JPG) |
My Diagram of Threshing in the Vicinity of Pine Village, Indiana 2 |
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