Threshing ‘Bee’utiful

Golden oats and wheat yield to 51st Butterfield Threshing Bee

 

For the 51st year, the threshers were there.

And, although thunderstorms rolled through Friday night, the wheat and oats had been protectively covered. Come Saturday morning, the threshermen and their machines were at their appointed spots.

It was back in 1967 that the Butterfield Steam & Gas Engine Show made its debut at Voss Park in Butterfield. That first year, the Bee was just a one-day event. Members of that first Butterfield Threshermen’s Board included Wayne Kispert, president; Frank Harder, secretary; John Ekstrom, treasurer; along with Wayne R. “Bink” Hanson, Ed Streich, Otto Wolner, Art Ommodt and John Pankratz.

That first show was a tremendous success as – with an estimated 15,000 people on hand. Voss Park has hosted the Bee every year since then. The non-profit event was changed to a two-day event in 1968. It is coordinated by dozens of volunteers each year and has grown beyond the threshing by leaps-and-bounds.

This year, the 51st-annual edition was held, beginning on Friday afternoon, August 18 and continuing through Saturday, August 19 and today (Sunday, August 20).

Today’s nine-member Butterfield Threshermen’s Association Board includes President Howard Madson, Vice-President Doyle Janzen, Secretary David Harder, Treasurer Dave Buhler and Directors Mike Hall, Bruce Koenig, David Harder, Corey Suess, Steve Ringen and Jim Nasman.

All was “Allis” this year, with Allis-Chalmers the featured tractor line; proudly emblazoned on the Bee button.

In the Vintage Vehicle Shed, Cadillac – the “Standard of the World” – was the vehicle highlighted this year. Cadillac is the brand most associated with luxury vehicles in the United States.

Also recognized were the roles played by several longtime Bee participants.

Above right, Charles “Bill” and Marcia Paulson.

Bill and Marcia, formerly of Butterfield, now of Rochester, owned and operated Paulson Publishing Inc., publishing the Mountain Lake Observer, Butterfield Advocate – together, the Observer/Advocate – the Bargain Bee, and, of course, the Bee’s Informational Program.

The couple has participated in all 51 Bees.

They began the Advocate Print Shop in Pioneer Village,

In addition, the Paulsons partnered with Bill Schrader to buy a Shingle Mill for the Bee and with Arnie Friesen, Clarence Hovdet and Chuck Bisel to purchase a Minneapolis steam engine.

Justin and Jennifer Shouse-Klassen of Mountain Lake took over running things at the Bee’s Advocate Print Shop several years ago, continuing to keep the old way of printing alive.

Below center, Glen Adrian of Butterfield and his “team” operating the Saw Mill, a gas tractor belted up to the mill powering the blade.

The Adrian family of Butterfield has played an active role in the operation of the Saw Mill since it was purchased by the Butterfield Threshermen’s Association (BTA) for the 1968 show. The late John Adrian, along with his son, Glenn, spearheaded the work for 35 years until John’s death in February 2003. Glenn’s son, Zachary, also had an active role until his death in October 2005.

This year marks Glenn’s 50th year at the Bee. He began working in the Saw Mill at the age of 12. Though he is not done yet, he plans on passing the Saw Mill’s management to family friends, Ben and Jenny Nelson, Ben has been working with Glenn in the Saw Mill for the past 17 years.

 

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Following is a photo gallery – demonstrating how “Bee”sy the annual event was:

 

THIS YEAR’S BEE was all in with Allis (Chalmers); the implement manufacturer’s standard bearer waving below the Stars-and-Stripes on the Voss Park flagpole.

 

ALLIS-CHALMERS TRACTORS of all ages, shapes, sizes and uses filled up three long rows on the grass just south of Voss Park. Here’s a look at the variety found in two of those line-ups.

 

THE ALLIS-CHALMERS (A-C) representative tractor appearing on this year’s Bee button. The 1971 A-C WD is owned by Bill Grefe of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, formerly of Butterfield. The original owner was Earl Warner, Bill’s grandfather, of Walnut Grove. Earl purchased the tractor from a bachelor farmer near Lamberton in 1960. He used the tractor for more than 30 years to feed cattle. Earl was a frequent Bee attendee – making the trip especially to see his former tractor. Earl passed away on July 20, 2017, at the age of 92. Grandson Bill overhauled the engine and looks forward to installing new tires and giving it a fresh coat of paint.

 

A “BEARY” CUTE rider on the “buddy seat” of this Allis-Chalmers 160.

 

ELIZABETH LINSCHEID OF Butterfield, at the wheel of this Allis-Chalmers B, preps for the afternoon Antique Car and Tractor Parade. Riding shotgun is her great-uncle, Vernon Schroeder.

 

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NO MATTER THE age . . . the passion persists. (Along with the sign to prove it.)

 

THE MINNEAPOLIS STEAM tractor is belted up to the thresher, and the wheat in the stacks is ready to be sent through, separating the kernel from the chaff.

 

A PITCHFORK IS used to toss the wheat stacks into the thresher. At left, the wheat kernels end up in the wagon – while the chaff shoots out the back auger onto the ground.

 

STANDING DOWNWIND OF the chaff exiting the thresher can be messy and itchy.

 

JUST OUTSIDE THE Big Engine House sat the big Buckeye Oil Engine, manufactured by the Buckeye Machine Company of Lima, Ohio – its four metal wheels buried into the soft ground.

 

THIS GIANT STEAM engine moves over to the Saw Mill to provide the power to move the belt that runs the saw.

 

THE ENGINE PROPELS the saw as its teeth slices off the tree’s bark. 

 

EARL EDMUNDSON TRAVELED to Butterfield from Ruthton to take in Saturday’s activities. Above, he checks out a Case Tripl-Range DRIVE.

 

THE MEMORIES. MAPLETON’S Pete Smith sits in the “cat”bird seat of a Caterpillar D2, owned by Ben Jerabek. Pete remembers when, in 1946, as a young boy, he rode with his father to Peoria, Illinois, to pick up the family’s own D4 Cat.

 

TAKING A PEEK inside the Log Cabin, standing along the shores of Butterfield Lake. The cabin was donated by the Nibbe family. During Bee days, cooking is done using the fireplace. The upper loft of the cabin – reached by using the log ladder at back left, was the pioneering family’s shared bedroom. Arnold and Thea Carlson, who lived in the cabin from 1932-1977, initially discovered it when they remodeled their home in Long Lake Township of Watonwan County and found the cabin’s frame within the siding. Following research work, the Nibbe family learned that in 1873, Lars Hanson, a Civil War veteran, had bought 80 acres of land from the United States government. He built this cabin on that land around 1875. In 1888, Mr. and Mrs. Chester Koester raised a family of three sons in the cabin.

 

TOBY HAGEN, RIGHT, begins a friendship with Flash of the Ride By Faith Ministry of Mountain Lake, left, in the Children’s Barnyard.

 

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INSIDE THE FRONT room of the Tuberg Homestead. The Tuberg Homestead is more than 130-years-old, and has been at Voss Park since 1974. Tuberg, whose name name was originally Johnson, was born in 1849 and came to the United States from Sweden when he was 20. When he arrived in the area, he discovered there were already six “Andrew Johnsons.” He did not want to the be seventh, so he legally changed his surname to Tuberg. He took the train from New York City and made it west to St. Peter. From there, he walked to Jackson. His goal was to buy some land in Watonwan County because he had heard the soil was rich. He selected Butterfield, and then brought his Swedish bride to make the area their home. The house was home to a family with five children. The children reached the second-floor bedroom by climbing up the stairs on the outside of the house. Tuberg built a mill which could grind the grain grown in the area. He also had tools to make coffins.

 

GRACEN REMPEL BECAME a school student from yesteryear while seated in a wooden desk inside the District 12 Schoolhouse, using chalk to write his name on the slate. This one-room school is originally from the Odin area, and was located two miles east of Odin. Eight grades were taught in the building. Prior to the school’s construction in 1879, Odin children attended makeshift schools in homes.

 

TACKED TO THE door of the General Store – a vintage Butterfield Threshing Bee sign. General Store and Hollenitsch Drug Store manager during the Bee is Joyce “Ma” Peek, with assistants Dale and Anne Hoehne and Jen Harris.

 

 

TAKING A LOOK out the window of the General Store, a display of vintage children’s toys on the shelf below.

 

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A TOP HAT for gentlemen – and plenty of fancy hats for the ladies – stuffed shelves in the General Store. The top hat at left belonged to A. R. Voss, the mane who donated the land for Voss Park to the City of Butterfield.

 

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A PEEK INTO the window of Walt’s Barbershop to see if the “chair” is busy. Walter Bedford bought out John Kob and started Walt’s Barbershop in Butterfield in 1934. He continued clipping hair at the same location for 50 years, retiring in 1984. Walt was a native of Sherburn and worked for a time in Mountain Lake. He met his wife, Barbara Helvig, of Butterfield, at an early Mountain Lake Pow Wow, and the two were married in 1929. Walt passed away in 1993.

 

PREPARING SOME MOLASSES cookies for baking in the Summer Kitchen’s brick oven is Carol Hilgendorf. Meanwhile, Marie Helferich was kneading the dough for loaves of wheat bread. The Summer Kitchen is located behind the Mennonite House (which was built in 1871). Early settlers kept their homes cool in the summer by doing all of their cooking and baking in a summer a kitchen – a separate building off the main house with open windows to let cooler air in. Pioneer women used corn cobs and prairie grass for fuel to head the brick oven. At the Bee, corn cobs are used. Heating the oven takes about a bushel-and-a-third of cobs. The brick oven was installed by the late George Rempel, under the guidance of Mrs. George Fast. Justina and Mayo Ebeling, along with Tina Fast and Anna Derksen and their niece, Erna, started the long history of the kitchen. Also helping in the kitchen are Susan Anderson, along with her daughter, Emily Birkholz and her granddaughters, Haley Birkholz and Macy Birkholz.

 

THE LARGEST ENGINE inside the Steam Power House is the very quiet – yet powerful stroke – Vilter Corliss. The engine was donated to the Butterfield Threshermen’s Association by Dave Borchert of Kasota, who removed it from the Hauenstein Brewery in New Ulm when it was torn down n the 1960s. The 1901 engine was used to run the brewery’s refrigeration system. Dave Harder, Doyle Janzen, Curt Harder and Seth Leet man the “house.”

 

POUNDING AWAY ON a red hot-from-the-fire miniature horseshoe at the Blacksmith Shop. In years past, the blacksmith was of utmost importance to the farmer who might need him to shoe a horse, sharpen plow shares or make repairs to one of his machines. The shoe “minis” are sold at the Bee.

 

CONDUCTOR DUWAYNE FALK of Mountain Lake, at center, yells “All Aboard,” and train engineer Bryan Falk, also of Mountain Lake, heads out to take the passengers for a ride on the rails. The engine for the train is a Chicago & Northwestern (CNW) switch engine.

 

OUTSIDE THE SLAALIEN Livery Barn, Joyce Peterson of Trimont, left, rubs saddle soap into a well-worn saddle in order to restore the leather. The livery gets its name from Hans Slaalien, a Norwegian pioneer who emigrated to this country in 1882 at the age of 20. The Voss Park livery was build in 1983 by the late D. Alvin Penner and a group of volunteers using a photograph of the original Slaalien barn. Slaalien, who settled south of Butterfield in 1891 with his Norwegian bride, rented sleighs, cutters and a carriage, and also charged 15 cents to bring passengers from the train depot to the center of town. He would also pick up freight at the train station and bring it back to the livery for customers to pick up. His duties additionally included the care for teams of horses while the owners conducted business or shopped. They had 13 children, one who died in infancy – 10 girls and three boys. Slaalien died during a 1929 snowstorm. His body – most fittingly – was taken to the cemetery by horse and wagon because of snow-drifted conditions. Check out the 1901 livery prices listed on the sign at right.

 

CADILLAC – the “Standard of the World.” These luxury vehicles were the featured vintage vehicles. Cadillac founder was Henry Leland. Above, Marty Seifert sparkles his “Caddy with a duster just prior to the afternoon parade. This model is a 1964 Cadillac De Ville.

 

ONE OF ART Ommodt’s antique tractors – an International 8-16 kerosene tractor – in the Ed Lammers/Art and Jerry Ommodt Tractor Museum. Lammers’ forte was in restoring Case tractors.

 

BUTTERFIELD’S CODY KAEHLER makes certain all of the technologies he will be using are in working order before he sends up his drone in order to get a birds’-eye view of the Bee.

 

CHUCK LAHR AND The Purdy River Band in concert on the Voss Park Stage. Formed in 2013, the group performs primarily original music, written by Lahr, in the traditional and contemporary style of bluegrass, along with classic standards, instrumentals and gospel. Led by guitarist and lead vocalist, Chuck Lahr, center, the band is comprised of Brian Elzey on mandolin and harmony vocals, left; Beth Anderson on upright bass, second from left and, at right, Dave Anderson on banjo and harmony vocals.

 

ROPEMAKING UNDER THE shade trees of Voss Park.

 

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THE RECIPE FOR luscious lefse is nailed to a tree next to the Lefse Stand.

 

KRISTY HASEMAN, AT the cookstove, flips over the Norwegian treat. Ida Hunstad donated the stove and helped make the lefse at Bee time for more than 20 years. Lefse is a type of thin bread, like a crepe, that is most often served with butter and sprinkle sugar. It is grilled on a special pan or stove top – and flipped with a flat stick. Typically, 800 servings of lefse – 10 cents a sample – are turned out during a Bee.

 

BROWN-EYED HENRY Haseman, son of Nate and Britta Haseman, gives the ice cream cone from the Hollentisch Drug Store five stars. About 3,000 cones are sold every year during the Bee.

 

INSIDE ENGINE HOUSE #1, folks were busy working on era craft work or sharing about their historical displays. Above, Sandi Berge of Odin, from Wyrrdstudio/Handmade Rag Rugs was hard at work completing a special rug. 

 

AN ORMSBY ORIGINAL, Chris Nibbe, now of Rochester, was busy broommaking in Engine House #1. Brooms made of straw are available for purchase and come in a variety of sizes to suit any job. Working next to Nibbe were Linda Buss, creating straw pot scrubbers; with Jess Howe weaving straw whisk broom handles.

 

ALSO IN THE engine house was the opportunity to make hand-tipped taper candles under the lead of Ted Lau. Above dipping their candles in the hot wax were Adleigh Olson, front and her brother, Aidan Olson, back, both of Butterfield. (Jill Saunders photo)

 

AT THE Bee, the Thresherman statue, carved of wood, welcomes – and – bids farewell; with an invitation to come back in 2018.
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