New experiences at steam show

I rode on the back of a steam engine this past weekend.

I've lived in New Rockford for 20 years and have made the short trip to the Central North Dakota Steam Threshers Reunion for nearly every one. I've also covered the local steam show for the Transcript 10 straight years now.

Each time I aim to capture something and someone new and different, as there are so many things to see and do on the grounds. They've recently added events as well, including tractor driving for the kids and a Friday dance for all ages.

This year, I hitched a ride with Nick Werth of Rhame, N.D. and Jada Hofland of Bowman, N.D. I didn't seek it out either, meaning I didn't come to the show with the idea on my mind. Rather, it happened organically, similar to a teenager hopping on the back of a truck bed with friends headed out to the football field on a Friday night.

Jada was seated on the engine, parked near the diesel building, waiting for Nick to come back so they could head up to the north field and do some plowing.

It was shortly after the Saturday parade, and I had wandered north to see the "smoke rings" and watch the featured machines of The Great Minneapolis Line plowing and threshing. The announcer made note of both at the end of the parade.

I snapped a photo of Jada, and my lens caught her eye. I asked her about the smoke rings and the plowing, and she said I needed to keep going.

It was right then that Nick arrived, and she asked without hesitation, "Do you want a ride up there?"

"Sure," I said, with excitement. I crawled up on that massive steel machine. I was instructed to sit on a piece of wood, so my rear didn't get wet from the condensation.

For readers who don't know the story, Nick is the grandson of Ole Aslakson, one of the pioneers of our local steam show. I rode on a steam engine that Ole rebuilt, a 25 hp Advance owned by Betty, Ole's daughter, and her son Nick.

Nick is a master operator. Yet I was a novice rider, so it took me a few minutes to get the feel for it. I took in all the steam, the smoke and the water. I felt the heat of the coal boiler on my feet.

Once I got a little reassurance that I wouldn't fall off if I let go to grab my camera, I went to work. I took hundreds of photos while perched on the back of that steam engine, a vantage point of the show I had never seen before.

This is the vantage point of a member, an operator of steam engines and antique tractors. And it was fantastic.

My coffee cup, propped near me, dropped 10 feet or so to the ground, because I knocked it over while attempting to maneuver myself and my 200 mm wide angle lens.

I was so fascinated with the scenery and the tractors and the people that I left my phone on the back of that steam engine for more than an hour. My phone took a ride through the field as they plowed, and Jada safely returned it to me a while later.

This was a show I will not likely forget. In addition to my steam engine ride, I got to see the largest tractor built in 1982, a Steiger Tiger ST470. My daughters would have loved it, with its massive lime green stature and monster wheels. Neither one of them were able to see it, because it was only there for the Saturday events.

I also watched the Steiger's exhibition run in the Northern Pullers Tractor Pull later that afternoon, and it pulled for 290 feet.

There were even combines in the parade. I was photographing next to District 14 Senator Jerry Klein of Fessenden, and I recall saying out loud, "It's not very often that you see combines in the steam show parade!"

This year the show featured Massey-Harris, maker of ag machinery since 1891. Massey-Harris invented the self-propelled combine in the late 1930s, and production began just before World War II broke out. Resources shifted to the war effort, and the combine was put on the back burner.

Then famine swept Europe, and hundreds of thousands of acres of grain were in the ground here at home, waiting to be harvested with few men remaining to do it. "Joe Tucker, sales manager for Massey-Harris USA, had a stroke of genius," according to the Antique Tractor Blog. "He convinced the War Production Board to authorize the production of 500 brand-new Model 20 combines." They allowed Massey-Harris to produce the machines on the promise that each would harvest at least 2,000 acres of wheat. Independent operators purchased the machines, which were spread out across the grain belt.

In 1944, as more than 130,000 U.S. and British troops stormed the beaches of Normandy, France on D-Day, back here at home planning was underway for the inaugural "Harvest Brigade." Cutters started in Texas and followed the harvest north into Canada. The massive, coordinated effort involved a network of dealers, repair teams, and even company airplanes to monitor the operation. The brigade harvested more than one million acres of grain that year.

The massive success of the Harvest Brigade led the War Production Board to authorize the production of 750 more combines in 1945. The effort achieved national press coverage, too – catapulting the Massey-Harris name to market dominance in combine manufacturing.

You might think that riding on a steam engine is a high bar, and that there's no way to top that. I beg to differ. Next on my bucket list are the spark show and the light show. These Saturday night events are scheduled to take place at Dark and at Dark 30, respectively. Next year, I'll make a point to take in the evening performances of those giants on the prairie and their stationary counterparts and capture some images.

If you think the show is the same every year and are looking for something new, I challenge you to get your hands a little dirty. The members are always looking for people to help bundle, plow, pitch and dig.

It's stories like these, experiences available to us right here in New Rockford, that give me a new appreciation for the many responsible for keeping history alive in our small town.

Edit October 2, 2024: It has been brought to my attention that I misidentified the steam engine and the owner in this column. The engine expertly driven by Nick Werth is a 1913 Avery owned by Mark Pederson of Luverne, N.D. While Ole Aslakson and his family’s contributions to the CNDSTR are many, this particular engine they do not own. I apologize for the error.