Reeves #7729 As Seen in 1955

[Steve Harris]

Diggin through the file we have on our 20DS Reeves #7729 we found a show flyer from National Threshers Reunion in 1955. A freind of ours gave this to us back when we first aquired the Reeves. The First pic is a close cut of the Reeves. The other pics are of the Show flyer. Anyone Recognize The Engines and Engineers?

 

[David]

The list reads like a Who's Who of steam royalty.

Mr & Mrs. Leroy Blaker started the first organized threshing reunion in the country. Blaker owned several Port Huron engines and a 65 Case.

The man pictured with Blaker, Edgar Bergen, was a famous ventriloquist who was on radio and in motion pictures. He had several dummies, the most famous being Charlie McCarthy. His daughter is Candace Bergen, best known for playing Murphy Brown on television.

I don't think Bergen ever owned an engine, but he attended many of the early shows and enjoyed filming them.

Elmer Ritzman founded both the Iron Men Album and the Gas Engine Magazine. He also owned quite a few engines over the years, including the four wheel drive Lansing, a Birdsall, and an 18 h.p. Avery. He was also the NTA chaplain for 25 years.

Can't remember what F. Williamson owned, if anything, but he grew up around steam.

Gilmar Johnson owned several engines, his favorite being a 50 Case. He wrote the "Dairyland Driftings" column for the IMA for many years.

Ray Ernst co-founded the Midwest Old Threshers show with Milo Mathews. He owned several engines, the neatest to me being a 6 h.p. Nichols-Shepard traction engine.

William M. "Wickey" Jones owned many steam engines, the most notable being the Port Huron high wheeler that's now in Canada.

Louis David was a race car driver who owned the 40 h.p. Avery now owned by Tom Graham. He owned several other engines, and died much too soon.

Charlie Harrison had several engines over the years, including a 110 Case and the 32 Reeves that is shown at NTA.

Morgan Hill was a thresherman and sawyer from PA.

Homer Holp, his sons and grandsons were some of the best engine men in the country. Their work was always first class.

I'm privileged to own Homer's 18 h.p. Advance-Rumely.

That's all I know. I'm sure others can add to the above.

David

 

[Beth V]

David,

Forest Williamson owned that 23-90 Baker on rubber in the picture. He was very proud of that red, white & blue.

I believe Kim Biesecker owns it now, or did. They put it back on steel.

Beth

 

[Mark Thompson]

David,

Forest Williamson owned that 23-90 Baker on rubber in the picture. He was very proud of that red, white & blue.

I believe Kim Biesecker owns it now, or did. They put it back on steel.

Beth

Here it is today.

-Mark Thompson

 

[20 Reeves Highwheeler]

David,
Edgar Bergen came to the Mehmke show in the 1960s at least one year... and don't forget Mortimer Snerd! He was my favorite, then Charlie McCarthey.
Gary

 

[Sawyer-Massey 11-22]

Did Edgar not hang around with the Steam Fiends? I seem to recall seeing some pictures of him at there events.

Robert

 

[David]

A trivia question:

What does Charlie McCarthy have in common with the Old Number One Case portable?

Answer: both are on display at the Smithsonian Institute.

Apparently, Bergen was a very generous individual, and occasionally did impromptu performances at some of the shows he attended.

He even made the cover of the January-February 1967 issue of the IMA, standing on the platform of a Nichols-Shepard.

David

 

[Chuck Sindelar]

Edger Bergen did own a engine of his own.I recall seeing a picture of him on his engine, but can't locate it right now, but I think it was a 9HP Case. But what I have found was an article in E&E Oct. 1964, page 43 (which was reprinted from the Sept.17,1964 issue of "The Independent Observer" believed to have been published in Conrad, MT), of Edgar in MT talking to Henry Torsky about steam. (with a picture of Bergen on one of Torsky's engines similer to one Bergen had run in his youth on the farm in MI. At that time Edgar already owned a steam car, and a steam boat and was looking to buy a steam engine to spend time with in his retirement. At that time, Torsky's had several engines, but none were for sale. Bergen was born in Chicago, but grew up on a farm in MI where he worked with steam engines in his youth. (He being 61 years old in 1964). I will continue to search for the picture and will post again should I find it.I regret that I am not better organized.
chuck

 

[Chuck Sindelar]

Well, I have not yet located the picture that I spoke of with Bergen on his 9 HP Case, but I did turn up something about Bergen of interest. Published in the April 1961 issue of the short lived magazine published in CA called "Steam Engines" is a letter to the editer by "Big Mac" McMillan, from Hoisington, KS and he says, "Have you ever seen Edgar Bergen's little 9 horse Case? It is about the same as Chris Busch's engine shown on page 7 of the current issue." ( Chris Busch's was a 1911, #24491 added by chuck) "except it it's a little older, having the short smoke stack yet. I saw it several years ago soon after he got it and before it was all restored. It was then over in the San Fernando Valley somewhere NW of Los Angeles. I was taken there by Ralph Lindsay"( says "Big Mac"). I have not yet turned up any reference as to which 9 Bergen owned, and I do not know when Case started using the tall smoke stacks on their 9s.
chuck

 

[Allen]

Morgan Hill's 10HP Westinghouse traction engine, Farquahar traction engine, 9HP Russell portable, double cylinder Birdsall portable, and early Case portable (rumoured to once been owned by president McKinley) are all on static display at the Pioneer S&G assn show in Saegertown, Pa.... I don't think that they have run any of them in years because they need some repairs, the heirs are still fighting over them and the club won't pay to fix what they don't own. (The Westinghouse with the lookout boiler is probably OK...but the state screwed the paperwork up on that) ..... sad.

They used to run the Case at 15psi to make bean soup, and occasionally put the Farquahar on the mill.... but last year, except for their boilerhouse, I don't think they had ANY running steam.

Here's a pic of the Case taken back about 1999-2000 when it was loaned to the Portersville club for a Case feature....

 

[David]

Chuck,

I think any picture of Bergen on a 9 h.p. Case must be in E&E. I can't recall seeing one in the IMA.

Bergen had a friend named Ralph Lindsay who had a home in Hollywood, and had a traction engine that he kept at a showground somewhere.

NTA Secretary Lucile Blaker wrote the following in a 1954 IMA concerning Bergen:

"The second most important person there was probably Edgar Bergen, who surprised us by coming Thursday evening. His and our good friend Ralph Lindsay, of Hollywood, drove to Toledo Thursday evening to meet him, bringing him back in time to see the fairyland picture of engines steamed up in the infield, with the smoke rising to the sky, illuminated by the hundreds of electric lights that made the grounds lighter than day. We were delighted that he came not as an entertainer, but simply as a steam fan, which he proved to be by his intelligent interest in the various makes of engines. Before he left on Friday afternoon, he entertained hundreds of women and as many men as could sneak in, at the Women's Program held in the Administration building. We regretted that members of the Abbott Company called and took him away before our evening program, but we counted ourselves lucky to have had him with us as long as we did."

Here's a picture of Leo Clark and Bergen in 1954 at NTA:

David

 

[David]

Allen's post jogged my memory, since he owns a Twentieth Century traction engine.

Didn't Elmer once own the one that Jim Malz has now? I'm sure you know.

It's amazing that all these engines still exist in 2008, albeit in conditions that range from excellent to marginal.

David

 

[20 Reeves Highwheeler]

David,
Thanks for posting the picture of Leo Clark and Edgar Bergen. Leo was a pioneer in submitting photos of early steam shows and I think my first pictures, I cut out of a farm magazine (either Succesful Farming or Farm Journal) and put in my scrapbook, were of Mt. Pleasant, IA in 1952. I remember Ray Ernst threshing with a small Russell, and pictures of the "40hp" and 18hp undermounted Averys and the New Giant return flue. I still have them somewhere.

I have later articles Leo sent to magazines also. Leo is the one who made me a steam photo junkie. But I forgive him.

I apologize for further perpetuating the derailing of this thread from the original subject of Reeves #7729.:shrug:
Gary

 

[Allen]

Allen's post jogged my memory, since he owns a Twentieth Century traction engine.

Didn't Elmer once own the one that Jim Malz has now? I'm sure you know.

It's amazing that all these engines still exist in 2008, albeit in conditions that range from excellent to marginal.

David

Yes, Rev Rizman owned the one Jim has.(the 1916 16HP). He once wrote of it in IMA something to the effect that 20th Century engines were "everything a traction engine should be, but so often aren't", lol.

Malz's 20th Century is currently being kept home because of a paperwork problem concerning a couple weld-o-lets on the rear washouts.

 

[Steve Harris]

Gary, you by no means derailed my post...everyone's posts on here are great! Exactly why I wanted to post the pictures. To see who still remembers who. I sure learned alot!!

Does anyone out there remember Merle? We never knew him as the Reeves had changed hands a couple more times by the time we got it. Nor do I know who had it before him or after. We bought it from Floyd Farver and he told us that he bought it from a small museum a few years prior.

 

[Mark Thompson]

Where is this engine?

Are there any pictures?

 

[20 Reeves Highwheeler]

Did Edgar not hang around with the Steam Fiends? I seem to recall seeing some pictures of him at there events.

Robert

Robert,
The Mehmke shows used to be entirely operated by Western Steam Fiends.
Gary

 

[Beth V]

We were talking about Blaker in conjunction with Edgar Bergen a while back....while looking for something else, I found this! The Case connection.

Beth

 

[Sawyer-Massey 11-22]

I seem to recall hearing that Lorne Green [Ben [Pa] Cartwright] of Bonanza fame, also hung out with Edgar and the Steam Fiends? Did he not also own and engine.

Robert

 

[Beth V]

Here's link #2 for Ron Vance.