An installation we tentatively refer to as “McMillan #6”
(BTW – the trees captured in the background are actually a mirage.)
Previous.
An installation we tentatively refer to as “McMillan #6”
(BTW – the trees captured in the background are actually a mirage.)
Previous.
Geez Kate, from a distance McMillan #6 looks like Imperial Oil in Sarnia!!
Except for the old thrasher and saskatoon bushes in the foreground of course.
I can see you shopping for a new as in new F150 soon.
Well, Ms. McMillan I guess you’ll have to write a companion piece to please the lefties. You will have to describe how the drilling company coerced you into letting them punch a well on your land. You will have to inform us about how they ravaged huge swaths of your property and how you will never be able to grow anything on it again. If, and when, they find oil or gas, cap it off, and move on, I expect an article detailing how they left the land scarred and ravaged while you are stuck with the cleanup bill.
Failure to do so will make you open to the fruit loop charges about how you are colluding with the big oil companies and are a mouthpiece for those who want to destroy the environment.
Yeah, everyone knows there are no trees in Saskatchewan. My dog in Moose Jaw had to settle for telephone poles, bushes and the neighbour’s Honda to relieve himself.
McMillan #6 in the background, McCormick Threshing Machine in the foreground?
It sure looks like a McCormick-Deering to me, Joe.
soon to come in blog near you
Kate McMillion, the #6 figure bank account holder:-))
It’s an old John Deere thresher.
I am somewhat familiar with the area for two reasons. Many years ago, I spent a summer in Carnduff working for the pipeline company which had a monopoly in the area and was owned by one of the major oils. It was the same pipeline company that worked in the Carlyle, Midale and Steelman areas.
The second reason is that I still receive a very small annual royalty from wells produced in the area. The wells are on a farm that was homesteaded by one set of my great-grandparents. The farm is located six miles east of Lampman and is still farmed by my relatives. I visited the farm often when I was growing up.
I estimate their farm would be less than an hour from McMillan #6. I hope your family is compensated/rewarded fairly.
Actually it could be a “George White” manufactured here in London Ont….other major makes:
Massey
J I Case
Moline…….
One of the remarkable sights rolling north from Minot to Portal besides the students class year rock signs are the obsolete threshing machines(separators)gracing hilltops like extinct mammoths……
this occurs in Canada as well—picturesque—-..somewhere on #1 west of Moose Jaw is a loney example perched upon a crest about 2 miles south of the highway………
That old girl is just resting until the old crew shows up… NOT saskatoon trees..old maple?
Hmm. Looks like south of #13 near Stoughton. Was just through there today. More equipment and men than white tails.
Drill baby drill.
Yes, a forelorn image of an icon of the past that built the West. [I’m talkin bout the threshing machine here folks].
Got one of those old relics parked in the machinery gaveyard. Last used in 1957 I believe. As per the norm, once retired they were unmercifully stripped and became donors of any and all salvageable or perceived useful parts. A shame, really.
I wonder what a totally operative, fully equipped titan would bring these days? I know, some of the antique/museum clubs are procuring them, but all the same, they’re getting junk with only a trace of originality.
Reminds me: “Hey Mom, why did you throw out all my hockey and football cards when I left home? I’d be rich now! (You too).
Even more forlorn than the machinery left behind is the loss of the men who worked them leaving only their tales behind them.
Talking to the old timers who spoke of the steam traction engines and how the chain steering required you turn the wheel left to go right. How the old hands on the threshing crews would stay up late into the night playing Stook for pennies. The fine art of lining up the pulleys on the traction engine and the threshing machine and making sure the flat belt was crossed to keep it from vibrating uncontrollably and to keep the machine running the right way. How when feeding the gaping maw of the threshing machine became too much for a man’s arms the man would throw a few bundles in sideways and plug the machine so he could take a rest as he unplugged the machine. How the old straw bottoms would remain for years before breaking down to become productive land again.
“One of the remarkable sights rolling north from Minot to Portal besides the students class year rock signs are the obsolete threshing machines(separators)gracing hilltops like extinct mammoths……”
Used to be. They’re all gone now.
There are two threshing machines along hwy 41 near Aberdeen, displaying the name of the farm.
That looks like a poplar bluff. Not many maples around here.
Yeah Joe, although much of that is a bit before my time, I know of what you speak.
But in the 60’s/70’s we used to play a lot of Stook- a game very similar to Blackjack. Is this what you are referring to? If so, I was totally unaware of its origins.
BTW, does today’s average citizen even know what ‘stooking’ or a ‘stook’ actually is?
Many years ago my Dad taught me how to play Stook and yes it is a card game almost the same as Blackjack. I went stooking once with my father and brother on my grandfather’s farm. The old boy had got nostalgic one year and cut 80 acres of oats with an old binder. As we walked back and forth across that field Dad passed on some very valuable wisdom about stooking. The most important being, never look ahead. If you must look anywhere look at where you’ve been. It always looks like you’ve done allot but when you see how much more you have to do…. Come to think of it we never did finish that field. We ran out of time and energy so the Hutterites came over and finished stooking that field in a day.
Posted by: Kate
[…Used to be. They’re all gone now.]
Pity!
….in only 10 years or so….
Don’t it make you wanna go home????
Maybe you can answer a question. Do Saskatchewan landowners still lag way behind their Alberta counterparts in surface lease values? A few years ago, when I was dealing with landowners, Saskatchewan was at about 50% when it came to rental rates. Alberta surface rights organizations have been ratcheting rates upward for a very long time.