Weekend Steam

Here is more of the action you can see at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. This is an Advance Rumely steam engine powering the sawmill.

Crankin' It Up: WWI Commemorative Edition

The Great War was in its last few days ninety years ago; here are a couple more popular songs from those days. 'Till We Meet Again' was very popular, and could be found in nearly every record cabinet. My disc of 'I'm Crazy Over Every Girl In France' has been in my collection for about forty years, and this is the first time I have listened to it. It was well liked, because it is very worn. I had to play both of these records with a soft tone needle to reduce the hiss, and move the microphone in close, so you will hear the spring rumble a bit. The slide show is made up of some of our sheet music collection.

West Kern Oil Museum, Taft California

I took a trip and never left the farm tonight. One of our regular readers in California, GSC, recently visited the West Kern Oil Museum at Taft, CA, and linked me to a stack of photos he took while he was there. I worked in the Southern Illinois oil fields for several years when I was between better jobs, so it was pretty interesting looking at this old machinery.

This little engine would not have powered an oil well, but would have been used to power shop equipment, pump water, or some other oil field task. It resembles the International Harvester Famous engines, which were built a century ago. It helps date the development of this oil field.

Here is a single well pump jack, and a one lung engine to power it. These ran off of natural gas from the well head until the gas production dwindled. In Southern Illinois you will see lots of rigs similar to this still in use. When the gas is no longer sufficient to run the engine, an LP tank will be set next to the well to keep it running.

This hefty sideshaft engine probably was in a powerhouse that ran rod-lines to pump several wells. These were used in Illinois, and also in the eastern oil fields. I saw operating powerhouses in Eastern Kentucky when I worked there thirty some years ago. There is still a small oil field near Oblong, IL that uses rod lines to pump the wells.

This neat old truck has a well pulling unit on its back. It was used to pull the rods and tubing out of wells when a rod was broken, the tubing leaked, or the pump needed service. Its not a whole lot of fun working behind one of these, but it is better than being a tubing tester.

I think this is a Fairbanks 346 cu. in. engine. Fairbanks is the most common brand of engine you see on pump jacks in the Illinois oil fields.

This is an eccentric drive that would have been in a powerhouse. A large engine would be belted to this machine, and rod lines are pulled by the hookups on top. A bell crank would be at each well head to change the motion from horizontal to vertical. It was a pretty good system in its day.

This is a two cylinder Bessemer engine. Bessemers are 2-stroke engines. This might have been in a powerhouse pulling rod lines, or powering pipeline pumps.

This is a newly built standard derrick. Building these kept a lot of oil field carpenters busy all over the country. The well drilling rigs that worked with these were cable tool rigs, not rotary rigs. Cable tools are raised and lowered by a spudding arm, and the drill bit would pulverize rock every time it came down. The tools would be pulled out, and a bailer would be used to bring out the cuttings. Large pipe would be set at the top of the well, and progressively smaller pipe would be run in when it became necessary to case the well.

An old driller I knew in Illinois told me of a bizarre tale about working on one of these rigs in Kansas, many decades ago. A holdup man began hitting rigs on payday, and after being robbed of their pay once, a crew kept a shotgun handy in the shed over the rig's machinery. The robber showed up again one payday, but met an untimely end with a load of buckshot. The crew reached a quick decision on the dead outlaw's fate, and shoved him down the large surface pipe of the well they were drilling. They pushed him to the bottom with the tools, and drilled him up. If you know of a missing outlaw in Kansas about seventy years ago, he may be your man.

Here is another very old engine that probably was in a powerhouse. GSC linked me to a video of this one running, and it is a hit and miss engine; very unusual for an oil well engine, at least from my experience.

Here is a smaller Bessemer; a single cylinder. I have seen these at engine shows, and in Eastern Kentucky powerhouses.

Cable tool rigs had to have tools dressed regularly in a blacksmith forge in order to cut right, and cut the right size hole. These shops were busy 24 hours a day during the war years.

You have to wonder how effective this old fire truck would have been against an oil well fire. From the looks of the paint, it must have spent most of its life inside.

I haven't been to California for many years, but if I am out that way I know that I will have to visit this museum. Thank You GSC, for sharing these great photos.

UPDATE!

This is the machine that GSC asks about in his comment. It is a centrifuge, which would have been used to separate oil from water, or other impurities. I do not know if this was part of the treating equipment or if it was used for testing. Comments are welcome from anyone who can tell us more.

Fall Color Update

The fall colors have had an extended season this year, building slowly, and finally hitting their peak over the weekend. We can see the show beginning to fade now, and when the weather changes in a few days, leaves will begin falling rapidly.

October e-Postal Results Are Up!

The October contest results are posted over at Traction Control. Click over there and check out the scores; this was a very interesting contest. Mr Completely with his Hi Standard is absolutely amazing. Engineering Johnson bested me, which makes me feel pretty good. Gary A shows us how well a Ruger .22 rifle can shoot. One of the scores to note is USCitizen (Traction Control host) with his Hi-Point C9. This is an economy pistol which he recently tried for the first time, and he shot a very respectable score with it. Scroll down a few posts below the scores and read his review of this nice pocket pistol.

Thanks for a great contest, US Citizen!

At Least It Didn't Linger

Our next door neighbor's barn looked pretty good compared to other buildings of the same vintage, but it had structural problems that were going to cause problems soon, and the cost to fix it up was prohibitive. One reason it looked so good is that concrete footings were poured in 1924 to shore it up. The neighbor found the date and Susan's Uncle Percy's initials on the north footer.

Most of these old building are allowed to kind of melt down, but this barn was in the front yard, not the back forty, so siding was removed, cuts were made to hinge the timbers, and it was pulled down. I wish I could have been there to hear it Whump when it fell.

Its suffering is over now.

Not My Victrola

Here is your Monday Morning Mood Modifier! I have always liked 'Painting The Clouds With Sunshine,' which came from the same movie as 'Tiptoe Through the Tulips.' This is another of the videos posted by RReady555 on his YouTube channel. Be sure to check him out; he does a great job with these old recordings. Below is the poster for 'Gold Diggers,' for the benefit of those who haven't seen the post with 'Tiptoe.'

Monday!

Kids! How many gadgets can you count in this picture?

Back To The Old Grind!

Poets' Corner

Mr. Riley would be lost on the modern farm. This is a nice look back at how things used to be.

WHEN THE FROST IS ON THE PUNKIN
by: James Whitcomb Riley (1849-1916)

When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock,
And you hear the kyouck and gobble of the struttin' turkey-cock,
And the clackin' of the guineys, and the cluckin' of the hens,
And the rooster's hallylooyer as he tiptoes on the fence;
O, it's then's the times a feller is a-feelin' at his best,
With the risin' sun to greet him from a night of peaceful rest,
As he leaves the house, bareheaded, and goes out to feed the stock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

They's something kindo' harty-like about the atmusfere
When the heat of summer's over and the coolin' fall is here--
Of course we miss the flowers, and the blossums on the trees,
And the mumble of the hummin'-birds and buzzin' of the bees;
But the air's so appetizin'; and the landscape through the haze
Of a crisp and sunny morning of the airly autumn days
Is a pictur' that no painter has the colorin' to mock--
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock.

The husky, rusty russel of the tossels of the corn,
And the raspin' of the tangled leaves, as golden as the morn;
The stubble in the furries--kindo' lonesome-like, but still
A-preachin' sermuns to us of the barns they growed to fill;
The strawstack in the medder, and the reaper in the shed;
The hosses in theyr stalls below--the clover over-head!--
O, it sets my hart a-clickin' like the tickin' of a clock,
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

Then your apples all is gethered, and the ones a feller keeps
Is poured around the celler-floor in red and yeller heaps;
And your cider-makin' 's over, and your wimmern-folks is through
With their mince and apple-butter, and theyr souse and saussage, too! ...
I don't know how to tell it--but ef sich a thing could be
As the Angels wantin' boardin', and they'd call around on me--
I'd want to 'commodate 'em--all the whole-indurin' flock--
When the frost is on the punkin and the fodder's in the shock!

Weekend Steam: Calling Leslie Nielsen!

Do you remember the cockpit scenes in the 'Airplane' movie? That is what I thought of when I was taking the video clips of this Nichols and Shepherd engine at Old Threshers. There was a John Deere parked next to the steamer, popping away with no muffler. Oh Well.



Just to show I have some compassion, wash you ears out with this one of the Kitten engine at Old Threshers.