John Oncken: Baraboo tractor show delights thousands

John Oncken  —  8/21/2008 12:54 pm

It wasn't raining like last year. It wasn't hot; the temperature was in the low 80s. There were no mosquitoes; maybe they can't stand the smell of diesel, gas and wood fumes.

It all made for a super 45th edition of the Badger Steam & Gas Engine Club's annual tractor, antique steam engine, stationary engine, blacksmith shop, sawing logs, threshing oats, flea market and what-have-you show.

There is something about seeing old and very old tractors and steam engines work that attracts people. A record 5,555 people paid admission on the Saturday portion of the three-day show (Aug. 15-17) at the club's grounds near Baraboo.

All together, more than 11,000 folks paid to attend the event. And if they did nothing more than view the 500 tractors and 75 "endless track" machines on display, they had a full day.

But the crowds jammed the many displays of old farm equipment -- the blacksmith shop, stationary engine display and the new Fuller & Johnson engine building. And, of course the hamburgers, hot dogs, funnel cakes and soft drinks attracted throngs from open to close.

The Badger Steam & Gas Engine Club's show is just one of dozens of such shows held each summer across the state and the Midwest. It's bigger than most, smaller than some, but like all such events, it draws both the mechanically inclined and the inept.

There is something about old machines that appeal to most all -- the pure wonder of how brilliant backyard mechanics from more than 100 years ago could fashion things in their shops that would evolve into farm tractors, engines and equipment still in use today.

True, the $200,000 tractors of 2008 are faster, stronger, fancier and more expensive than they were so long ago, but they still have four wheels, an engine, steering wheel, seat and draw bar as they did when grandpa was driving a Farmall Regular in the 1930s. And they do about the same thing.

There is a tendency for young people to think that real science began maybe 10 or 20 years ago with computers, iPods and cell phones. Wrong, wrong wrong.

It took a pretty smart inventor to put together a wood or coal burning steam engine that could pull plows and power threshing machines 100 years ago and still do the same thing today.

Although the innovators who put together the stationary engines that provided the power to bring oil to the surface in an Ohio oil field in 1905 may not have had a college degree or even a high school diploma, the hot tube ignition engines they built are still purring like kittens in the big building at the Baraboo show.

How did they do it?

That's one of the questions visitors to these antique farm "tractor shows" ask. And the owners or "tinkerers" who now own this ancient equipment will be glad to explain.

How do they work?

Only a real mechanic truly understands, but the rest of us know that there are pistons, gears, fuel and lots of little pieces and parts. And you can ask the owner of that gleaming antique steam engine built in the early 1900s and he or she will tell you.

Many of these now shiny, all original and 75-to-85-year-old tractors probably spent decades abandoned along a fence line, in an old shed or behind a barn somewhere in Wisconsin or maybe North Dakota until found and rescued by someone with a passion for old tractors. That someone then took it apart piece by piece, took off the rust, refinished each little part and reassembled it better than when it came off the assembly line so long ago.

Fortunately those folks love to show off their efforts. That's why they haul an old tractor many miles to a show like the one in Baraboo. This means loading, unloading, parking, running it in the daily parade in front of thousands of spectators and showing it off to other "professionals" and to the youngsters and oldsters who are curious.

The Wolff family and friends (all 11 of them), from Lake Mills were camping under the trees in three campers and a semi truck at the Baraboo show site. Vernon Wollf of Lake Mills took his 1939 Farmall F-20 to The Rock River Thresheree 20 years ago.

"That started it all" his wife Melody says. "We've been going to shows and camping ever since."

Then their son John got involved and has a 1940 Allis Chalmers WC and their daughter Tammy Stendal and husband, Warren, have a 1947 Farmall B. John's friend Santana Zahn of Deerfield is not left out; she has a 1937 John Deere B.

Andrew Homan farms 1,800 acres with his dad, Steve, at Lake Mills and is a friend of the family. His normal life revolves around big modern farm equipment, but he's camping with the Wolff clan and has his 1954 Farmall "Super M" at the show.

Josh Punsel of Cambridge, another friend of the Wolff family, has a 1936 John Deere B.

And the three Stendal daughters, Natalie, 6, Emily, 8, and Morgan, 12, are very much into tractors, camping and trips to antique tractor shows. It appears that Melody Wolff has lots of years or selecting, preparing, serving food and keeping the growing group of Wolff family and friends fed and happy. And she is not complaining -- not a bit.

Rich and Sheryl Rygh of Oregon had five camping spaces at this year's Baraboo show. They are John Deere lovers and brought three tractors on their big Peterbilt truck and flatbed trailer to the show.

"We just enjoy camping at the shows," says Rich, who is the former chief photographer at The Capital Times while Sheryl worked at Capital Newspapers in photo production.

"It's part tractors, part family, part reunion, part meeting people," says Rich. "This is a great show this year, no rain. And for some reason not a mosquito in sight."

If you don't like to look at old farm tractors at the Baraboo Steam & Gas show, you can look at the stationary engines that are owned by individuals across the Midwest but housed in their own building.

The couple of dozen big engines have varied histories. Most were used in the oil wells in the eastern U.S. to feed the growing number of cars and trucks hitting the highways in the early 1900s, or to power the feed mills in farming country or to run city utilities like the engine that ran the Plain, Wis., water system for many years.

One of the newer displays was the chainsaw collection owned by James Shimniok of Reedsburg.

"I got my first chain saw at age 15," he says. "We burned wood at our home and I bought a chain saw of my own."

Today, Shimniok has more than 60 chain saws on display, most of them McCulloch and Homelite bought cheap at auctions or for a bit more on eBay. Most are from the 1950s, 60s and 70s, and all of them run.

"I do heat my house with firewood," Shimniok says. "I use every one of my 100 chain saws at least for a few minutes to keep them in running condition."

You don't need to be a farmer to enjoy an antique tractor show, but helps if you're curious about farming and rural history. You might wonder: How did agriculture progress from horses to tractors? What was the rural U.S. like 75 or 100 years ago? How did Grandpa and Grandma farm so long ago?

Those and all the questions you might have about ag history are easily answered at the Baraboo show and the many others like it. You just have to take a few hours and look, ask, listen and learn. And enjoy!

John Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 608-222-0624.

John Oncken  —  8/21/2008 12:54 pm