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| Troy Brooks, a Kanawha resident, plows a field during a demonstration at Steam Threshing Days in Forest City Saturday. Brooks says the hard work gives him an appreciation for farmers of the past and the animals they used. (Photo by Bob Fenske of the Forest City Summit) |
An agricultural step back in time
By BOB FENSKE, For the News-Tribune
FOREST CITY - The contrast jumped out at you almost from the start.
There was Troy Brooks, led by two giant but gentle percheron horses, plowing a strip of land. The snapshot screamed of a quieter, simple time.
But just beyond Brooks could be seen black smoke poring out of steam engines that broke the silence of the land.
And yet the two snapshots melded together for those who came to Heritage Park of North Iowa this weekend to revisit the past and celebrate North Iowa's proud heritage.
Thanks to some wonderful weather - Heritage Park volunteers joked that they must have done something right for a weekend like this - Old Iron Swap and Steam Threshing Days drew big crowds.
“I don't know if I've ever seen that parking lot full,” said Stanford Holtan, one of the mainstays of a small but loyal contingent of Heritage Park volunteers. He stopped and smiled. “And it should be, because this is the way it was. This is how we became what we are today, and that's pretty darn important to remember.”
AS THE TWO percheron horses stood at the edge of the field, Marlene Brooks talked about why the team of gentle giants means so much to her.
“When you plow with horses, you can hear - you can hear the birds sing, you can hear the rustle of the grass, you can hear the soil turn over,” said the Britt woman, whose family showed several teams of her family's horses at Steam Threshing Days. “You just don't get that on a tractor.”
As she talked, her grandson, 23-year-old Troy Brooks, nodded his head in agreement. He was just a 5-year-old kid when his grandfather, the late Donald Brooks, bought his first team of horses.
He's loved them ever since, and Troy Brooks believes its important for younger generations like his to not only visit Steam Threshing Days but to be a part of it as well.
“It's important to know our heritage,” he said. “This is the way our great-grandfathers and even our grandfathers farmed. It wasn't easy, but they gave us a great life, a great history. It's part of who we are.”
Grandmother and grandson talked about the power of their horses and the amount of labor it took to farm the land.
“It was hard work,” Troy Brooks said, “and I'll tell you it gives me a whole new appreciation for what they went through when they didn't have all the fancy tractors we take for granted today.”
JEREMY LANGENBACH kept scooping oats into the thresher while his cousin Steve ran the steam engine that powered the machine that separated the grain.
“He's got a tough job,” Steve Langenbach said with a laugh, “but I'm by the hot engine all day so I'd say it's a draw.”
The two Minnesota men were taking part in a demonstration that saw steam engines providing the power for everything from crushing rocks to shredding corn to sawing logs to even making ice cream.
Steve Langenbach took a long, cold and well-deserved drink of water. He looked at the crowd - both the participants and those just there to watch - and smiled.
“We're seeing more young people get interested,” he said, “and that's a good thing. We can't afford to lose our heritage. If we don't have that, what do we have?”
JERRED RUBLE agrees.
He started the steam threshing show 25 years ago, and when Heritage Park opened in 1999, Ruble moved his show from Hanlontown to Forest City.
He is a steam-engine fanatic; in fact, he just bought a rare 40 Gaar Scott engine that hasn't been used since 1956. When he gets it up and running for next year's show, it will be the only one of its kind running in the world. Another Gaar Scott is housed in a museum in Canada.
On Saturday afternoon, he walked down “steam-engine row” and smiled.
“You have to remember that these were just incredibly amazing machines back then,” he said, “and they still are. They revolutionized farming, and it's so important that we don't forget that part of our past.”
Story created Sep 23, 2008 - 09:17:29 CDT.
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