Back in the day, before 20th century technology, was introduced to farming; the equipment used to till the soil and harvest the grain, was powered by human and/or animal. This type of farming has not gone the way of the dinosaurs; take, for example, the Amish of Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and other communities across the United States. They do not use electricity, but power their plows, hay balers, cultivators, etc by using horses. There are also the modern day communes that have decided to forego modern technology and go back to the days when “the living was easy”; that’s a matter of opinion.
Outside our museum are several examples of horse drawn, or in Monticello’s time – Oxen drawn, or man-powered equipment. These pieces came from the June Pehrson Farm located south of Monticello; donated by June’s son, Dale Pehrson. As you drive into the back parking lot, the first noticeable piece is the McCormick-Deering No. 7 Field Mower; manufactured between 1929 – 1939. This mower replaced the “sickle mower” of the 1800’s with its 5 to 6 foot bar of “finger blades” to cut hay. Our piece has a wooden box around the blade bar for safety purposes.
To the right of the rear entrance is a Walking Plow; this was used to dig furrows in the ground for planting. For a small kitchen garden, it was pushed using man-power; in the field, it was hitched to a horse which pulled the plow while its human owner would guide it, making sure the furrows were straight.
Nearby to the Walking Plow is the “more modern” Three Wheel Plow; the three wheels gave the plow more stability than the single blade walking plow. Instead of walking behind the horse, a person was now able to sit in the iron seat, the right hand lever allowed the driver to lift the blade out of the ground when necessary. The addition of a cutting disc was useful in breaking up tough weeds and/or roots.
To the left of the rear entrance, our first item is the Twin Disc Plow; similar in design to the Three Wheel Plow, but using two large cutting discs instead of one blade and one disc.
Next to this is a Three Wheel Plow which has twin blades; the cutting disc is now incorporated into a metal unit allowing for multiple discs instead of simply one or two. This allowed for a wider breaking of ground and less time in the field.
Now if you happen to stop at our entrance on Main Street, to the right of our front doors is a Sulky, or Dump, Hay Rake; the teeth drag along the ground collecting hay; when full they are lifted and the hay is “dumped” into a pile.
Come on inside, go to the area with the safety railing around it and walk up the two small steps; immediately to your right is a Cream Separator that was donated to the museum by Joe and Marge Jackson. A cream separator removes the cream part from the milk by whirling the milk around in a drum or cylinder. The centrifugal force pushes the fat or solid particles towards the walls of the drum or cylinder; the cream can then be easily scraped off the walls, leaving the milk.
Straight ahead is a Grindstone, donated by A.B. Barton; a grindstone is usually curved out of a thick, porous stone such as sandstone and given a fine grain. The stone is mounted onto a central axis allowing the grindstone to be spun at varying speeds. With the grinding process, items such as knives and tools can be sharpened; however it can also be used to polish wood or stone (the fine grain of the grindstone will buff rather than gouge). The arm attached to the central axis allows the grinder to control the speed. The old saying, “Nose to the Grindstone” refers historically to the use of the Millstone; two grindstones laid sideways atop each other, but with spacing for the grinding of grain. The grinder literally had to have his nose almost touching the grindstones to ensure the spacing was correct to have the grain properly ground to the desired texture.
Take a walk through the Frontier Museum to see examples of smaller tools used for everyday life on the farm.
~ Mary Cokenour ~
Monticello Welcome Center/Frontier Museum 