Among the ph
otos donated to the Manitoba Agricultural Museum is this photo of a Sawyer Massey 25-45 kerosene tractor threshing in the fall of 1919 northeast of Brandon on the Archie McPhail farm. The identities of the men in the photo are not known at this time. Alex McPhail, Archie’s son, may be the man in the Stetson hat by the front wheel of the 25-45.
Through the 1890s to 1910 Sawyer Massey was a major builder of Canadian steam engines however the emergence of gas tractors posed problems for Sawyer Massey. The Massey family felt gas tractors were the future however the other partners in Sawyer Massey felt steam engines still had a place. The Massey family felt strongly enough about the issue that they sold their interest in Sawyer Massey. After the departure of the Massey family, Sawyer Massey changed its mind and moved into production of gas tractors. They produced a number of sizes of tractors. The first model produced was a 20-40 which was then followed by a 30-60 tractor. The 20-40 seems to have been more powerful than thought as this design was later re-rated as a 25-45. These tractors made use of various components in production for steam engines such as wheels, some drive gears and the steering axle and gear. Sawyer Massey also moved into the production of smaller tractors producing two models an 11-22 and a 17-34 using engines from outside suppliers. The tractor seen here is a 25-45 tractor equipped with a Sawyer Massey designed and built engine.
The photo illustrates the problem that threshing machines posed, the need for large numbers of men. There are seven men in the photo and probably there are more men elsewhere. There was usually an engine man tending the tractor, a separator man tending the separator or threshing machine, two sheaf pitchers per sheaf wagon and for efficient operation a crew would need at least three or four sheaf wagons. And then a grain wagon or two would be needed to haul grain away into an elevator or grain bin. If you were running a steam engine you would also need a water wagon and a man to constantly haul water. A crew then may consist of over 10 men and probably closer to 14, all of whom usually needed to be fed and housed on the farm. Some custom threshing operations featured “cabooses” or shacks on wheels in which the men slept however it is more likely the usual accommodation was the barn loft or a straw stack with the horse trough serving as washing up facility. Many accounts of early steam engine men mention sleeping on the engine’s deck using grain bags as a blanket and the heat from the boiler keeping them warm.
Food was prepared by the farmer’s wife and feeding three meals to a threshing crew was a major undertaking which would require not only her but at least one helper, if not more, in order to generate the volume of food needed for breakfast, lunch and supper. Some accounts of threshing operations mention crews quitting en mass as the food was not adequate in terms of quantity or quality. Bachelor farmers would be particularly hard pressed and so would need to hire a cook if one could be found. Of course in years when manpower was plentiful a bachelor could get away with feeding the crew a steady diet of stew, using a wash tub on the stove for a giant pot and replenishing the contents after every meal with whatever was at hand, vegetables, potatoes, beef, chicken, wild birds, gophers and other wild life. However in achieving economical meals, the crew may rush the job to escape poor meals by “crowding” the separator and throwing grain over. Grain thrown over would cost the farmer more than he saved with substandard meals.
Manpower in the threshing days was such an issue that the railways operated “harvest special” trains in which they offered cheap fares to the prairies from the Maritimes and Eastern Canada where manpower was more plentiful. As wages at harvest were relatively decent large numbers of men came to the prairies for harvest. To a fisherman, used to life on a fishing boat where work was hard, wet and cold and the accommodations equally as wet and cold, with the prospect of drowning thrown in, a prairie harvest could be seen as an excursion particularly if you found work on a farm with a wife and number of daughters who were skilled cooks.
