ABOUT THE CULTURAL ACCESS PASS PROGRAM
The Cultural Access Pass is introduced to every new Canadian citizen (approximately 170,000 a year) at the time of their citizenship ceremony. With an average of almost 100 registrations per day, more than 47,000 new citizens have registered and used CAP. As the diversity and value of CAP experiences increase, so too will the pace and rate of new registrations – this year alone, the ICC estimates an additional 35,000 new members! CAP is generously supported by the Canadian Museums Association and the RBC Foundation. Details about the Cultural Access Pass program, including a full list of participating attractions, can be found here: culturalaccesspass.ca.
ABOUT THE ICC
The Institute for Canadian Citizenship is a national, non-profit organization that engages Canadians in citizenship through innovative programs, campaigns and partnerships designed to ensure new citizens are welcomed and included as equals, to create meaningful connections among all Canadian citizens, to foster a culture of active, engaged citizens and to celebrate what it means to be Canadian. Our Building Citizenship program brings together new and established Canadians at community citizenship ceremonies; our Cultural Access Pass (CAP) offers new citizens the chance to visit more than 1,000 attractions across Canada for free for a full year from the time they’re sworn in; and our annual LaFontaine-Baldwin Symposium fosters a debate on the future of citizenship and Canada’s civic culture. The ICC was founded and is co-chaired by the Right Honourable Adrienne Clarkson and John Ralston Saul. The ICC is supported by Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC). For more information, visit icc-icc.ca. You can also follow us on Twitter (@ICCICC).

FOR MORE INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT:
Jess Duerden
Institute for Canadian Citizenship
(416) 593-6998 ext.225
jduerden@icc-icc.ca

The Transport Display has been in development at the Museum for well over a year now with serious progress beginning to be made in the fall of 2011. Work on the display continued through the winter of 2011-2012 as the weather cooperated and temperatures did not fall to the usual lows. The warm temperatures offered the opportunity to install backdrops in the building which complete the experience with the backdrops setting the scene for the artifacts.

Newly elected Museum President, Gloria Sims, is very happy with the Transport display and states that this display takes the Museum into the future as the interpretation offered in this display provides much more background information which helps visitors significantly with their understanding of Pioneer Manitoba. “We at the Museum, have to remember the current visitors to the Museum did not live through the Pioneer era and have little knowledge of how difficult moving around Manitoba was in the early days. They may not realize that roads up to the 1950s were not plowed in the winter and so when winter arrived, many people stayed home until spring!”

Interpretation is needed on a great many Museum artifacts as people today don’t recognize how or why a particular artifact is important to the development of agriculture or the Province. The Transportation display is the first large display at the Museum to feature interpretation and more displays with interpretation are following.

Manitoba Day at the Museum features activities for the children such as relay races, a tug of war a horseshoe tournament and more. As well the grounds are open and an interesting day can be spent looking at all the artifacts of Pioneer agriculture and Manitoba the Museum has collected over the years. As well, on Manitoba Day admission to the grounds is free! You cannot get a better deal than this! So come on out to the Museum on May 12 to look over the Transportation display and other artifacts. And remember the 2012 Threshermen’s Reunion features the Versatile Expo!

 On March 16, the Manitoba Agricultural Museum received a letter from WestJet announcing that the Museum’s annual “ Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede” has been chosen as the top-voted festival in Manitoba for 2011 in WestJets Fun’n Festival event. The award was also received March 16.

At the Museum’s Annual General Meeting on March 17, this news was passed on to the members of the Museum. It is not often that the members and the staff of the Museum are receive such recognition for the hard work in operating the Museum and putting on the Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede every summer.  The assembled members expressed their appreciation for the award and for WestJet’s hosting of the Fun’n Festival event.

Many people do not recognize that Museum work goes on year round as does work on the Reunion. The Museum is improving displays and increasing interpretation of displays and artifacts. Very shortly the Community Ties exhibit will be completed. This project tells the story of transportation in rural Manitoba using actual artifacts plus signage.

Planning for the coming years Reunion begins even before the current year’s Reunion has been wrapped up as it takes a large effort to line up features and displays.  The 2012 Reunion features the Versatile Expo which highlights the tractors and farm equipment manufactured by the Versatile Company of Manitoba.  While the Museum’s collection features “Big Roy” the four axle 600 horsepower tractor prototype, a D100 tractor plus various Versatile combines, the organizers of the Versatile Expo have been working on obtaining further tractors and equipment from Versatile owners. Did you know that some of Versatile’s first self-propelled swathers way back in 1954 had “hydrostatic drive”. Well, they did; so come out and see one of these units at the Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede. If you possess Versatile equipment you should consider displaying it at the Museum during the Versatile Expo at the 2012 Reunion.

To all those people who voted for the Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede in WestJet’s Fun’n Festival event, the Museum members and staff would like to express how pleased they are you appreciate their efforts to put on a great festival. For more information on the Museum you can visit the Museum website at ag-museum.com .

Don’t forget to vote for us for WestJet’s Fun’n Festival 2012! 

While working on this project it was also realized that a photo in this booklet, labelled “Bird’s eye view of Austin, Manitoba”, shows the Museum elevator in use. A photo of a Museum artefact in use is rare for the Museum to have. The elevator in the photo marked Western Canada Flour Mills Co. Ltd. was built in 1905 and sold to Manitoba Pool Elevators (MPE) in 1938. Sometime after that the elevator became an annex to another MPE elevator in Austin and used as an annex until 1975. In the late 1970s, the elevator was donated and moved to the Museum by MPE. As the driveway, scale and associated equipment had been removed when converted to an annex, MPE rebuilt the driveway to wagon standards and installed a wagon scale with built in wagon lift that MPE found at Grandview.

Up to this time it was thought that this elevator had been built with the ¾ length cupola it currently features as no one could remember a different cupola on it. However, the photo shows a much smaller cupola centered on the top of the building. Many early elevators were built to this design however the small cupola was cramped and larger cupolas were introduced to provide more space for the leg and gerber. By the 1920s, full length cupolas were a standard design feature of elevators. Many elevators with small cupolas were later rebuilt to larger cupolas, including this elevator.

Another obvious change is the siding. As built, the elevator had wood clapboard installed and painted with red oxide paint. MPE began installing pressed tin tiles as siding on many of its elevators in the 1950s to reduce maintenance costs and probably this elevator was tinned then.

The photo is also interesting as it shows that the elevator in front of the WCFM elevator was built to a noticeably different design. The cupola runs, not at a right angle to the tracks, but parallel to the tracks.  There were a number of early elevators built to this design which differed in other aspects from the standard design that was emerging in 1905 when the WCFM elevator was built. The main body in this early design was rectangular where the main body of the standard design was square. The driveway was not enclosed but merely had a canopy over the scale and pit. Photos of elevators of this design are not common but one photo shows a much smaller square structure on the end of the main body. This structure runs to the top of the elevator. It would be about the right size for the leg so perhaps the leg ran on the outside of elevators built to this design. In the promotional book there is a photo of the Peoples Flour Mill at Austin which featured an elevator of this design beside the flour mill. This photo does not show the leg detail but shows other details. No blueprints for this design are known to the Museum at this time.

Another interesting item in the photo is the large square structure in front of the rectangular elevator. Looking at what can be seen of the construction, it does not appear to be an annex. And annexes in this time period seem to be rare, probably because the technology to fill and empty them at the time was neither developed fully and costs at the time did not warrant annexes. But if is not an annex, what is it and why was it built so close to the elevator?

The Austin promotional books are being printed and are on sale at the Museum. So drop by, pick up a copy and spend the day looking over the Museum collection including the Museum elevator, currently the oldest elevator preserved on the prairies. Who knows maybe the booklet will persuade you to move to Austin?

The photo, taken in October of 1910, shows the tractor plowing with an eight bottom Cockshutt engine plow with a set of wooden harrows trailing behind the plow.  Magnus Wilson is person standing at the end of the plow and holding a shotgun. He must have combined a bit of shooting with inspection of the plowing.  A Mr. W.S. Bailey is standing to the immediate right of Magnus Wilson and has a bicycle with him. Magnus Wilson’s son and Robert Wilson’s father is the lad on the plow. The tractor operator is unknown. Note the operator’s platform on the tractor. Not much in the way of creature comforts there! The device being pushed ahead of the tractor is a self steering mechanism which freed up the tractor operator to also look after the plow. However that raises the question of whether the operator stopped the tractor if a plow needed to be lifted or whether he let the tractor self steer and crossed back to the plow to work the left lever on the offending bottom? If so not much margin for safety.

The Big Four tractor entered production in the US in 1906. If the promotional book is to be believed, the Big Four was the first tractor with a 4 cylinder engine.  The Big Four was a sales success with demand outstripping supply. In 1909, the Gas Traction Company of Winnipeg was organized and purchased the Canadian patent rights for the Big Four from the Gas Traction Company of Minneapolis which owned the design and manufactured the tractor in the US. Gas Traction of Winnipeg wasted no time erecting a factory in Elmwood, a suburb of Winnipeg with the first tractor rolling out of the plant in March 1910.  In 1912 Emerson-Brantingham purchased the Gas Traction Companies and the Winnipeg plant was closed. Production of the Big Four continued until 1920 however Emerson-Brantingham was also producing smaller and lighter tractors soon after purchasing the Gas Traction Companies. Emerson-Brantingham was sold to J.I. Case in 1928.

The Bill of Sale is rare in the Museum collection as this sort of paperwork usually was not kept for any length of time. This bill was issued October 10, 1910 to Magnus  and shows the cost of the tractor as $2900.00 As well, Magnus purchased from the Gas Traction Company 270 gallons of gasoline ($48.60) 48 gallons of cylinder oil ($24.00) 36 gallons of summer black oil (($6.84), 25 pounds of axle grease ($.75) and 25 pounds of cup grease ($1.75). Most startling line in the receipt is the $90.00 deposit on the steel barrels used to hold the gasoline. But then barrels cost money and, as they were useful for a whole range of activities and products, were prone to “disappearing”. Given gas tractors were an emerging technology in 1910 and large areas of the Prairies would not have had fuel dealers at that point, it makes sense that the Gas Traction Company was also in the business of supplying petroleum products.

The promotional book contains a wealth of information on the Big Four tractors such as features and a history of the design, discussion of the economics of operating horses and steam engines on the farm versus gas tractors and testimonials from satisfied owners of Big Four tractors. The book includes photos of various Big Fours operating in the field. A photo of Magnus Wilson’s tractor is shown plowing.  As well there is a letter from Magnus phrasing the tractor. The promotional book is of quite good quality and obviously was meant to convey to the reader that the Gas Traction Company was a quality outfit here to stay.

Magnus Wilson was an early settler in the Gladstone area arriving in 1880. He was a blacksmith by trade and so opened a shop in Gladstone. He also built and repaired carriages and other vehicles. Magnus later branched into brick making and operated a brick works near Gladstone for a number of years. Magnus owned farmland in the area however other people operated these farms for Magnus. Magnus’s  son and grandson did go onto to farm in the Gladstone area.

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.

 The photo shows the top or runner stone. The centre of the runner stone has a round hole cut all the way through it. Under the runner is another stone, the bedstone. The bedstone has no centre  hole . Into the working faces of both the runner and bedstone are cut a pattern of grooves. There are a number of deep grooves called furrows that run from the centre of the stone out to the edge of the stone.  From each furrow run a number of shallower grooves called cracking grooves. These grooves run to the edge of the stone. The pattern of grooves in a set of millstones should, in theory, match each other. Millstones should not be touching each other but be separated very slightly from one another. This produces better flour and reduces wear on the stones.

 There is a handle visible on the runner stone which is used to turn the runner. While the runner stone was turned, grain was trickled through the hole. The furrows attempt to move the grain to the outside of the stones while the runner is being turned. In doing so, grain is feed to the  cracking grooves. In theory, as the cracking grooves in the top stone turn over the grooves in the bottom stone, a scissoring action takes place and the grain is broken up into flour.   

As this is an old and rare artifact, no attempt was made to remove the runner to examine whether furrows and cracking grooves were cut into the faces of the stones in this mill. The runner turns easily so it appears the runner stone is separated from the bedstone in some fashion. If the runner was resting on the bedstone it would be much harder to turn.  It appears a paddle of some sort was run around the stone on an ongoing basis to push the flour to the outlet visible on the side of the mill.

Examining the table it is evident that it was rebuilt at some point before it arrived at the Museum. The well area is built from 3x4inch material and the area around the stone is built with what appears to be planed material. Most cut lumber before 1900 was rough cut or unplanned.

Red Fife wheat was in great demand in Manitoba in 1880. Red Fife had a very high gluten content compared to other wheat varieties of the time. This high gluten content made for a superior loaf of bread.  Manitoba, for reasons of climate, produced Red Fife with higher gluten content than Red Fife produced further south.  However millstones had problems in milling Red Fife as a stone mill tended to crush Red Fife rather than cutting it. As well, the millstones built up heat when milling hard wheats which damaged the gluten in these wheats .  By 1880, steel technology had progressed to the point where steel rollers were possible. The faces of steel rollers were covered with sharp ridges which basically chipped the kernel of wheat apart and did not build up gluten damaging heat. Steel roller flour mills quickly appeared in the 1880s to process the rapidly expanding acreage of Red Fife wheat in Manitoba.

This stone mill, however crude the flour produced by it, was still a useful tool to have if you were pioneering on the Manitoba Prairie in 1880. Money was always an issue and milling wheat into flour would save the homesteader money.

The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is now open year round. Between the tractors, machinery, buildings and other artifacts of Manitoba’s pioneer agricultural era, an informative day can be spent at the Museum. For more information, the Museum’s upgraded website is at http://www.ag-museum.com/

As to why the steel barrel was shaped like a wooden barrel, probably very early steel barrels simply followed the general design of wooden barrels. Even more importantly a barrel, particularly when full, was easy to handle with this shape. When moving barrels any distance by hand, the barrels were usually laid on their side and rolled. With a straight wall design changing directions was a problem solved by brute force. However with a curved side wall, the barrel could be tipped in the direction you wanted the barrel to go while rolling it and the barrel turned in that direction.

The Museum was happy to accept donation of this barrel as it aids in the interpretation of the pioneer tractor era. The appearance of gas and kerosene tractors on farms posed a fuel storage problem. Wood, coal and straw used to fire steam engines could just be piled on the ground for storage. Obviously one could not do this with kerosene or gas. Wooden barrels were used to store fuel in the early days as evidenced by a letter to a 1908 edition of the Canadian Thresherman and Farmer in which the writer talked about the economy of his tractor but noted that the wooden barrels used to store kerosene on his farm did leak and so he was not quite sure how much the tractor had actually burnt. Steel barrels were the solution to this issue.  And with barrels, if the local fuel dealer did not offer fuel delivery then the farmer could take the barrel with him on a trip to town and get it filled by the dealer. How common on farm delivery of fuel by a fuel dealer was in the pioneer era is not known.

The Manitoba Agricultural Museum is now open year round. Between the tractors, machinery, buildings and other artifacts of Manitoba’s pioneer agricultural era, an interesting day can be spent at the Museum. For more information, see the Museum’s newly upgraded website at http://www.ag-museum.com

Threshing Competition at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum’s Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede

With the sheaves loaded, the teams race their racks to their threshing machines for the final half of the threshing competition.  One rack has already pulled up beside the steam separator and from smoke and steam belching from her stack the Case steam engine is working up to speed driving the separator.  The racks have not yet begun to pitch sheaves into the gas outfits separator. Overall this year the steam outfit took the threshing competition. However, on this day, even with the steam outfit getting a jump on the gas outfit, the gas outfit crowded their separator hard, rapidly gaining ground and appeared to be on the way to a win before a separator belt was thrown off, plugging the separator.

Tug of War at the Manitoba Agricultural Museum’s Threshermen’s Reunion and Stampede

A feature of the afternoon grandstand show at the Reunion is the Tug of War between volunteers of all ages from the audience and the Museum’s 18-50 Case steam engine. On this day, the crowd battled the steam engine to almost a draw with the Case spinning out at one point, digging a hole. However the Case finally wore down the crowd and dragged the lead person over the line for the win. Other days of the reunion featured just as hard fought battles between the crowd and the engine, with the volunteers even winning on Friday. The steam committee chairman for the Museum, Robert Beamish, states this year’s Tug of War was the closest of any past reunion. Children enjoy participating in the Tug of War and usually make up the majority of people participating but this year for some reason men joined in the battle on all days.