The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-03-28

HeTHdpS tue uTOuSHl bl tudl St!ititl
was least felt of anywhere in thai see
ton, while still further east, as laf al
most as Indiana, the wheat crop was
almost failure in comparison.
The incident which / am about t. re-
late happened early in October Of hat
fall. just after my DIST birthday. Cay
ton Fkk. Il young man about my "wn
age. and myself, had resolved to START
west with the intention of investing our
little SatingS in the wheat business IN
some way that would pay Us Il g '0d
interest on our investment. We were
full Of pluck and enthusiasm, deter
mined to venture our last dollar in our
ENTERPRISE Kansas was just about this
& time developing some immense wheat
sections along its border. and it was i'll
this direction we took our course. We
had little'3over $500 between us. and
after more or less careful consideration
of the matter and the outlook ahead,
we concluded to purchase traction en-
CINE and threshing machine and with
this Gutfit Sirike off directly westward
through the wheat regions. We went
by rail 70 Jefferson City, where we
stopped op@s and went 10 look at the
threshing equipments. manufactured
there. Fisk had no knowledge what
ever or engintering-in fact | do not be-
lieye he knew the steam chest from
the eccentrij- lstIt- / had had little OK
periaiie& ana Erlttef stood the points fHis-
ly well and felt quite confident that we
would have no trouble as far as oDer-
ating tle outdb Was cohterned | re-
member t,ie peculiar thriil of pleasure
/ feld IS we looked ever the big black
silentnmasses Of iioQ AT Jefferson City.
and thought that before long one of
those iron monsters would be pulsing
and tarobbing under my hand. After
some little uncertainty and a great deal
of advice. we finally. selected a 30-horse
power engine as one in every way alto
gether the best adapted for our pnr-
pose. but upon asking the price of the
machine in view we were informed that
we might have it at a bargain-only
$1,000 for the whole outfit, consisting Of
the engine, thresher and equipments.
The price was considerably more than
we had calculated upon paying, and for
a moment we were feeling rather dis
cour:lged. for with only capital of
about $500 between us, the price was be-
yond US, and as we stood there talk
ing it over, and considering whether to
buy cheaper outfit or give the enter
prise up, young man well dressed and
appearing stepped up to us and said:
Il accidentally overheard some of
your conversation, from which l under
stand you lack $500 of the price of the
outfit you want. Now, / have just about
that amount by me. and l am out of
work, and if you will take me as a third
partner, we will buy the outfit and start
out. | am willing to risk what little
I've got. for | think we can make n good
thing ont of II Of - ba wont an
Il am a stranger to you, and you are
the same to me, but I'll risk it if you
will"
He did not seem like a bad sort of fell
low at all, and we wanted that particular
thresher pretty badly, so after Clay ton
and | had talked the matter over between
us we decided to accept the strangers
offer at once. After breakfast next Morn
ing weewent back down to the works
again and closed the bargain. and we be-
came the owners Of the "Gonic," as we
concluded 70 call her. After carefully in
speeding and oiling the machine, | began
firing the engine, which was an immense
concern, the huge six feet drive wheels
being two feet broad in order to prevent
them sinking into the soft soil Of the
prairie wheat fields.
Clayton and Gleason tour new partner)
were busy about the thresher, leaving
me to my special charge of the engine.
At last, about 8 O'clock we were all
ready to start: the tender was full of
coal and the thresher was coupled on
behind, and the Comic was making
steam rapidly Already the indicator
began to creep up-4O, 80, GO pounds. |
waited until the needle began to tremble
at so pounds, then, Selling the lever. /
pulled the throttle slowly Open The
monster shivered as the steam rushed
into the cylinders; then. as the great
drive wheels began to slowly revolve, |
blew the whistle, and with Fisk and
Gleason feeding the fire and looking af
ter the thresher, we were off out along
the country roads and across the prairie.
Probably no mechanic feels the pecu-
liar love for his machine as the engineer
does as he works over it, watching and
tending it is carefully as mother does
her child, noting the willingness and
quicl1ness, and, we might almost say,
the intelligence with which it responds
to every desire of its master, feeling
grows in his heart akin to the love one
person bears for another.
began to experience this feeling as we
were rumbling along over the rough
country roads and out acrossAthe rolling
prairie as fast as man could run, our
great iron steed answering its levers as
steadily and as easily as we'll broken
horse would his reins, and hauling the
heavy thresher behind. We took a
southwesterly course, and after cross
ing the Usage river, struck some ex-
tensive wheat fields just beyond. Here
the wheat is bound and piled in great
stacks and the thresher is run along
side them, and as fast as one stack is
threshed the machine moves to the
next. We had good luck, and in about
months time We came to the Kansas
line, which we struck nearly parallel
with Fort Scott, and about 80 miles
southwest from Jefferson City. We
could have worked much longer in Mis-
souri,, hut we were anxious to take only
such jobs as lay in our direct course
across to Kansas. After crossing the
Kansas Ene We settled down to bust