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Views and opinions: Minneapolis-Moline was star of mid-January show
 

 

Jan. 11-13 were the dates for the Prairie Gold Rush Minneapolis-Moline winter show. The main events with vendors, the auction and group banquet were in Nokomis, Ill., at Aumann Auctions. Besides these events, there were several tours – MM collectors had a chance to go to a new museum in Brownstown and Jeff Scott’s shop in Pana, as well as several options in Sigel.

Jeff is a farmer and DEKALB dealer. He built a new shed and placed his office in the site of a former corncrib. To make the office space special, he used wood from the crib to create several of the items in it, as a sort of sanctuary.

An MM guy, he said this is a family farm. “Grandpa farmed with us. In 1987, he was still running the combine,” he noted. Jeff’s dad, John, also helped out on the farm but is retired. “I have five boys, and two help out around here,” Jeff added.

In the shed with his MMs was an MM sheller. “The corn sheller belonged to two bachelor brothers; they are still alive. The corn sheller had been at the former Pueblo Ag Museum in Stonington, Illinois. When they closed, I bought it, and now I shell corn with it at the Pana tractor show in August. The brothers come to watch,” Jeff said.

The sheller is a Model E and he thinks it is from the 1950s. He also has four tractors of his own on display, along with several from other collectors. Four of the tractors on loan for this winter show were from fellow Ansar Ag Shriners – among them were an MM R and a M602 LP.

One of the tractors is a U302 that had belonged to the owner’s dad, making it a sentimental piece of equipment. “My neighbor has this A-4T 1600 tractor and he still uses it,” Jeff said.

Mark Dozier’s steel-wheeled 1925 Twin City 20-35 that came from Walter Keller was also on display.

Jeff owns two 1959 GVI LP tractors that are just 10 serial numbers apart. “I found these within 15 miles of each other,” he pointed out.

In Sigel, right next door to Tony and Cheryl Fearday’s toy and pedal toy and doll collection, collectors had a chance to check out the Jansen Brothers garage and both Kent’s and Karl’s personal collections. After a tour of the shop, where the Jansens and their guys were working on a turn-of-the-century Emerson Brantingham Big 4 tractor, many collectors trekked on down the road to the country home of Karl and Annie Jansen.

Kent had his auto buggy and a cool Indian motorcycle on display, along with a nice pedal tractor collection and a collection of wagons that he says are the grandkids’ … but since he has a few more wagons than the grandkids (and there are seven of them), there is doubt as to whom they really belong!

In Kent’s second shed there were a W and L Rumely as well as a 17-29 Twin City and a Happy Farmer. He also had an MM G100 and an MM 4 Star, as well as a Bradley tractor in the mix.

Karl has an array of beautiful tractors that are rare, including a Samson GMC, Bates Steele Mule, a Gray that looks like a tank and even a Bull tractor. There were Indiana tractors, a Nichols & Shepard and a tractor many had never heard of – a Turner Simplicity. There was even a Jim Dandy Motor Cultivator and a Rock Island Plow Co. Heider.

The winter show, although the weather was a bit harsh, was a great time for collectors to enjoy their love of Prairie Gold and celebrate the MM publication Prairie Gold Rush. One of the best things about this winter event was old friends getting together over a hobby they love, and meeting new ones along the way.

 

Readers with questions or comments for Cindy Ladage may write to her in care of this publication. Learn more of Cindy’s finds and travel in her blog, “Traveling Adventures of a Farm Girl,” at http://travelingadventuresofafarmgirl.com

2/15/2018