STEAM JOE.

[Stanley]

STEAM JOE.

I was doing a bit of digging through the archives today and it struck me that I have never done a piece on Steam Joe. Who’s he? A bloke I tripped over in Minnesota and I think the story might bear telling…..

I was on one of my frequent visits to Northfield Minnesota, staying with Martha and Roger Paas and the word had got out that this strange visitor had an interest in steam engines and big lumps of machinery. A bloke turned up one day and whisked me off on a mystery tour. I soon realised he was a steam enthusiast and he had an agenda.

He knew of this man called ‘Steam Joe’ who lived almost as a recluse on a small farm that had been in the family for years. His father, and he also, had run a steam contracting business supplying the haulage for the large machines used in the enormous fields in that part of the world. They always specialised in steam and with the advent of big tractors in the post war years the business tailed off and finally expired. During the 50 odd years they ran the business they never sold an engine and my guide told me they were all parked on the farm around the house, gradually sinking into the ground. Think elephant’s graveyard for traction engines……

However, there was a problem. Joe was notoriously bad-tempered and protective of his engines and my guide had never managed to pluck up the courage to approach Joe and have a look at the collection. I think he had identified me as a possible way of gaining entry….. The only thing he could tell me that might help was that Joe reacted very badly if someone mentioned buying one of his babies.

We drove about 30 miles and pulled up on a typical Minnesota back road, plenty of sky, lots of ground but only one building, and sure enough it was surrounded by the most impressive array of mouldering steam traction engines I have ever seen. There was only one thing to do, I girded my loins, stepped out of the car and started the long walk down towards the house, through an avenue of interesting machinery.

I hadn’t walked more than 75 yards when a small figure emerged from between the engines carrying a very shiny rifle. I decided that the best approach was the ‘Hello, I am a stranger in your country’ ploy so I shouted “Joe?” He said “Who’s asking?” I said “My name is Stanley and I’ve come 4,000 miles to talk to you.” “Where are you from?” “Yorkshire. In England and I was a steam engine driver”. That did it. He knew about Yorkshire and immediately thawed and started asking questions. To cut a long story short he not only agreed to show me his engines but allowed my guide to come in as well.

We had a couple of hours of sheer magic. Joe was a wiry old bloke, hard to tell his age, but he was sharp and knew his stuff. It soon became evident that he was not only looking after their own engines but was still actively collecting them. One engine in particular intrigued me. It was a very old portable engine on wooden wheels. When I asked him about it he said that he had bought it from the Henry Ford Museum at Dearborn and it had wrought iron fire tubes. He told me about going down into Nebraska to collect one shortly before we arrived and he showed me his trailer that he used to transport them. It was the heaviest trailer I have ever seen, basically it was a framework made of railway line with a towbar and heavy running gear. He told me that he towed it with his pickup truck. I never got to see that but it must have had a pretty big engine!

I’m not going to bore you by trying to describe the engines, I’ll let some pics do that. Suffice it to say that on the whole they were far bigger than English engines and they were all used for direct haulage of machinery on the fields. They were wood-burners and one in particular fired from the front and could accept logs over six feet long. This saved on wood cutting and like all the other engines it carried no fuel, the fire wood was stacked at each end of the field and the practice was to stop after each bout and stoke up.

Joe invited us into the house for a coffee and it was like an engineering shop. There were parts of engines and boilers in every room we saw. To many people this would seem to be a strange way to live but I liked Joe and his set-up. All right, it was different but then so was he. He fitted perfectly in his environment and struck me as a very sharp, well-balanced and contented man. One thing is certain, at some point in the future the world will be glad that he saved his engines. As far as I could see they were all capable of being restored to steaming condition and I suspect he has the last examples extant of some types.

Overall, I was delighted to see the engines slowly sinking into the ground just where they were parked up they last time they were in steam. Even the dilapidation was attractive, these engines hadn’t been over-restored and set on a plinth in an antiseptic museum, they were as found, what you got was pure engineering showing the effects of hard work and real life. You don’t need to do a complete refurbishment to make something attractive. I suppose an artist would describe them as ‘objets trouve’.

We left Joe’s but I found out we weren’t going straight home. We made a detour to a farm owned by a man who, amongst other mechanical items, collected Caterpillar tractors. He even had a Holt Gun-tower made for the US army in the First World War and the predecessor of the Caterpillar Company. The nice thing was that the man knew that caterpillar tracks were first used by Fowlers, the English traction engine makers at Leeds.

All told, a memorable day and I am so glad I got to meet Joe and his babies, the Caterpillars were a bonus but the abiding impression is that wonderful array of steam engines under the broad skies of Minnesota.

SCG/29 August 2006

[Stanley]

Worth remembering.....



There were dozens of engines slowly sinking into the ground.

[Gloria]

Wow what an experience that would have been meeting Joe and seeing his collection.

[Stanley]

It was Gloria. I was very lucky that one of the tutors at Carleton College had cultivated a friendship with him. Here's Joe showing us round on a cool Autumn day.
Look how deep the wheels had sunk in the ground simply because of their weight and how long they had stood there.....

[Stanley]

I often wonder what became of Joe's engines......

[Gloria]

A good read again

[Stanley]

Thanks for commenting Gloria. Always nice to get feedback!