MEETING:
The next meeting of the Illiana Antique Power Assoc. will be May 17, 2010 at the clubhouse. Our usual carry-in dinner will begin at 6:30 P.M. so bring a dish to pass.
We’d like to thank Carol and Ted Stout for hosting last month’s
meeting at their lovely home in
A LETTER FROM OUR PRESIDENT:
Hello and greetings to
all,
The Illiana Club can really be proud of
the wonderful outpouring of all the volunteers who came and pre-pared the show
grounds and came back Monday to participate in all the various demonstrations
for the school children and Senior Citizens on History Day. Thank you to each and everyone who had a part
in this. Also, thanks to the ladies who
prepared the lunch. It was an
outstanding day and a lot of fun to be involved with the annual event. A big thank you to Joan Fry
for coordinating this special day.
Finny tells me that the railroad club is
having a water tower built for the trains.
I can’t wait to see the new addition to our show grounds. I’m really looking forward to our show. All of your hard work and dedication
continues to make our show a wonderful place for the whole family to enjoy
Once again, thanks to all and see you at
the May meeting!
Tom Swanson
PINE
CREEK & WESTERN R.R. NEWS:
Hey everybody! Wow
what a flurry of activity around the old PC&W during the month of
April. Some of the ugliest “Gandy
Dancers” you’ve ever seen attacked the rails with great relish and even greater
results. The new crossing at the upper
balloon track was installed, and, boy is it nice! We completely tore out the yard track-age and
laid down all new white rock to support a brand new yard. We plan to have this in by the big meet in
July. We are hoping that Tim Sering’s vision of a new operating water tower will also
materialize about the same time. The
usual gang, including Terry, Don and Clayton Bodine,
Tim Sering, Dick Fontaine, Steve Dye, Marty LaFoe and Yours Truly, supplied the muscle to complete all
this, plus leveling and tamping of the north incline! Pretty good work, I’d say. It’s amazing what love of a hobby and good
fellowship can accomplish. A big thank you to Mike Schoenhal
for delivering a push mower donated by Bob Beck of M&B Repair,
Submitted by: Finny Filchak
ROCKY
FORGE BLACKSMITH GUILD NEWS:
The blacksmith group met at Ted’s shop Saturday May 15th. A total of 20 brave souls came to the meeting to work on the 560 miniature anvils, the weathervane and to make plans for the Illiana Show in July. Of all those projects a lot was accomplished, over 100 anvils were ground and painted, the weathervane is coming together and we have a list of items to make at the show. Some practice pieces were made at the meeting. Plans for the State Fair are also in progress. Our group will be smithing two days, August 9th and 10th, the first week of the fair. During this meeting the group was informed that the Brazil Coal Company is out of business. As a result we must find a new source of black-
smithing
coal. Two options for consideration will
be to order 22 tons direct from the mine in
The next Rocky Forge meeting will not be our usual 2nd Saturday but on the 3rd Saturday, June 19th at Ted’s shop.
Submitted by: Ted Stout
NEW
MEMBERS:
We’d like to welcome Jim and Melynda
Leak from
SYMPATHY
AND GET WELL:
Naomi Rector, mother of member Penny Carrell died on April 29, 2010 after battling cancer. Members Paul and Joy Grubbs lost their entire barn to a fire last month. Several tractors, antiques, golf carts and a new vehicle were among the items in the fire. Joy is currently in the hospital (un-related to the fire). Then on May 9th their son Alan was involved in a car/tractor accident on Hwy. 41. We understand he was not hurt. Our sympathies to the Carrell and Grubbs families.
Pam Evans is still at the Heartland Health Care Center,
Deb Dillman sprained her ankle a few days before History Day but still managed to attend and take pictures of the activities that day. Get well soon Deb!
CONGRATULATIONS TO MEMBER DONNA LECHLITNER ON HER 2010 GRADUATION! GOOD LUCK IN THE FUTURE, DONNA!
Blue skies, sunshine and of course a “little wind” started the day for the 7th Annual History Day. Buses from the Benton County Schools arrived and students were greeted by Joan Fry and received their souvenir bags. There was no time schedule to follow this year so the students were able to visit the various stations at their own pace.
TRAIN STATION: Dick Fontaine’s locomotive was steamed up and ready to go! Casey Jones (alias Steve Dye) engineered most of the day since Dick is still recovering from his operation. Finny Filchak started out as “Mr. Conductor” but turned the job over to Marty LaFoe…..who kept the students from “rocking the cars” and “hands inside” so that there were no accidents. Anne Bodine helped load and unload passengers while Rolland McKinney punched their souvenir tickets. Finny and Dick settled themselves “down the tracks” and posed as “Railroad Hobo’s”. (I’m not sure what that consisted of!?)
BLASKSMITH STATION: The forges were fired up in the blacksmith building. Ted Stout, Charlie Terril, Paul Petosky, Dominick Andrisani and David Childress demonstrated their blacksmithing talents and had several items they’ve made on display. Rob Durrett, dressed in his Lewis & Clark period costume, spoke of the importance of a blacksmith during the Lewis & Clark Expedition and also demonstrated how to start a fire without the aid of matches. Peter Cooper had a nice display of wooden items he has made and demonstrated the art of a Cooper. NOTE: A Cooper is a person who makes or repairs casks, barrels, buckets, etc.
DULCIMER GROUP: Donna Starry, Herb and Betty Pigman, Julie Poor, Lois Miller, Tom Pigman and Elizabeth Webb entertained the students with some lovely music. Everyone joined in singing several songs, clapping time with the music and had the old fashion wooden puppet dancing to the tunes.
BEE KEEPER STATION: John Cunningham, our “honey man”, brought his glass case of live bees. Students had fun trying to find the Queen Bee. John also had some of his honey products on hand. All the students received a “honey stick” in their souvenir bag and several were spotted sucking them down before leaving the show grounds.
GARDENING STATION: Tom Swanson and Joe Fry had buckets and pots of beautiful flowers they planted throughout the show grounds. They had both perennials and annual flowers that will be lovely by show time. Due to the previous rains in the area, the garden plot was too wet to plant any seeds.
BUTTER MAKING STATION: The newest addition to the grounds is the Milk House. On display inside is a collection of cream separators, milk bottles, milk signs, etc. by Jim Cunningham. Helen and Art Petty, Donna and Michelle Lechlitner along with Jim explained how to separate cream from milk using a cream separator. They had the students shaking small jars of cream that turned into butter. Then the butter was taken to the clubhouse and used on the corn bread.
SEWING STATION: At “Kathy Kitchen” Kathy Olin along with the help from her grandchildren, Olivia Olin and Logan Olin, and Joan Fry and Marie Nickle were busy filling bags with shelled corn and sewing them closed using an old fashion treadle sewing machine. Each student received one to take home. Spotted at the station also helping was Kenny Campfield.
WASHING STATION: At the Wash House, Kenny Short, Ed Grubb and Kenny Evans demonstrated how clothes were washed in a wringer washer. Prizes were given to the student who “pulled Kenny’s shorts” out of the water! A lot of laughs were heard coming from this station!
LADIES STATION: Inside the clubhouse Carol Stout had a display of early cooking utensils and household items. She explained to the students what they were and how they were used. Jessie Byroad, Susan Burnell, Jane Reavley, Doris Manlief and Virginia Snider were on hand passing out samples of corn bread and cups of cold water. Students had a chance to taste honey or butter on their corn bread.
SAWMILL STATION: Rudy Groff brought his 1956 John Deere 70 tractor to power the sawmill. Terry Bodine, Tom Nickle, Gary Burnell and Leon Helms were kept busy stacking walnut and wild cherry boards while John Dillman operated the sawmill. The students learned about the history of sawmills, water wheel mills, pit saws and different types of wood.
STEAM ENGINE: Don Bodine with help from Jim Manlief and Christy Dunbar had his Minneapolis Traction Engine fired up. Don explained how the steam engine worked and the students viewed the fire in the firebox and heard the steam whistle blow. Skylar and Shayla Dunbar were also at this station.
CORN GRINDING STATION: Bob Folk demonstrated how ear corn is shelled off the cob using a corn sheller. John Byroad then ground the shelled corn with his hand cranked burr-mill grinder. Harold Snider was helping at this station also.
GAME STATION: Kim Short and Pat Grubb had various old fashion games for the students to play. They tested their skill at throwing their corn bags through holes cut in a board and received a prize if they made the hole.
BALING STATION: Tom Bastin and Wayburn Norfleet were busy demonstrating Tom’s miniature baler. They explained about various grasses and the gas engine that ran the baler.
BOWL MAKING STATION:
Jim Dunbar from
Deb Dillman covered the activities
with her camera snapping pictures all day.
Dave Sims along with his wife Tara, daughter Courtney and son Joey drove
the students to various stations on the people mover using his John Deere
tractor. Tara (who is a teacher at