The Okie Legacy

Harvesters & Prairie Skyscrapers

(The Man With the Whiskers Got the Job)

"What Are Prairie Skyscrapers? Up in Kansas they are referred to as Prairie Skyscrapers (a.k.a. grain elevators). In most areas of the Heartland, you can see at least one elevator off in the distance. Every town has at least one and, in some cases, the elevator is still standing (and may even still be used) even if the town has been abandoned."

You won't find Godzilla perched on the top of these skyscrapers swatting off airplanes, either. You might see a few flying farmers and harvesters flying low to the ground scouting out the golden, ripe, waving wheat fields from south to north all through the Heartland region.

This is the hectic time of year for allot of farmers. They are looking towards the skies and praying for Mother Nature's cooperation with sunshine instead of rain, hail and storm.

Within a couple of weeks you will notice more activity springing up around all the prairie skyscrapers in the small, rural, farming communities. Small towns will become alive again with harvesters buying necessities, supplies and groceries. Wheat trucks will be lined up to unload their grains into the grain elevators in each of the rural communities where they will be cutting wheat.

The harvester's will have gathered their combines, grain carts, wheat trucks and crew and will be working from south Texas and moving north through Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, Nebraska, and moving towards Canada. They will be hitting all the Heartland and Wheatland regions in between.

I overheard a farmer say just this morning, "I'll be glad when they start, and I'll sure be glad when they leave."

A local paper mentioned that because of the mild winter and the rain we've been having this year that everything in the wheat field is germinating along with the wheat, even the Cheat and Rye. It even mentioned that the harvest looked to be 80% less than last years crop. In the NW part of the state the wheat heads were just beginning to turn last weekend. The further south you traveled the riper it became. There were allot of farmers that have been baling and putting up their wheat as hay.

My dad (Gene McGill) made what living was possible in the 1940s by "wheat harvesting" for other farmers with his three (3) Baldwin combines outfits and an airplane. He was known as the "full-bearded flying farmer".

Gene would start his crop of whiskers about the time it came to wheat harvesting for the other farmers. As he went northward with his three combines outfits his beard grew more luxurious. He had a picture taken during one of those trips when he found a "father figure look-alike".

Gene and his older look-alike are dressed in similar clothing; same expression and both have a fully-bearded. There is no relationship other than friendly farmers shooting the bull, as some might say.

Gene would use his airplane to spot wheat fields which needed cutting even far off the beaten roads followed by other outfits -- "And the man with the whiskers and the airplane got the job"

If you are interested, here are some more scanned photos of my Dad in the 1940s harvesting outfit days that you can view at the links below:

This picture was taken some time on June 20, 1942, 5 miles South (think it was south of Alva, Oklahoma. But I'm not sure. Only God knows for sure). The photo shows Gene (on left) standing in back of wheat truck with another crew member and wheat spilling out the back of the truck. On the back of the photo it shows the date and 30-bushel wheat is written.

On this same day on June 20, 1942, 5 miles South of who knows where three (3) Baldwin's Combines are working behind one case tractor out in the wheat field.

 

If you look closely into the field with this photo you will see Gene's three Baldwin combines outfit out in the field at work. Those combines now have a permanent home nestled far back in the pasture near Two Buttes, Baca County, Colorado.

 

Another photo shows Gene standing on back of truck that hauled the Case tractor and a combine hitched on to the back of the wheat truck. Other crew members are in the background. That old Case tractor and truck may also be permanently rooted in the pastures out at Baca County, near Two Buttes, Colorado.

Here's another shot of Gene's harvesting outfit with a Phillips 66 fuel truck to the right and the outfit crew standing and posing for the camera man in the 1940s.

 

Another view of some old photos shows the Case tractor loaded on back of truck that my dad used in his combine outfit. They were either unloading or loading after or before a job. I'm not quite sure.

Here is an "Old Time Harvesting Wheat Binder". Some farmer told me this was a picture of a "wheat binder" pulled by four horses. I'm told it was the next step up from the hand scythes and hand binding days. I suspect it was in the early 1920s before the first tractor. The first tractor, I'm told, came out around the 1929 era sometime.

If anyone out there knows for sure and has more info, please contact me at oakie@paristimes.com - OR - c/o McGill Sisters, P. O. Box 18998, Oklahoma City, OK 73154-0998.

My father was born December 1914. My best guess is that he may have had an opportunity to work on this binder as a young boy during his young harvesting days. I suspect it may be an ancestor, but I'm not for sure on that. It was nestled amongst my Grandmother's old ancestral photos.

I was chatting with one of my ICQ friends the other night, and this is the advice he gave me, "Focus on history of the area... Forget about all the rest... Why don't you become the online historian of that area... It's needed."

What do you all think about Oakie's Heartland History? Please send me your feedback to "Oakie" at oakie@paristimes.com or Snail-mail c/o Linda Wagner, 1027 Maple, Alva, OK 73717. I would love to hear your suggestions, comments and contributions of stories and photos.

I would like to thank all my friends who have dropped me a line of encouragement, suggestions, etc. You're input is very important to me and I will try to incorporate it into each one of my newsletters.

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