The Power of the Past Museum

Saturday morning, we hit the jackpot. We'd noticed a vast field full of old machines while driving out of Baker on Friday, and figured we should nose around there at some point. On our way back to Cornucopia, we pulled in and found out that the place was actually a museum operated by a very friendly woman named Mary Robinson.

	Pug was Mary's husband. He and Mary were once a comedy team. They would go to county fairs in a covered wagon and purvey Dr. Quack's Cracker Creek Cure Tonic & Elixir, suitable for Belly-achin', flat tires, ingroan toenails, Flees, and Rovin' Eyes. Mary was kind enough to give me a label for the stuff. I'll scan it sometime--it's a hoot.	Mary, in blue, tells us about Pug.
According to the museum brochure, this is where the museum staff lived.	This is an Advance steam tractor, ca. 1916. Is that cool or what?	I bet this thing sounds totally alien when it's going--its creaky chuff-chuff-chuff would really be weird compared to the putt-putt-putt of an internal combustion engine.
The requisite big wheels and levers.	I wonder why steam tractors have those big awnings when diesel tractors don't? Do they have to keep the boiler dry? Is the tractor already so heavy that it doesn't matter if they add a few hundred pounds? Or is it just because steam is more civilized?	Another, slightly cleaner, steam tractor. Note the orange wheel rubbing up against the right rear tire--I wonder if that's a power takeoff?
Fwee! I just can't stop imagining how these things would sound.	This tractor has boiler doors in front and in back. I wonder if those are for the same boiler, or if there's two? Seems weird that an operator would have to keep two fires going at once...	The view forward. Is that dinky thing on the right the steering wheel?
The front boiler door open.	The rear wheels have pieces of old tire bolted to them.	"Picture something like this, only atomic," I told Jerry. "That's my next book."
We were unable to figure out what this thing did. Something to do with corn, maybe?	A machine for shaking gold ore out of rock samples. It's powered by that dinky gasoline engine in the foreground, although I suspect that's not original equipment.	Sand from the machine would flow through a succession of tubs, and the gold was supposed to settle to the bottom. Tubs might have different solutions in them, like cyanide, says Eric.
This snowmobile was made in Switzerland, of all places.	I think this is a pump.	A horse-drawn grader.
How did this get past Corporate Communications?	On your marks... get set....

We said goodbye and thanks to Mary, got back on Oregon-86, and headed towards Cornucopia. But first we decided to stop at Half.com, and check out their little museum.

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