Volume 8 , Issue 6

Farry, Oklahoma - Walker Harvest 1914...

by - Gilvin Walker, Harper,Kansas

People who have heard of headers and header barges may view them in these photos. Harvesting wheat and threshing wheat were two different operations.

In the first photo (on the right) you can see a header and two barges. The header was a horsepowered cycle with the horses in the back pushing and the wheat was cut and augured up onto the barge which had one high sided to act as a buffer to keep the straw from going off the other side. When the barge was full they transported it to a central location and unloaded as you can see in the other pictures. 1914harvesting-JOWalkerfarm-FarryOK.jpg - 1914JOWalker-haystacks.jpg - 1914threshingcrew-JOWalker.jpg - 1914JOWalkerfarm-farryOK.jpg

When the threshing crew came at a later date, the machine was parked by the stacks and the steamer was belted up. The bulk wheat was then pitched onto the feeder auger going to the threshing machine and the straw was exhausted out a long tube --- henceforth, the famous straw stacks.

This particular harvest was on the J.O. Walker farm near Farry, Oklahoma in 1914. The men on the 2 barges and header were, Elvin 'Bub' James on the straw stack, Edd James on the header, J.O. Walker and Marion Walker on the right header barge and Cass Mapes and Ren DeGeer on the left header barge.

The following winter J.O. hauled his wheat to Alva, 30 bushel at a time in his wagon and sold it for .85-cents a bushel. It was a full days trip.   |  View or Add Comments (1 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

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