Men & Machines I Once Knew
July/August 1994
Howard H. Murchie
P.O. Box 476 Jamestown, North Dakota 58402
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I don't know much about the writing business, but I needed
something to do while recovering from a broken leg, so I put pen to
paper to tell these stories about the men and machines I once
knew.
Bill Neal
At an early date Bill Neal came to Sarles, North Dakota, looking
for a job running a steam engine. The machine dealer said, 'You
are a little early. Can you set up binders?' Bill said, 'I
sure can.' He went to work the next morning, tore crates open
and scattered parts around. The boss wondered if he knew what he
was doing.
Bill started putting the binder together. About four in the
afternoon he came to the office and asked if they could let him
have a man to help put on the head as it was a little heavy. Bill
set the binder up in one day. Before that the two men had taken two
days to do the same job. When the binders were all set up, Hazlitt
and Naismith sent him to the company farm, where he shocked until
he could get another job.
One Sunday Paul Higgins came to town looking for good engineer,
said the man he had had worked on the engine before starting to
thresh, and ever since that date the engine would run but had
little power. The dealers said, 'We have a man on the company
farm who says he is an engineer. If he can run an engine like he
puts up binders he should be a good one.'
Paul got Bill and took him to his Nichols & Shepard double
cylinder engine.
Bill climbed on top, then asked for wrenches. On coming off the
engine, Bill said, 'She will run.' Paul said, 'We are
going to see if she will run.' There were loads of bundles
already loaded. Paul sent to the barn for teams. They started up.
Before they were through they had six men pitching into the Yellow
Fellow Avery, and the engine seemed to play with the job.
Bill asked Higgins if he would take him back to his job. Paul
said, 'You are staying right here.'
Bill said, 'She will run. I don't want to run another
man out of a job.' Paul said, 'Nobody has the job; you are
staying.' I don't know how many falls he ran for
Higgins.
He ran a steam engine for Herman Gibbens, breaking. The land
being broken was near Haakon Halver-son's. John was a boy. He
said he used to break coal all day so he could ride on the
engine.
At a later date Gibbens bought a large tractor for the job. John
said one morning Bill wasn't getting started at the usual time.
John went over and asked, 'Is there something wrong?' Bill
answered, 'There is nothing wrong. The sun will have to shine
on her a while.' After she started they had no more trouble.
When he was around Sarles and not working, he stayed at a rooming
house run by a widow who had two grown up girls. Bill finally
married the widow. They moved to Union, North Dakota.
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