Old-fashioned threshing

MOSES LAKE - It may be 2012, but for a couple of hours last weekend a whistling steam engine and the old machine it powered took Moses Lake residents back to the early 1900's.

The Moore family held its annual wheat threshing demonstration Saturday. Local residents gathered to see how farmers used to thresh their wheat before modern-day machinery.

"I thought people would like to know how it used to be," said Martin Moore, of the Moore family. "Instead of sitting in an air-conditioned cab, this is the way it used to be done."

Volunteers used pitchforks to move the wheat from trailer to machine, and pitched almost nonstop to keep up with the steady moving belts powered by an old steam engine.

"It's hard work, and this is even a great improvement over what they had before," he said.

Moore said the machinery used in the demonstration was the main method of threshing wheat in the 1900's, up until about the 1940's.

Wheat is pitched into the machine, where the edible part gets sent to waiting sacks and the inedible parts come out the other end to be bundled later, Moore said.

The sacks of wheat are then tied and set aside to be sold or made into bread or other food products.

The Moore family has been farming in Washington state since 1859, and put down roots in the Moses Lake area in 1958. The family was drawn to the area because of the great irrigation, Moore said.

They have been holding these demonstrations for about 20 years, he added.

The steam engine Moore owns is a 1916, 65-horsepower model, he said. And his machine that threshes the wheat is from 1953.

Moore also owns a 44-horsepower steam engine, which he keeps at his home. He said regular maintenance and care for the machinery is the only way it has been able to keep operating through the years.

The Moores threshed about a half acre of wheat donated from a neighboring farm during the demonstration. Moore said he was thankful for the wheat to do his demonstration, especially with the current cost of wheat.

Moore said the demonstration took longer than it would have to normally thresh wheat back then. Farmers who had experience operating the machinery, and who were working on a deadline, would have had the entire half acre of wheat threshed in about 15 minutes.

Moore said he enjoys sharing the old ways of farming with the community, since it's an important part of the area's agricultural history.

"A lot of people have never seen this," he said. "Some of these fellows have seen it out there, but they're getting fewer everyday."