Steam.Engines.Breckinridge.HISTORY-OtherFrom: KyArchives 
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Subject: Steam.Engines.Breckinridge.HISTORY-Other


Steam Engines  
Breckinridge County KyArchives History Other 
Book Title: A Glimpse Of The Past 
     Steam engines on the farm, steam engine, powered farm machinery, steaming 
tobacco plant beds.  Mention those terms nowadays and you usually get a blank 
stare if your audience is of the younger generation. 
   Kentucky's older generation can easily recall the days of steam power.  They 
remember well the old steam powered locomotives that pulled the freight and 
passenger cars across the State, and the classic steam powered paddle-wheeled 
riverboats that traveled the many rivers and waterways.  People reared in the 
county can claim many memories of the old coal and wood fired steam engines and 
the important part they played on the farms. 
   Threshing grain made up a big part of a steam engine's farm life.  The 
threshing outfits, steam engine, separator and crew traveled from farm to farm 
workin gfrom dawn until dusk until the end of the fall harvest.  Expensive and 
complicated combines have now taken the place of the threshing outfits. 
   Some other jobs handled by steam engines on the farm included corn shelling, 
running a hay press, cutting firewood, and powering a sawmill. 
   One of the most important jobs done by the steam engine was making ready the 
plant beds for the tobacco crops.  Steaming prepared the plant bed soil for 
sowing and raising young tobacco plants.  When mature enough, these plants 
would be transplanted to a large field to finish growing.  The plant bed-fixing 
season began in the fall following harvest and lasted until the following 
spring.  Most farmers preferred steaming the bed in late winter or early 
spring.  The ground was first broke for the bed, leaving the soil open so the 
steam could saturate it better.  A steam pan made of metal riveted or nailed 
over a wooden frame and the steam was run through a line from the engine to the 
pan. 
   Steaming killed the insects and well as conditioned the soil for growing the 
tobacco plants. 
   When the State finished paving all the roads in the state in the late 1940s 
and 1950s, the heavy engine could no longer travel over the new roads unless 
the huge iron wheels were covered with rubber. 
   Steam engines no longer grace the farm scene, but all the old and mighty 
names in steam traction engines -- CAsem Advance Rumley, Nichols and Shepard, 
Keck-Gonnerman, Gaar-Scott, Port Huron can still be seen in steam engine shows 
across the country. 
Submitted by: Dana Brown 
http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00005.html#0001067 



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