EXHIBITS

The Threshing Bee

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L. K. Wood on half-scale steam engine.
(Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives, Mendon Collection)

Longtime resident L. K. Wood had a great love for the steam engine and threshing bees. As a child, he spent his school lunch hour going back to the barn, climbing over the steam engines housed there. As an adult, he created many half and 1/9th scale machines, becoming an expert in steam threshing. He produced many publications explaining the golden age of Cache Valley, which was filled with steam engines. In his golden years, he and his wife, Pearl Wood, hosted events called threshing bees to show off the old power of the steam thresher. For seventeen years he worked in recreating threshing. Upon his death, his prized threshing machines were donated to the American West Heritage Center for the Man and His Machine Museum, highlighting 1917 Cache Valley farm life.

The pictures and video below showcase L. K.'s Mendon threshing activities.