Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsYuma Old Threshers drivers mind four teams of horses harnessed to, and circling, a power unit that serves as the collective engine that drives vintage machinery that peels cob corn from its husks, and then separates kernels from their cobs.
In Yuma on Friday afternoon, Loris Allen is standing near a vintage Farmall tractor and a thresher, the two machines connected by a whirring drive belt, separating wheat from chaff. He's keeping an eye and ear out for trouble, and he confides that a lot of the machinery here at Yuma's Old Thresher days is only fired up for this annual celebration of High Plains farming history.
That all of the tractors, threshers, plows and sawmills work as planned and hoped, with a little tender loving care and generous squirts of grease guns, is a testament to the pride folks here take in this event, now in its fifth decade. The machinery here, and the way of life celebrated and portrayed, played an important role in the transformation of Colorado.
Here's a little of what we saw on Friday. The event ran through the weekend.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsWheat sheafs awaiting the thresher.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA vintage Avery thresher at Yuma’s Old Thresher Days.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsDuncan Clarke in his blacksmith demonstration shop at Yuma’s Old Tthreshers. Clarke has worked all over the West, on ranches and teaching industrial arts.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsIn his blacksmith demonstration shop, Duncan Clarke heats and shapes a red-hot poker with a hammer on an anvil. Clarke has worked all over the West, on ranches and teaching industrial arts.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsKids ride in a tractor-pulled miniature train, past a collection of vintage red Farmal tractors at Yuma’s Old Threshers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA curious goat greets the photographer at Yuma’s Old Threshers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAn exhibition of barbed wire in all its shapes and forms at Yuma’s Old Thresher Days.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsTaylor Portillo of Berthoud drives his Percherons Ranger, left, and Rick, during a plowing demonstration at Yuma’s Old Threshers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsOil cans with the yellow painted wheels of a John Deere wagon in the background. The machinery put into motion each year at Yuma’s Old Threshers requires experienced hands, patience, and a lot of lubricant.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAnother look at Taylor Portillo and his Percherons under the endless High Plains skies.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsKaleah, at left, and Livia Dodsworth, 8 and 10 years old, watch a tractor-powered sawmill turn logs into lumber during a demonstration at Yuma’s Old Threshers. They and their five sisters and one brother are from Wray, and are home-schooled by their mom Fawn, who brought them to the event as an educational experience.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsAfter a tractor-powered sawmill turns logs into lumber, the slabs are then put through a finishing machine, also powered by a tractor, at Yuma’s Old Threshers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsOld Threshers Church is one of numerous restored buildings that line a pair of boardwalks.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsThe license plate museum, at Yuma’s Old Threshers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsThis black horse-drawn hearse, on display in a barn at Old Threshers, is said to be the wagon that took James Butler “Wild Bill” Hikock to his grave in Deadwood, South Dakota, in 1876.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsDarrell Smith serves as master of ceremonies at Yuma’s Old Threshers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsThe restored White School building is one of numerous structures that line a pair of boardwalks at Yuma Old Threshers.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsA raging hail storm earlier this year tore the paint, and sometimes siding and roofing, apart in Yuma earlier this year. The old wood outhouse at Old Threshers was also damaged.
Hart Van Denburg/CPR NewsHorse power: Four teams of horses turn gears and a drive shaft connected to belts that deliver power to drives vintage machinery that peels cob corn from its husks, and then separates kernels from there cobs.
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