Tractor Club History
The South Central Montana Antique Tractor And Machinery Association was formed in 1987. The club was conceived during one of Oscar’s Dreamland shows, when Dave and Leo Lambrecht, Duane Schieffer and Dick Tombrink were helping Oscar with his show. Since each of them had some antique machinery of their own that they would like to display, they decided to form a club, so they could have their own show. Thus the birth of the South Central Montana Antique Tractor and Machinery Association, called the Antique Tractor Club for short.
The first Threshing Bees were held at the Duane Schieffer and Lambrecht farms. In 1991 we started having our Threshing Bees at the Huntley Project Museum.
1992: We became affiliated with the Early Day Gas Engine and Tractor Association (EDGETA) as branch 29.
1994: We built a small 12′ X 20′ building to serve as a blacksmith shop. It was later converted to sell pop and water during the Threshing Bee.
1997: The club undertook a major project of building a new larger blacksmith shop. The 48′ X 56′ pole construction building is used to display and demonstrate blacksmith shop artifacts that were purchased near Circle, MT. The club not only operates the blacksmith shop but also uses it for static displays related to The Old Tractor Club. Club members interested in doing blacksmith work can demonstrate their expertise during the threshing bee, and have the use of the building any time during the year to perfect their blacksmithing abilities.
2000: We restored a wood planer that was resurected from a local recycling center. We also restored a windmill and erected it in the spring in 2001.
2001: We placed the sawmill on a permanent concrete foundation.
2003: We added 16′ wings to the North and South sides of the blacksmith shop for storage.
2004: A concrete pad was installed in the center section of the main blacksmith shop building. We also built a progressive weight tractor pull sled to be used at the Threshing Bee.
2005: We constructed a 24′ x 50′ building to enclose our sawmill.
2006: We added steaming corn with a steam engine to our Threshing Bee.
2007: We built a barrel ride for kids to be used at our Threshing Bee and for local parades. We also added the attraction of baking bread from grain cut that day with a binder, threshed, cleaned, and ground to flour.
