Volunteers refurbish antique header box

RITZVILLE - Stop by the Railroad Depot Museum and you'll see a variety of antique farm implements available for viewing by curious city slickers and modern-day agricultural workers alike.

You'll find a snow plow, right-lap plow, one-bottom plow, two-bottom plow, even a foot-burner plow - all dated from the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Other implements have more mysterious names. For example, what in the world is a "duck foot cultivator"? How about a "slip weeder"?

Unfortunately, many of these historic treasures, exposed to the elements year after year, deteriorate - some to the point of no return.

Depot Museum Vice-President Dale Anderson and Jeff Duval, local rancher and volunteer, were determined to salvage and refurbish one of the farm implements known as a header box.

According to the description on the accompanying plaque, the header box (circa 1900) "was pulled by two horses, and traveled alongside the header in the field. It took three or four header boxes to keep up with a header during the harvest operation." The header itself had a sickle bar that cut off grain heads and eight to twelve inches of stalk. It was pushed by four to six horses, though more animals might be needed in hilly country.

Hard back-breaking work. Not a job for wimps.

When Anderson and Duval first considered refurbishing the header box, the task seemed daunting. "It was so bad I was taking the boards off," Anderson said. "I knew it needed to be done, and I couldn't do it myself."

That's when he reached out to Duval for help.

"I came into town once a week from my ranch to take my brother to a doctor appointment," Duval said. "I had an hour to kill, so I started coming here and spraying weeds, shoveling gravel from the walkway, doing whatever needed to be done."

The team's goal was to restore the header box using as many century-old materials as possible.

"Most of the wood we used was from old barns and sheds," said Anderson. "We stripped the trailer all the way down to the frame."

Around that time, Duval was helping a family move out of their ranch in Odessa. "We got additional wood from turn-of-the-century buildings on that property," he said. "So some of the wood we used is as old as the original lumber. In fact, a mechanism on a door from one of the old buildings was labeled 'June 22, 1910.'"

"Going through all this stuff gives me the utmost respect for farmers of that era," said Anderson. He recalls rebuilding a harrow that belonged to his grandfather. "Those folks couldn't run to the hardware store to repair a chain, so they meticulously wrapped wire to connect chain links."

Duval added his observation about the hard work required in those early days. "In the blacksmith trade back then, a lot of tools were very heavy because of the low quality of metal available," he said "So they developed big arms."

Early on, the project faced a major obstacle. A large chute from the adjacent header was leaning on the header box. "In order for us to work on the box, we had to get that large metal chute elevated and moved out of the way," said Anderson. "Fortunately, Derek Schafer came to our rescue with a 'tele-handler,' a large industrial forklift. In about two minutes he was able to lift that heavy piece and lock it into place."

Anderson and Duval are satisfied with the end result. "I'm proud of the fact that we were able to save the header box. In its previous condition, it was an eyesore and dangerous," said Anderson.

He recalled a retired farming couple from Pennsylvania coming through town on the last day of the project. "They were able to identify one piece of equipment we hadn't been able to label," Anderson said.

The implement was a "hay tedder," from the old English word "ted," meaning to spread and scatter new-mown grass for drying.

Mystery solved.