American Museum of Agriculture Page 1

AmericAn museum of Agriculture

PresidentDan Taylor

Vice PresidentPatti Jones

SecretaryCurtis Griffith

TreasurerWaylon Carroll

Executive DirectorLacee Hoelting

Board of DirectorsAlton BrazellWaylon CarrollRon ChandlerVic CokerRonnie GilbertDon HarrisMitchell HarrisLynn HarristLee Ruth KriegSteve MoffettClint RobinsonDale Swinburn*Brett UnderwoodTommy Woolam

*denotes new board member

Volume 12, Issue I – January 2013

Planning for the 10th Annual Antique Tractor and Engine Show started well over a year before the event. With AMA’s new facility and grounds, figuring out the logistics of the show was a priority for the South Plains Antique Tractor Association (SPATA). Lots of hard work, onsite meetings, and pleasant weather resulted in the largest show to date. Over 800 people came through the gates in two days to see 85 tractors, one car, two pickups, multiple vendors and a host of activities. Among the vendors were the Johnson granddaughters who manned a lemonade stand and the Slaton Bakery who made old fashion ice cream using an antique engine. This was the first show where both the Friday evening meal for exhibitors and sponsors and the Sunday morning worship service were held inside the museum. Stanley Young catered the meal and Wayne Rush preached the Sunday service. Both were well attended.

This year, the club in cooperation with the museum, produced its first tractor calendar featuring member tractors and important dates for both the club and AMA. Several were sold at the show and additional calendars can be purchased at the museum for $10. Lonnie Stokes of Hale Center, Texas was named the winner of the raffle tractor, a 1953 Ford Golden Jubilee. The tractor will be on display at the Hale County Museum. Several awards were given including Jimmy Davis of Abernathy winning Favorite Tractor with his John Deer 530 and C.E. Hermonson of Michigan getting the award

for furthest distance traveled. To date, this annual show is one of the largest events at the American Museum of Agriculture, and AMA is extremely grateful for the support and dedication of SPATA in preserving our agricultural heritage.

Top: Aerial shot of tractor show

Bottom: tractors in parade of power and

Lonnie Stokes poses on his raffle tractor

Happy New Year from AMA

SPATA Holds Successful Show at New Location

I have always been involved in high plains agriculture. I was born in Littlefield, Texas in August of 1945 and grew up on a farm in northwestern Lamb County, between Earth and Muleshoe.

My dad grew cotton, wheat, milo, hygear (sorghum hegari) and alfalfa and raised cattle, hogs and chickens. Feeding the chickens and gathering the eggs were my first responsibilities outside the house. Later I fed slop, a mixture of our farm raised milo and other ingredients, to the hogs (anything we fed the hogs was called slop). I ground feed for the cattle with a belt drive feed grinder powered by a 1936 John Deere A that I still have. My first hoeing job was to hoe out the fence-rows. Hoeing cotton and milo was a promotion from hoeing fence-rows, but the best promotion was getting to drive that John Deere A pulling a section harrow. Later I graduated to pulling a hamey and a one way. My Dad was among the earliest farmers in our area to drill an irrigation well during the 1930s, before I was born. I can remember learning to set (siphon) tubes before I was old enough to start school. I couldn’t set them fast, but occasionally I could get one to run (siphon) before I wore the ditch bank down. F.F.A. and 4-H were both important to me. I got my first Duroc gilt through the Sears & Roebuck program in 4-H when I was 12 years old. I took four years of vocational agriculture in high school and received my F.F.A. Lone Star Farmer Degree when I was a senior. After high school I began four and one half years of study (sometimes) at Texas Technological College in the school of Agriculture, majoring in Mechanized Agriculture. I graduated in 1968 about a year before T.T.C. became T.T.U. In 1969, I married Judy Moore, a schoolteacher, who came to Springlake-Earth school to teach after she graduated from Hardin-Simmons University. We began farming in 1969 and lived on the farm where I grew up. Our farming prospered until the early 1980s when

American Museum of Agriculture Page 2

A Word from the Board NEW MEMBERS & RENEWALS* denotes new membership

SOD BUSTERBrad & Davon CookShirley & LuCille GarrisonThe Gibraltar Group*Don & Lynnita Hufstedler

CREW BOSSS. L & Julie HolladayFred & Sandy JonesJoel & Sallye TankersleyTri-Star Chemical

TOP HANDLloyd ArthurKenneth & Pat Brandenberger*Brooks & Belinda EllisonCody GruhlkeyMitchell HarrisMelvin & Tina MachaCecil & Carol McCullar*Adam RekerdresLeland and Barbara WhiteAlan & Nan Zeman*

FAMILYScotty & Carla BessentJoe & Ginger Brown David and Harriet BushRon and Donna ChandlerGene & Carolyn ChappellH. W. CurryWes DippreyJ. T and Wanda DrakeJoe and LaPearl EmbryTravis FergusonDon ForemanBob & Sue GrahamBilly HasslerBrad Johnson FarmsErnie & Nita KieslingRoger & Janice KittenSandy LehmanBailey MayoVirgil & LaDene RickelCharles & Jerry Beth ShannonBilly, Sharon & Courtney ShofnerKristy TuckerRachel WallBill & Sharon WatersHudon & Ayleen WhiteDon & Neoma WilliamsLarry & Patti Work

agriculture was going through some tough times. I got into the farm and ranch real estate business to help keep us going, but I have never stopped farming. Judy and I have four children, three girls and one boy. Our son, Barry, is in the agricultural real estate business with me. He and our three daughters Valerie, Shana, and Angie have blessed us with ten grandchildren. Those grand children provide a lot of incentive for my involvement with the museum. It’s important that they, and all children, have an opportunity to learn about the history, mechanization, and modernization of agriculture. They need to learn about the depression and the dust bowl so maybe history will not repeat itself. A.M.A. will provide that opportunity for all ages and walks of life to see and experience the evolution of agriculture. Stories of feed sack and flour sack shirts, dresses, and pajamas need to be passed down. The story of rural electrification, irrigation, and many other historic changes can and will eventually be told at our museum because the museum will always be a work in progress. Phase II construction will be beginning soon, and will make the museum extremely versatile. The event space will bring people to the museum that might not visit otherwise. I also look forward to Phase III, the educational wing. The museum’s board of directors is a very dedicated and hard working group, working to fund new construction, new displays, and establish an endowment to secure the future of A.M.A. I feel honored to serve with such fine individuals. If you haven’t visited the museum lately, come by. Changes are happening all the time. If you would like to become a volunteer, talk to Lacee. There are several ways volunteers can help at the museum. The board recognizes and appreciates the importance of our museum members and volunteers. Their hard work and monetary support are valuable beyond words. Without all of their support our museum will not grow and prosper.

Sincerely, Vic Coker

AMA Board Member - Vic Coker, Vic Coker Land Company, Muleshoe, Texas

Benny SidesJack SidesDonald & Sheila StephensCharles StewartJim StewartStreet Communicty GinSunburst FarmsDale & Cheryl SwinburnQuenna TerryEddie & Denise ThetfordTinsley Gin Tri-Star ChemmicalBrett Underwood

We would also like to thank all of those who brought donations of food to the museum or made cash donations.

PAge 3

INDIVIDUAL DONORSJames CarrollGary & Dixie HamarJimmy McKenzieNathan MorrisJames SilhanAurthur J. Valladao

QUARTERLY VOLUNTEERSAlton BrazellWaylon CarrollRon Chandler Vic CokerJ.T. DrakeLewis EggenbergerBob GrahamSue GrahamCurtis GriffithLinda KingLee Ruth KriegHarold LandrumDoyle McFerrinWeldon MenzerSteve MoffettRed RiversClint RobinsonCharles StewartWayne SwartWanda SwartDale SwinburnDan TaylorLinda TaylorBrett UnderwoodPreston UpshawShirley WhiteDale WindersTommy WoolamStanley Young

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The American Museum of Agriculture held its first annual Holiday Harvest Food Drive from December 3-17, with donations benefitting the South Plains Food Bank. The food drive ended with board members volunteering an afternoon at the food bank. During one of the worst dust storms in 35 years, board members, including Dan Taylor, Steve Moffett, Lee Ruth Krieg, and Brett Underwood along with director, Lacee Hoelting, spent the afternoon outside distributing food boxes to local residents. In addition to volunteer hours and collecting food items, AMA members and volunteers made monetary donations. This, combined with visitor admissions during the two-week drive donated by AMA, totaled $3,500. A check was given to the South Plains Food Bank director, David Weaver, at the start of the volunteer shift. This donation will provide over 17,000 meals for local residents. “Our museum has the most amazing and supportive membership. They always come

AMA’s First Holiday Harvest Helps to Give Back

Adcock Gin Co.Joe AnthonyGary BellWilliam BennettTracy & Jaylayne BirkelbachBill & Melba BoydDoyle and Cindy BuxkemperCaprock Metal WorksMary CarrollWaylon CarrollCenter Point GinHarvey & Joyce GarrisonShirley & LuCille GarrisonBenny & Judy GrayCurtis & Sue GriffithAnita HancockLynn & Cindy HarristEdsel & Georgia HuieTerry & Sheri HurstDan & Lee Ruth KriegHarold & Billie LandrumJoe & Phyllis LemonBilly Mason Charles MasonBobby & Joyce McNabbSteve & Rhea Lyn NewtonDon & Sherry Proctor

-Edith Lovejoy Pierce, Poet 1904

through, whether funding a new exhibit or helping feed the hungry. I guess it’s just a common theme among the agriculture community, “ said Lacee Hoelting, American Museum of Agriculture’s executive director. Hoelting said she hoped the food drive would become an annual event as a way to give back to the community. Please see a complete list below of those who made monetary donations to the food drive.

Dan Taylor and Steve Moffett distribute drinks with food boxes.

Top: Lee Ruth Krieg and Dan Taylor help assemble boxes for families as they drive through the South Plains Food Bank parking lot.

Thank you to our Holiday Harvest Donors:

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Remembering Those Special To Us

Special Thanks

a unique way to honor or remember someone special

IN MEMORY OF . . .Ruby Hancock Alspaugh by Hurst Farm SupplyB. L. Anderson Jr. by Kristofer VerettRobert Vance Avant Sr. by Plains Cotton Growers, Inc.Donald Aycock by Hurst Farm SupplyCarl Bevill by Evans GrainIda Marie Bruington by Hurst Farm SupplyConnie Burnett by Evans GrainConnie Burnett by Hurst Farm SupplyCharles Mather Carr by Hurst Farm SupplyCharles Mather Carr by Steve & Gayle TrowbridgeJames Carroll by Stan CarrollGlen Davis by Idalou Coop GinSoren Eugene Deering, Sr. by Larry & Donna AshleyMyra Klattinhoff Colleps by Hurst Farm SupplyHenry Kveton by Hurst Farm SupplyHenry Kveton by Plains Cotton Growers, Inc.Jay Dromgoole by Plains Cotton Growers, Inc.Eugene & Dorothy Ellis by Don & Gayle LangstonLarry “Butch” Fairchild by Ray, Celia, Wes & Ben MasonElvin Moss Foster by Evans GrainElvin Moss Foster by Hurst Farm Supply Emory Gannaway by David LangstonDonald Hurdt by Hurst Farm Supply, Inc.James Hobbs by Hursts Farm Supply, Inc.James Michael Hurst by Larry and Linda KingMichael Hurst by Dan & Linda TaylorSteve Jones by Farris & Monica HightowerSteve Jones by Bill & Karin McCaySteve Jones by Mike & Linda StevensRobert Kauffman by Buster’s Gin, LLCNorman Ledbetter by Woolam GinChester I. McCurry by Plains Cotton Growers, Inc.Lorene E. McGehee by Hursts Farm Supply, Inc.Lorene E. McGehee by Idalou Coop GinLorene E. McGehee by Ray, Celia, Wes & Ben MasonLorene E. McGehee by Charles MasonDarrell McInroe by Hurst Farm SupplyDarrel McInroe by Idalou Coop GinRalph McLaughlin by Steve & Patricia VerettDouge Medlock by Hurst Farm SupplyD. J. Moses by Eddie and Nancille VerettJulia Gay Merrell McPherson by Hurst Farm Supply, Inc.

Jerry C. Mull by Hurst Farm SupplyThomas A. Poulson by Larry & Donna AshleyThomas A. Poulson by Hurst Farm Supply, Inc.Clayton W. “Rover” Perry by Bob and Sue GrahamClayton W. “Rover” Perry by Kimley-Horn and Associates, Inc.Clayton W. “Rover” Perry by South Plains Antique Tractor AssociationClayton W. “Rover” Perry by Donna & Ricky WalkerClayton W. “Rover” Perry by Lee Ray, Jean and Curtis WildeH. L. Porter by Hursts Farm Supply, Inc.Berhl Robertson by Hursts Farm Supply, Inc.Jack & Johnnie Robertson by Steve & Patricia VerettLouise Rowden by Hurst Farm SupplyJennifer “Jennie” Crump Rowin by Hursts Farm Supply, Inc.Vicki Newton Scott by Hurst Farm SupplyPaul Sherril by Woolam GinHarold “H.J.” Steffens by Hursts Farm Supply, Inc.Alice Thomas by Hurst Farm SupplyColleen Tucker by Hurst Farm SupplyWilliam Vanzielst by Ray, Celia, Wes & Ben MasonBob Walke by Buster’s Gin, LLCGrady P. Warren by Vic & Judy CokerGrady Phillip Warren by Vic & Judy CokerWalker & Pauline Watkins by Eddie and Nancille VerettDewey & Margie Wells by Steve & Patricia VerettValton Wheeler by Hursts Farm Supply, Inc.Sue Ashley Winter by Hurst Farm SupplySue Ashley Winter by Stoney and Doris JacksonTony Woods by Buster’s Gin, LLC

IN HONOR OF . . .Mary Carroll by Stan CarrollAnne Hamill by Larry & Linda KingAnn McLaughlin Orr by Steve & Patricia VerettBart & Tami Roye by Steve & Patricia VerettDan & Linda Taylor by Pat EnloeDan & Linda Taylor by Thomas & Delinda HicklenDan & Linda Taylor by Joel & Sallye TankersleyBob & Betty Wideman by Heath Verett

For the convenience of our members and readers, we now have memorial and honorarium forms available to print online. Go to

www.agriculturehistory.org/membership.phpForms can be found in the top, right-hand corner

under the heading Forms/Downloads. Send your completed form and payment to

American Museum of AgriculturePO Box 505

Lubbock, TX 79408

coverage and our logo on every shirt given to the runners,” said Lacee Hoelting, AMA executive director. The museum and Turkey Trot were featured in Fox’s Look Around Lubbock, and all four local stations sent reporters to cover the event on Thanksgiving. Hoelting hopes AMA can continue to host this event in the future. Additional sponsors for the race included: Scholtzky’s as the title sponsor, FootTech, Outback Steakhouse, United Supermarkets and Ag Texas Farm Credit who supplied water for the event. AMA would like to thank Doyle McFerrin and Red Rivers for manning the museum during the race.

ABOUT THE WEST TEXAS RUNNING CLUB:Founded in 1972, the West Texas Running Club is located in Lubbock, Texas and is governed by an eleven member elected Board of Directors. The purpose of the WTRC is to promote distance running as an aid to physical fitness and longevity and if need be, an alternative “Positive addiction.” For more information, visit http://wtrunning.com

Brogden’s invention revolutionized the way people farmed in the area, reducing both labor and time costs. The model, donated by Brogden’s daughter, Joyce Brogden, can be seen near the entrance of the toy tractor room. It was restored by Red Rivers and Doyle McFerrin. While the model is a great addition to AMA’s collection, we also have a 4-row and 6-row Crustbuster in the museum’s collection at Shallowater.

On Thanksgiving morning 2012, runners from West Texas, other Texas cities, and other states as far away as Alaska were “Racing to the American Museum of Agriculture” for the 20th Running of the Turkey Trot. “The highlight of the 20th Anniversary Turkey Trot was definitely the American Museum of Agriculture, as this beautiful new facility served as the host venue to a record setting 860 participants,” said Terry Dalton, this year’s race director. In addition to a record setting number of runners, several families, visitors, and volunteers came to see the museum and support the runners. This sets a new record for AMA daily attendance at just under 1,500 people. “This was a great event for us complete with media

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In the 1940s, in all row-planting areas of the plains country, especially the Western states, planting was done in deep furrows. Heavy spring rains filled these furrows, forming a heavy crust, which was difficult for seeds of certain grains and cotton to penetrate. This inspired Jack Brogden to invent the Crustbuster, and on October 2, 1951, he and his business partner Ross Edwards, received a patent for an Agricultural Crust Busting Implement. Brogden and Edwards rented a facility at 341 and 343 Avenue H in Lubbock, Texas and went into production as R & J Company. They remained at that location until the 1970 Lubbock tornado ravaged the downtown area. Bigham Brothers and Sons, now Bigham Brothers, Inc bought R & J’s implement line. The Crustbuster, later renamed the Crustivator, was made in two, four, six and eight-row versions. Jack Brogden used the smaller replica Crustbuster attached to a pedal tractor at fairs and tradeshows. Brogden worked as a salesman for Bigham Brothers for 15 years following the merger.

R&J Crustbuster Model

20th Annual Turkey Trot Brings Record Crowd to AMA

Cover of Crustbuster Parts Catalogue donated by Joyce Brogden

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AmericAn museum of Agriculture

Po Box 505luBBock, tx 79408

Hours

The museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m.

Special tours are available upon request.

contAct us

806.744.3786 - museum/fax806.239.5796 - director

E-mail:amadirector@agriculturehistory.org

Website:www.agriculturehistory.org

Held at the American Museum of Agriculture

Only $5 a person for all the chili and fixings you can eat.

Bring a friend and help us kick off another great year!

Saturday, January 26 from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.