Threshing

This is how the grain was threshed in Thomas, Idaho, in the early part of the last century.  I don't believe that this is my grandfather's threshing outfit, but Neils Anderson owned a threshing machine and went from farm to farm to thresh for the neighbors. The neighbors who couldn't afford to pay for the threshing in cash would give grandpa a share of the crop and so he never lost any money running his threshing business.

Grandpa Anderson once accepted a threshing job in Mackay, Idaho, (which was approximately 78 miles away).  The tractor could only pull the thresher at 11 miles per hour, so it would have taken at least 14 hours to go there and back.

At noon, the woman of the house would provide a wonderful feast for the crew.  It took a long time to prepare only the best food for a hard-working crew of hungry men. 

The story is told of my grandfather (who was a notoriously picky eater) once was threshing for a family who was really, really poor.  At noon, the crew was served a carp and a sucker fish (which are considered to be trash fish that would have been caught locally in the Snake River).  I'm sure that was the best that the family could provide!  Suddenly Grandfather remembered that he needed some oil for the thresher that he must have forgotten to bring from home.  So he escaped having to eat the meal.