It was a monster of a machine. 22 tons of iron and steel with rear drive wheels 6 ft in diameter studded with steel cleat designed to grip any surface with the boiler could hold 150 gall of water and generate enough steam pressure to move mountains. Walter’s grandfather, August Brennan, had bought the engine new for $3,200, a fortune in 1912, more than most farms cost.
August had used it for 20 years, pulling threshing machines from farm to farm during harvest season, dragging stumps out of fields being cleared for planting, doing the heavy work that horses couldn’t handle. When gasoline tractors became common in the 1930s, most farmers scrapped their steamers. The old machines were expensive to operate, slow to start, and required constant attention.
But August Brennan couldn’t bear to part with his. He parked it in a shed behind the barn and covered it with canvas, thinking he might need it again someday. He never did. August died in 1952, and the steam engine sat untouched for another 30 years. Walter had rediscovered it in 1984 when he was cleaning out the old shed to make room for equipment storage.
He’d pulled back the canvas and found the engine exactly as his grandfather had left it, rusty, dusty, but intact. Every part was still there. The boiler still held pressure when he tested it. The gears still turned when he cranked them by hand. Walter had spent three years restoring the engine.
He’d found a retired machinist in Debuke who remembered working on steamers in his youth. He’d tracked down original parts from collectors and museums across the Midwest. He’d learned to operate the machine from old manuals and older men who still remembered the age of steam. By 1987, the case was running again. Walter took it to county fairs and steam shows, demonstrated it for school groups, kept it in perfect working condition.
