The Iron Horses

The past does return in most cases. When I was a kid...a few days ago..one of my instructors in High School, Howard South, (aka Howie ) told me of a gathering of old steam driven tractors that were hidden in the woods in an area south of Carthage. Evidently a man was told by the government that they wanted his steam engines to melt down for their metal for the war effort in the early forties. It must have been a case of back taxes or something, who knows. The bottom line was that he didn't give them to the "Government Boys", as he hid them in the woods where I saw them. It was an amazing sight ! There must have been 75 or so spread out through the woods and in the valleys, standing guard over each other. They were all rusting, trees growing up through the spokes of the wheels, parked in an undetermined pattern. As we walked through the fields every turn had a monolith to steel, all of a different size. The brands were World, and Globe. Each one had a pipe coming out of the boiler that either had, or was missing, a whistle. Some still had the covers on the front that listed the company that made it, and some didn't. Those missing were probably used to fix another one. At that time I was the photographer for the the yearbook in school and I took the picture that is to the right. In it are three of my best friends, Eddie Mansfield, Jim Kingsbury and his brother Tom, and my brother Hoop. Obviously in the fall, probably in 1967.