Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. Labor Day Weekend, 2007.

Updated September 08, 2007.

Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, USA, is home to a very large steam power show featuring both steam tractors and steam locomotives.

Two different blacksmith's shops are shown in photos on this page. At right is the brick forge from the blacksmith's shop in the North Village. Scroll further down this page to see the blacksmith at the Log Village.

North Village

The blacksmith's forge in the North Village is made entirely of brick and mortar. The forge measures roughly 4 feet long by 3 feet across. The blast is supplied by a great bellows (double acting or two-stage bellows) through a 2 inch tuyere pipe to the fire. The bellows is actuated by use of the wooden handle overhead. A hole in the brick structure allows the snout of the bellows (tuyere) to enter the fire from the rear.

This is a side blast forge which means that the air is blown into the fire from the side rather than underneath as would have been the case in a firepot. Keeping in mind that when speaking of a 'side blast' we are discussing how the air is blown into the side of the fire, while a 'side-draft' defines a type of chimney in which the smoke enters a hole in the side of the chimney. This forge is both a side blast and a side draft forge.

The bellows rests on a pair of posts near the middle its length. The bellows is a teardrop shape and is widest also at that point. The blast pipe in the front or snout of the bellows rests on and in a hole made for it in the masonry of the rear of the forge. The bellows is of the double acting variety which allows the smith to pump the bellows with a 'down stroke', raising the bottom chamber board to fill the upper chamber. Each time the smith pulls the lever, the bottom board of the lower chamber is raised and forces air into the upper chamber of the bellows. Weights laying on top of the upper chamber board apply the necessary pressure to force air out of the bellows into the fire.

The blacksmith shop measures roughly 25 by 35 feet. Here the blacksmith forges small items for visitors and repairs some of the items used nearby. There are tong racks full of tongs, water barrel, vises, cones, swages, hammers, wheel shrinking and rolling tools, planes and drawknives, drills, wood wheel boring tools, and horseshoeing tools. Outside is another blacksmith working under the shade of the awning attached to the rear of the smithy. A new wheelwright works along side the blacksmith now too.

Analysis:

This is a hoodless style forge (a chimney style that needs no large hood over the fire) and the smoke enters the chimney through a sloped inlet near the fire. The inner rear wall is sloped forward to form a small smoke shelf. A sheet metal hood to help guide the smoke is attached to the chimney above the top of the smoke hole, a height of 6 bricks (roughly 18 inches) above the hearth. Unfortunately the people that built this forge didn't really understand how a chimney works, and they inadvertently created a choke point that restricts the exhaust action of this chimney. The gap between the smoke shelf and front of this chimney is roughly 1/4 the size of the opening in the chimney- severely restricting flow of exhaust gases into the bottom of the chimney.

In a well designed forge chimney, the shelf should have been further up inside the chimney, and the gap between the smoke shelf and front wall should have been larger than the total size of the opening for the fire.

The forge is small and compact making it a nice set up for a home shop. However the sides of the hearth are straight and offer no room for the blacksmith to stand close to the forge, so the smith must bend over to work in the fire. To See an example of a hearth with the masonry corbelled or tapered to allow the smith to place his feet closer to the forge so as not to need to bend over when working  in the fire, see the forge in the Quasdorf Wagon and Blacksmith shop in Dows, Iowa.

The imperfections in this forge can be easily remedied during construction of a new brick forge, making a forge similar to North Village smithy hearth a welcome addition to many a small blacksmith shop.

A Champion model 200 hand cranked post drill is also found in this shop. Shown here with a wooden block placed on the table for drilling. The Champion 200 is a medium size hand crank drill rated at drilling a 1-1/4th in hole. See the Post Drill page for better photos of this drill.

Log Village (South Village)

Under construction

North & South Villages - And Map Of The Fairgrounds

North Village - an 1870's era town depicts life in the early American west with live demonstrations of old hand crafts and trades. Visitors arriving on foot or by steam train will travel back in time, to a town that recreates life in wild west frontier. Complete with stores, blacksmith shop, print shop, saloon, chuck wagon, train station, and saloon, and even the occasional train robbery.

Log Village (South Village)- depicts a pioneer settlement from early 1800's American life. The village has a store, farmhouse and barn with animals, a blacksmith shop, school, and live horsepower and farm demonstrations of early American life. The Log Village is built in an isolated area far to the south of the main park and is most easily accessed by riding the electric trolleys from the middle of the park near the main train station.

The Midwest Old Threshers have a webpage here:  http://www.oldthreshers.org/

Mt. Pleasant is home to the Mt. Pleasant Old Thresher's Reunion steam power show every year around Labor Day. Hear are some pictures to give the reader an idea of some of the other things at this show. There is much to see however that these photos hardly begin to give a real impression of the tremendous number of artifacts available from the last era in agriculture and transportation.

A very large number of working steam tractors are brought into the show by steam power enthusiasts who restore them. These are bought as investments since the restoration increases their value and the limited number of tractors keep them valuable. Broken down and neglected steam tractor restoration prospects are also brought here for sale.

Two large buildings on the fair grounds exhibit the largest collection of antique and horse drawn farming equipment I have ever seen in one place. Throughout the days of the steam show, numerous steam tractors are in use operating antique threshing machinery, saw mills, veneer cutting machines, and other equipment. Restored steam locomotives are fired up and driven around the rails throughout the fair grounds and visitors can ride on the restored trains. Train robberies are staged on many of the rides. The association maintains its own steam locomotive repair and maintenance facility staffed mostly by volunteers who enjoy working on and operating the engines. A large grandstand on the grounds hosts horse and tractor pulls throughout the day.

The grounds is home to a steam locomotive maintenance and restoration shop as well. The railroad makes up its own museum and their web page can be found here: http://www.mcrr.org/   Tracks are built around the grounds to drive these engines and restored railcars. Several operating engines are brought out each year to give rides. At right is a steam train giving visitors rides around the grounds. At right, a Mogul engine built by the Baldwin Locomotive works in 1891.

Another locomotive pictured below left is a Shay type geared all wheel drive engine built by the Lima Locomotive works in 1923. Previously used as a logging train engine in California until 1962. The shay is brought out and driven around the grounds each year pulling passenger trains full of visitors and runs opposite of the fancier 2-6-0 shown above. The Shay engine is oil fired so very little smoke is visible in use. Although both these trains are narrow gauge, note the size of this engine compared with the people standing next to it.

Lots more photos on Midwest Central Railroad website at: http://www.mcrr.org/

Latest update September 08, 2007.

The Old Threshers has its own webpage at http://www.oldthreshers.org/

The Midwest Railroad has their own webpage at http://www.mcrr.org/

Readers who have knowledge or documentation on this shop are invited to mail the author at the email address below.

The author can be emailed at address in picture below:

Page created October 2000.