The Hole of Horcum

The Hole of Horcum
The Hole of Horcum and Levisham Moor, taken from the Whitby to Pickering road

Monday 21 July 2014

Mennonite Heritage Village, how they worked.

We are still in the Mennonite village, todays post will be about machines used in their working life.  No tractors or threshing machines but the other stuff.   The display of tractors, farm machinery and trucks are the best I have come across - even The Reynolds Museum, mainly because there are more of them and according to the printed guide they all work!   One thing not as good as the Reynolds no information signs so a bit of guess work involved.
 The photo above, A 1904 Reeves Steam engine, it works, used to drive the threshing machines when they have demo days.

I think this is a drilling rig, for water? That would have been driven by a steam engine I think.

The Mennonites are Conscientious Objectors so are excused military service, but during times of war they have to serve in a different form.  During World War II they cut wood at Riding Mountain, this is the sawmill they used.


At first I was not sure what this is, thought it might be a well or a mill grind of some sought, but after seeing how it all connects its another sawmill, powered by 4 horses or oxen.  There's a belt go's to the wheel on the left, the belt runs in a trough, to keep it out of the way of the animals, from the wheel another belt drives the saw bench, simple and clever.

This is a movable windmill, it was mounted on skids and pulled from farm to farm, used mostly for grinding grain for animal feed.


This is a renovated bunkhouse used during the harvest for the extra workers. 

The blacksmiths shop.  Really well equipped. 


The general workshop

The tinsmith shop and at the rear there was a harness shop.

The printing shop, the first newspaper outside of Winnipeg was printed here. The machinery was installed in 1909.

We move on tomorrow east into Ontario.

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