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Oregon Road Conditions & Cams Email Story to a Friend July 24, 2005 Carol Reynolds of Sams Valley reloads a can crusher � a new use for an old all-purpose farm engine. Reynolds and other fans of the old machines use attention-grabbers like the can crusher to interest kids in the history of farming. Mail Tribune / Roy Musitelli Attention grabbers When trying to get today’s kids interested, fair exhibitors use engines and ingenuity By PARIS ACHEN Mail Tribune Ten-year-olds Ashley Cabral and Cassandra Calvin stroll disinterestedly past a shiny toy tractor being raffled under a tent at the Jackson County Fair. "Do you kids want to sign up for a free tractor?" calls White City resident Warren Dunning from his shaded seat under the tent. "No, thanks," the girls reply. Seconds later, Ashley’s eyes light up, her feet stop in their tracks, and her arm stretches out to point at a green and yellow machine shooting soda cans into the air. Bang, bang, bang, bang, pop! A row of three cans hit the top of the tube, propelled by a rush of exhaust from a piston firing. Advertisement "Cool!" Ashley exclaims, nudging Cassandra to attention. "Look at that." With their interest captured, Dunning rises from his seat and asks, "Would you like to know what this is?" "Yes," is the consensus. As president of Chapter 141 of the Early Day Gas Engine & Tractor Association, Dunning is an encyclopedia of farm equipment information. "This is a hit-and-miss engine," he says. Also known as a utility engine, the gas-operated portable machine powered tractors, corn grinders, irrigation systems, sheep shears and generators, among other things. It was also used in gold mining to run the stamp mill and shaker table in places such as Gold Hill, Dunning says. Each year, the Southwest Oregon-Northern California chapter displays tractors and other farm equipment at the fair to educate children about farming in bygone days. "Our mission is to restore old tractors and show the younger generation what it was like to farm 50 or 100 years ago and the kind of labor involved," Dunning said. But fascinating today’s technology-savvy kids takes creativity. Free toy tractors just don’t cut it. To spark their interest, members rigged a 1919 Fuller & Johnson utility engine into a can-crusher, not a typical function for the machine. "It’s nothing more than an attention-getter," said member Duane Christensen of Central Point. But it gives members a chance to hook and impart a tidbit of history to youngsters, even those who are not interested in farm equipment, he said Other hands-on attractions are utility motors hooked to an old-fashioned red metal water pump and a corn grinder. Twelve-year-old Victoria Savides of Ashland turned the handle of a corn grinder until it spit out a bare cob. Meanwhile, Dunning gave her a history lesson on the multitude of uses for spent cobs. Victoria said she was surprised to learn cobs used to be a main source of fuel for cooking stoves. "I would just throw it away," she said. The Jackson County Fair runs from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m. in Central Point today, its final day. Reach reporter Paris Achen at 776-4496 or e-mail Attention grabbers ">[email protected] . Mail Tribune Home | Local News | Sports | Business | Obituaries | Life | Opinion AP News | Archives | Site Map | Community | Classified Copyright © 1997-2005 Mail Tribune, Inc. All rights reserved. Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | Website Feedback Free Music Downloads Conference Calls - $50/Month Home Security Systems Trunks, Footlocker, Trunk, Footlockers dvd-r helzberg diamonds Distance Education Diamonds Online Poker Computer Security Home Equity Loans Slippers Student Loans tcg student loan consolidation Canadian Pharmacy Website Design & Marketing Memory Foam Mattress w2 forms Mortgage Calculator Free Home-Loan Referrals Online Casino News Air Purifiers Advertisement s