Harvest Tales - Ottawa County 04
Harvest stories submitted by Kansans for the online exhibit, Wheat People.
Submit your own at kshs.kansasmuseum@ks.gov.
Jagger Family
1980s Photos of Combines & the Family Eating Dinner
John Jagger submitted the following reminiscence about harvest:
My earliest memories of harvest are of going to the fields with Mother to take lunch to the crew. Dad and my Uncle Sid cut with an orange Allis-Chalmers combine with a 6' header pulled by a red Farmall tractor. To me they were huge (not really) and noisy and dusty (really) and, although not quite the state of the art in the early 50's, our rig got the crop in quite nicely. I soon took a more active part in the harvest, riding in the bin of the combine, handing Dad wrenches and going to the elevator in the grain truck. By the time I was 10, I was operating our new self-propelled Gleaner combine and when I got a license at 14, I started driving the truck to town. Harvest always was a special time for me.
Family members pose for the photographer in their wheat field near Minneapolis.
The Jagger family breaks for lunch in the field.
From left: John, Joe, Margaret, Craig, and Jim.
The Jagger family and their combine in 1983.
