Isaac's Antiques



You might not be surprised to find a building at the Kansas State Fair called "The Oz Gallery," but what sort of exhibits would you expect it to contain?  The word "gallery" might be a clue, and if you guessed drawings, paintings, sculpture, jewelry, and photography, you would be right.  However, the original art is not to be photographed, so I cannot share images of those exhibits, although we spent a great deal of time enjoying all of those things.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Oz building is an interesting building to explore because of all the things you might not expect to see.  For example, have you ever seen a Wheel Ring Sizer?  If you answered "no," look to the picture above.  The person who entered the wheel ring sizer in the antique category was kind enough to include a sign explaining its use, describing how the steel rings around a wooden wheel would be heated in a forge before locking it into the sizer to make it smaller.

 

Of course, when I see antiques from the homesteading era, I always wonder if Isaac might have owned or used that particular object. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Have you ever seen ox yokes carved from wood?  In 1884 Isaac Werner's neighbor, Gus Gereke, paid $175 for a pair of oxen, and many early settlers used oxen to plow through the thick prairie sod.  Perhaps Gereke's oxen wore yokes like these.

 

 

 

 

 

Here is a quiz for you.  Can you identify what this wooden, barrel-like contraption is?  Your grandmother or great-grandmother would have known, and she would probably have had a specific day of the week for using it.  (The answer is at the bottom of this blog.)

 

There were many different kinds of exhibits in the Oz building.  It was the location of Leonard the Bull, featured in last week's blog, and there was a display of chainsaw carved sculptures available for purchase.  However, one display brought tears to many eyes as they walked around all the sides, studying the faces of those who had given their lives or bodies in service.  Decorated in red, white, and blue, the display honored yet another generation of patriots who have fought for their country.

 

Were you surprised by the variety of things to be found in the Oz Gallery?  Beautiful art, antiques from our past, photographs of our heroes.  As Dorothy told us, "There's no place like home," and the Oz building shared many things from the hearts and homes of Kansans this year.

 

(Answer to the quiz:  It is an antique wooden washtub for laundry day.)



Sheep Shearing at the Fair

Judging the sheep at the Ks St Fair 

Kansas is best known for several things--Cowboys and Indians, being the Sunflower State, Dorothy & the Wizard of Oz, "amber waves of grain."  However, most people do not associate sheep with Kansas.  That is unfortunate, for not only are sheep raised in Kansas today, they are also a part of Kansas history.

 

The sheep shearing demonstration



 

In the early years before there were fields under cultivation, great herds of sheep were driven across Kansas to markets in the east.  Increasing cultivation and the railroads ended that practice.  Few farmers in the area near where Isaac once lived raise sheep today, although I do know of at least one; however, sheep were being raised in this area in Isaac's time.  He mentions in his journal buying mutton from my great grandfather, Aaron Beck, a surprise to me since I had not known of sheep ever being raised by my family.  In the Blizzard of 1886 Isaac recorded in his journal that a neighbor named Blanch lost about 800 sheep and that Neelands Ranch lost a great many too, although he did not know the number.

 

There were sheep raised in Pratt County when I was young, for the Sheep Barn at the Pratt County Fair was a popular place to go when I was in 4-H.  Most of the kids that I knew raised cattle as their 4-H project, however.


 

Students watch the shearing 

A friend who was accompanying a school group that was visiting the fair mentioned that they were on their way to the Sheep Barn to watch the sheep shearing demonstration.  We decided to follow them there, and it may have been my first opportunity to actually watch a sheep being sheared, although I have seen the job done on television.  The children were mesmerized.  The task was finished surprisingly quickly, but the size of the pile of sheared wool from one sheep was an even bigger surprise. 

 



Nearly finished

After the shearing demonstration, the woman who had provided an interesting narrative during the shearing, filled with facts about sheep and wool, moved to a nearby spinning wheel for her own demonstration.  She showed the audience how the wool was spun into yarn, pausing often to answer questions from the interested audience.  Later, when we visited the Oz Gallery where antiques are judged, we saw an antique spinning wheel. 

 



Students learn about spinning wool 

You never know exactly what you might see when you go to the State Fair!