Granddad’s 1920 Texas Ridge, Idaho binder and shocking crew

 

Old photos capture the precise moment before farmers switched to all-in-one combines, using a highly organized system to harvest wheat in Latah County.

Here is exactly what those two machines are, what the men are doing with those poles, and how the whole process worked:

1. The Machines: Horse-Drawn Grain Binders

The two machines pulled by the pairs of draft horses are grain binders (likely built by McCormick-Deering or John Deere).

• What they do: As the horses pull the binder forward, a wide sickle bar cuts the standing wheat stalks. The stalks fall onto moving canvas belts that carry them inside the machine.
• The mechanical knotter: Inside the machine, an incredibly complex mechanical arm automatically bundles the stalks, wraps a piece of twine around them, ties a perfect knot, cuts the twine, and spits the bound bundle out onto the ground.

2. The Drivers and the "Lightweight Poles"

The driver sitting high up on the cast-iron seat is managing the mechanics of the binder. The "lightweight pole" you see is actually a whip pole or a tilting lever.

• The Whip Pole: It was very common for drivers to hold a long, lightweight bamboo or willow whip pole. Because they were sitting high up and far back behind the machine's mechanism, they needed a very long pole to gently tap or guide the front of the horse team.
• The Tilting Lever: If the pole is made of iron and attached directly to the machine, it is a tilting lever. The driver would pump this long lever up or down to change the angle of the cutting blade, allowing it to cut low to the ground or raise up to avoid rocks and uneven Idaho terrain.

3. The Men Walking: "The Whip" or Ground Crew

The men walking on foot between the horses and the machines are serving as ground guides or assistant teamsters.

• Operating a binder required intense concentration. The driver had to watch the mechanical knotter, the canvas belts, and the cutting height all at once.
• On the uneven, rolling hills of Latah County, the walking man’s job was to watch the horses' footing, clear clogged wheat away from the front of the machine, and ensure the horses maintained a straight line so no wheat was left uncut.

4. The Third Man: "Shocking" the Wheat

The man walking behind the machines collecting the scattered bundles is called a shocker.

• Even though the binder machine tied the individual bundles together with twine, the wheat was still slightly green and damp inside. If left flat on the ground, the morning dew would rot the grain.
• This man is picking up 5 to 8 bundles at a time and standing them upright against each other, grain-heads pointing up, to form a teepee-like structure called a "shock" (or stook). This allowed the Idaho wind to blow through the wheat and dry it out completely over the next two weeks.

5. The Large Wagons: "Bundle Haulers"

The massive wagons collecting the dried shocks are bundle wagons (or rack wagons).

• Crew members used long-handled pitchforks to spear the dry bundles from the ground and toss them up to a man standing on the wagon.
• The man on the wagon was a skilled loader who stacked the bundles in a precise, interlocking pattern so the massive, top-heavy load wouldn't slide off on the steep Idaho hills.
• These wagons are hauling the wheat to a massive, centralized, stationary steam-powered threshing machine located nearby in the field to finally separate the grain from the straw.

Thank you Gemini AI for your wisdom and research assistance. -- Drifting Cowboy