The auction was a retirement auction for a collector and restorer of old tractors and farm machinery along with tools, license plates, and other stuff. I had ridden my bicycle past the auction site earlier in the week and wondered where all the stuff could be as I could only see a small house and a few acres behind the house. He may have only had a few acres but behind the trees were a number of metal buildings that were his workshops and storage areas. From the condition of the items they were all stored inside.
I'm not looking for antique stuff; the auction ad mentioned tools, equipment, and other farm stuff. The only things I was interested in were some boxes of bolts, nuts, and nails, and one box of old miscellaneous traps, and maybe a livestock watering tank. These items were hours later, but it was a nice enough day and the items being sold were different than the unusual items at other auctions.
Shortly after I arrived they sold a very tall wooden stepladder, very long wooden ladder, and one piece of a small aluminum extension ladder. Usually ladders sell for a good price. The step ladder sold for $15. This is a low price and I started to think about if I wanted it. Before I could decide it was sold.
The long wooden ladder sold for only $10. Again to my surprise, and while I pondered, it too was sold.
The aluminum ladder interested me as I need one catch for my aluminum ladder. While this ladder's catch was different maybe I could still use it. The auctioneer tried to sell a box of miscellaneous junk and had no bidders so they suddenly threw the ladder in with it. A bid of $1. As I raised my hand to answer the call for $2 the auctioneer sold it all for $1 to the initial bidder. Darn. I would have paid $2 on the chance the catch would work for my ladder.
The owner also collected the chrome car names they use to put on cars. My first car had one. I thought it looked cool, but it was a pain to clean around. He also collected a number of hood ornaments. These were popular on 1950s cars. He had them all mounted on large black plywood pieces. I saw an ornament similar to one I had on my first car. No, my car wasn't a 1950s model (it was from 1960), but I loved the hood ornament (an airplane shape) I had found so much I drilled holes in my car hood and installed it on my car. I had the only 1960 Chevy with a hood ornament. My current car wouldn't look good with a hood ornament so I didn't buy any at the auction. And they didn't go cheap. Though if I really wanted one, it was worth the price.
I didn't get any nails, bolts or nuts. They were on a flatbed trailer with lots of boxes of other miscellaneous shop items. Some items were sold a box at a time, but by the end of the trailer they were grabbing two, three or four boxes and selling them as a group. The owner had sorted the bolts, nuts, washers of different sizes into boxes for each size. I was interested in only a middle, or common size. And sometimes the group of boxes had stuff unrelated to bolts, etc. I bid on some of them, but wouldn't go over $5 so I lost out to a couple of other guys who wanted the stuff and would bid it higher. One old (70ish) guy annoyed me and not just because he out bid me for the nuts and bolts. He smoked a lot and was a little pushy.
A cattle dehorner went for $20, the same price that two of them together sold for at the last auction I attended.
Finally the trailer with the box of traps. By now the weather had changed. I had been keeping an eye on rain showers north of the auction site. The rain at the north end of the valley tends to go straight east and into and through the Badrock Canyon gap to Glacier Park. And it did also today but we still got some light sprinkles when they moved to this trailer with the traps. Still, not enough rain to chase people away.
The box of traps had two conibear traps, quite a number of small leghold traps, and several large animal leghold traps. I didn't even get into the bidding mix as a young 20ish Amish fellow started the bidding at $20 and it quickly escalated from there. The traps sold for $50.
When he walked over to get his box another older Amish fellow with a long pronounced beard (the kind that only runs along the jaw line and chin) told the 20ish man that traps don't work that well for him to catch a woman. The 20ish guy wasn't amused.
I asked if he wanted the conibear traps. He looked through the box and found the two. He asked what I'd pay for them and I said $5. He wasn't that keen on the offer and decided to keep them. Oh well, at my last auction I had paid $7.50 for 3 conibear traps and 5 leghold traps. There will be other auctions. Traps are a common item at farm auctions.
The Amish man with the pronounced beard bought a box of miscellaneous stuff. In the box there was a pint jar of white powder. The owner was nearby and came over to say that this was ash he collected after Mt. St. Helens exploded in 1980.
The owner also collected cast iron tractor and farm machinery seats. They were neat. Most of the seats were not solid, instead they had lots of holes. Many looked like spiderwebs. A number had a name spelled out on the back slightly upright part of the seats. The seats looked to be heavy!
Here are some similar seats as to what I had seen at the auction:
He also had the front plates for grain drills and other old equipment that had company names and logos on them. One long flatbed trailer was covered with all these items. Earlier I overheard one fellow say that half the seats belonged to his grandfather, and the grandfather had brought them from North Dakota when he moved out here. The grandfather ended up selling the seats to the current owner many years ago.
The current owner and his wife are also originally from North Dakota. I remember in the 1970s many of the newcomers to the Flathead Valley came from North Dakota. So many that the locals would tell North Dakota jokes to put them down. You know, the standard ethnic jokes but with "North Dakotan" substituted. They even published small books of North Dakota jokes. My father even owned one. Now-a-days it is Californians who move to the Valley. Some things change, others don't. The long time residents still resent outsiders, but instead of telling jokes, now they grumble and make mean comments.
Even though it was mid afternoon everyone gathered around the trailer as we were all curious as to what the seats would sell for. The auctioneer sold choice on any item. The initial winner paid $75 each for seven of the cast iron seats. I believe there were almost three dozen seats as the final buyer bought the final 13 seats for $25 each.
I wasn't interested in owning the seats as they looked mighty uncomfortable. Several seats had a very large hump in the front in the middle.A couple old guys on my right made a comment to one another that those seats were for the women. *wink* *wink* A few women standing on my left didn't seem amused by the old guys comments. Later one of the guys bought one of the seats and the other fellow kidded him it must be for his wife.
Many of the buyers for the seats were about the only people who didn't look like old farmers. The very old farmers commented they remembered how hard those seats felt.
Most of the people at the auction looked to be long time native Montana farmers/ranchers. Only a few people here and there looked to be "outsiders". I saw a few auction regulars. I even saw one of our three County Commissioners; Watne the one who is retiring this year. He was dressed in Conoco hat and work shirt. You know, the type with the person's first name on a patch over their pocket. At $56,000 a year I guess being a full time County Commissioner doesn't pay enough. Watne was there for a while looking stuff over and chatting with a few people. I didn't see if he bought anything.
Later the auctioneer sold old metal milk cans. An attractive young women with a long thick mane of blonde hair in a wheelchair and a cast on her foot up to her knee bought two of the four cans, then bought the old restored milk can cart for $500.
There were many other old restored hand or horse drawn farm machinery. The one Amish fellow I spoke with (not the 20ish trapper buyer) told me he had used similar machinery back in the 1970s in Ohio before he moved to Montana.
I didn't get the stock tank. I didn't really need another one so I dropped out at $25 and the other bidder got it for $20. Afterwards I kicked myself as, even though the outside was rusty it didn't leak and was still sound. The tank was worth more than $20 and I should have kept bidding. Eventually I'd find a use for it.
After more antique farm machinery they sold the antique tractors. A very old steel wheel tractor - which supposedly ran - sold for $300 after the wife put the kibosh on her husband from bidding more. The other 6 tractors - all but one restored and painted - sold for $1000 to $2050. A John Deere Model A, Cocksutt, a Ford, etc. All ran and looked very nice.
And with that the auction was over at 5:45 pm.
I spoke with a few people during the auction while waiting. I was curious as to what religious order these differently dressed people belonged to. They didn't dress in black as they were in blue with some grey. The one woman wore a plain dress and bonnet. All the men wore hats, but they weren't straw hats. Just different looking. Even the boy wore a hat. I figured they were Mennonites. I asked and learned they were Amish. "But you aren't all in black." He said they were "old order" Amish. They wore plain clothes and weren't restricted to black. The all-black clothes Amish tend to be the more conservative in the range of Amish belief. He said the "old order" were in the middle of the range of beliefs. He had a slight accent so I had him repeat a few words now and then.
He said that all Amish forgo cars and electricity. He said some people who drive claim to be Amish, but he said they aren't. He said some Amish people give in and eventually start driving cars. He said when that happens they are no longer Amish people.
He said he lived west of Eureka, MT (pop 1009), west of Lake Kookunusa. NW Montana. Remote.
"If you don't drive, then how'd you get here?"
"By train."
"No, I mean 'here' to the auction."
"We have someone who drives us. For the Amish who need to travel they have a contract with a man who has a van and he drives us."
I didn't think of it at the time, but what's the difference between driving yourself and someone giving you a ride. I can understand a little the idea of taking a train as many people ride the train as it is public transportation. By hiring a driver is not public transportation. A question for another time perhaps.
It also made sense as to why the Amish guy paid so much for the traps and only would sell the conibear traps to me for a higher price. He doesn't get a chance to get out to buy stuff. Going to the CHS store and buying new traps for a few dollars more is a big inconvenience for him as he would have to hire a driver and be part of a group, so not everyone would be able to shop where they wanted to go.
He also mentioned other areas in western Montana with Amish communities. How other places people have tried to start a community but can't get the critical mass of families to make a go of it.
We also talked about how upon turning 18 the young can leave the Amish life and live in the world and then later come back and rejoin the Amish community if they desire. He said they lose a lot of people this way as quite a number don't return. The longer they are away in the world the less likely they will return. More so lately as with the economy doing so well it is easy for them to get work that pays well. Not much money to be made in an agricultural life.
Earlier while I was sitting on a piece of farm equipment and waiting, a woman came over to also sit down. She was from Sunburst, MT, (pop. 413) near the Canadian border and the Sweetgrass Hills. She and her husband come over to the Valley a few times a year for short vacations. They were interested in the large Red Wing crocks but didn't buy any as they sold high. The same for the milk cans.
We talked a bit about the Sweetgrass Hills and how most of the land on them was private and not open to the public. She said the view of the prairie from the top of the one she hiked up was great. I believe there are three hills. I can see them whenever I drive the Hi-Line to North Dakota. Some day I want to hike to the top of one of the hills.
With how the land rises from the east, the Rocky Mountains aren't visible till you are close to them. So the Sweetgrass Hills are the only thing to see for many miles when crossing the Hi-Line. For people traveling east to west across Montana, and unfamiliar to the state, think upon seeing these hills that this is finally the start of the Rocky Mountains after so many miles of prairie. Nope. I suppose in many other states these would be considered mountains, but next to the Rocky Mountains they are considered hills. Beautiful, nonetheless.
Oh yeah, the food sold at the auction smelled really good. I had just eaten prior to coming to the auction so I passed on the food. Even though I wasn't hungry, the food still smelled really good.
So I didn't buy anything at this auction, but I had a nice day.
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