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Old farm equipment, new hope
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| Jerry Macken displays some of the antique farm equipment that will be sold at auction later this month. He said he plans to use proceeds from the sale to avoid bankruptcy. |
Antique sale may save the farm
Published March 31, 2003
By LEE JUILLERAT
H&N Regional Editor
TULELAKE - Anybody else might be lamenting his fate and telling tales of gloom and doom.
Jerry Macken certainly has good reason.
Nearly two years ago, after some 1998 business dealings backfired and the 2001 water crisis sharply limited hay production at his farm near Tulelake, he filed for bankruptcy. He has until mid-July to raise $75,000 or face the possibility of losing the farm that's been in his family since 1919.
A hobby he started in 1989 might be his salvation. Over the years, Macken has collected an eclectic hodgepodge of Americana, highlighted by a fascinating assemblage of antique tractors, farm equipment and implements.
That collection, plus an equally boggling array of odds and ends, will be auctioned during a two-day gathering April 12 and 13.
Anybody else might be saddened. Not Macken.
"I'm having just as much fun getting rid of it as I had getting it," says the perpetually optimistic Macken. "I thought it might bother me. But if it clears up my debt, I'll feel great."
He and his extended family - including sons and stepsons Nicholas Macken, Bob Porter, Joe and Frederick Tranhan - have been lining up rows of vintage tractors and equipment on a large field at the home property off Stateline Road near Malin.
Closer to the auction days, a cornucopia of grinders, sausage stuffers, cast iron griddles, chamber pots, hand tools, milk cans, walk-behind plows, glassware, forges, fence stretchers, sickle grinders, cream separators and more will be placed on tables.
A preview and inspection will be offered at the Mackens farm from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 11. Collectibles and small engines will be auctioned April 12 beginning at 10 a.m., possibly with two auction teams. Tractors and implements will be up for bid April 13 starting at noon. Two concessionaires will sell food.
"I wanted to have the place cleaned up for a long, long time, but under different circumstances," says Mary Ann. "We had fun while it lasted. That's the big thing, keeping the land. I'd like to see this farm keep growing."
The farm has been part of the family since 1919, when Macken's great-uncle William Nicholas Macken bought the original property. Jerry's father, Nicholas, began working at the farm in 1939, when he moved his young family, including then 3-year-old Jerry, west from Nebraska. Nicholas Macken bought the farm in 1944.
Jerry leased the operation from his father in 1975 and, with his brother, Marvin, took over in 1993. Along with the 100 acres along Stateline Road, Jerry farms another 600 acres with his son, Nicholas.
"Pretty near do anything you can to save it," says Jerry, 67. "I've been on this place 64 years and I've never known prosperous times."
Word of the auction already has potential buyers getting excited. Steve Van Gordon, of team Van Gordon Auctioneers, provided Macken with a list of potential buyers who have called from New York, Washington, Wisconsin, Central California and Ontario, Canada.
Many people have stopped by, especially collectors enticed by the dozens of 1919 to 1950s model tractors. Like the farm implements and other offerings, the tractors reflect a living evolution of farm history.
"We've had viewers ever since we put them out," says Macken. "If they come here, I wouldn't tell anybody they couldn't stop and look around."
Macken is saving a few tractors and implements for himself, but the vast majority of his collection will be sold. While the tractors are expected to draw the most interest, and dollars, there's also a staggering array of implements and machines.
"A lot of these look pretty rough," admits Macken of the rusted, mostly non-operable tractors, balers and other farm equipment. "But they look good to a collector. As one caller told me, if you restore one yourself, you feel like you've got something."
The tractors range from a 1919 Fordson steel wheelers to all ages of Farmall, Allis-Chalmers, Minneapolis Moline, Case, Massey Harris, McCormick Deering, Oliver and John Deere models.
Implements include a 1930s Klamath County road grader plus hay wagons, potato planters, dump rakes, buck rakes, grain binders, buzz saws, moving machines, horse-drawn potato diggers, fertilizer spreaders, manure spreaders, horse-drawn moving machines, threshing machines, poke-and-tie balers and grain cleaners of various vintages.
"Some of it you buy, some of it they give to to you," says Macken of the implements, equipment, tractors and memorabilia he's collected. "You run into stuff. You forget where you got it."
He and Mary Ann hope the sale will them forget their financial woes.
"We all like to gather," says Mary Ann of upcoming auction, "but this is a gathering we really need. We hope lots of people will come."
"It should be a good time," agrees Jerry. "I think we're going to be in pretty decent shape."
Regional Editor Lee Juillerat covers Lake, Siskiyou, Modoc and northern Klamath counties. He can be reached at 885-4421, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at lee@heraldandnews.com.
Published March 31, 2003
By LEE JUILLERAT
H&N Regional Editor
TULELAKE - Anybody else might be lamenting his fate and telling tales of gloom and doom.
Jerry Macken certainly has good reason.
Nearly two years ago, after some 1998 business dealings backfired and the 2001 water crisis sharply limited hay production at his farm near Tulelake, he filed for bankruptcy. He has until mid-July to raise $75,000 or face the possibility of losing the farm that's been in his family since 1919.
A hobby he started in 1989 might be his salvation. Over the years, Macken has collected an eclectic hodgepodge of Americana, highlighted by a fascinating assemblage of antique tractors, farm equipment and implements.
That collection, plus an equally boggling array of odds and ends, will be auctioned during a two-day gathering April 12 and 13.
Anybody else might be saddened. Not Macken.
"I'm having just as much fun getting rid of it as I had getting it," says the perpetually optimistic Macken. "I thought it might bother me. But if it clears up my debt, I'll feel great."
He and his extended family - including sons and stepsons Nicholas Macken, Bob Porter, Joe and Frederick Tranhan - have been lining up rows of vintage tractors and equipment on a large field at the home property off Stateline Road near Malin.
Closer to the auction days, a cornucopia of grinders, sausage stuffers, cast iron griddles, chamber pots, hand tools, milk cans, walk-behind plows, glassware, forges, fence stretchers, sickle grinders, cream separators and more will be placed on tables.
A preview and inspection will be offered at the Mackens farm from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on April 11. Collectibles and small engines will be auctioned April 12 beginning at 10 a.m., possibly with two auction teams. Tractors and implements will be up for bid April 13 starting at noon. Two concessionaires will sell food.
"I wanted to have the place cleaned up for a long, long time, but under different circumstances," says Mary Ann. "We had fun while it lasted. That's the big thing, keeping the land. I'd like to see this farm keep growing."
The farm has been part of the family since 1919, when Macken's great-uncle William Nicholas Macken bought the original property. Jerry's father, Nicholas, began working at the farm in 1939, when he moved his young family, including then 3-year-old Jerry, west from Nebraska. Nicholas Macken bought the farm in 1944.
Jerry leased the operation from his father in 1975 and, with his brother, Marvin, took over in 1993. Along with the 100 acres along Stateline Road, Jerry farms another 600 acres with his son, Nicholas.
"Pretty near do anything you can to save it," says Jerry, 67. "I've been on this place 64 years and I've never known prosperous times."
Word of the auction already has potential buyers getting excited. Steve Van Gordon, of team Van Gordon Auctioneers, provided Macken with a list of potential buyers who have called from New York, Washington, Wisconsin, Central California and Ontario, Canada.
Many people have stopped by, especially collectors enticed by the dozens of 1919 to 1950s model tractors. Like the farm implements and other offerings, the tractors reflect a living evolution of farm history.
"We've had viewers ever since we put them out," says Macken. "If they come here, I wouldn't tell anybody they couldn't stop and look around."
Macken is saving a few tractors and implements for himself, but the vast majority of his collection will be sold. While the tractors are expected to draw the most interest, and dollars, there's also a staggering array of implements and machines.
"A lot of these look pretty rough," admits Macken of the rusted, mostly non-operable tractors, balers and other farm equipment. "But they look good to a collector. As one caller told me, if you restore one yourself, you feel like you've got something."
The tractors range from a 1919 Fordson steel wheelers to all ages of Farmall, Allis-Chalmers, Minneapolis Moline, Case, Massey Harris, McCormick Deering, Oliver and John Deere models.
Implements include a 1930s Klamath County road grader plus hay wagons, potato planters, dump rakes, buck rakes, grain binders, buzz saws, moving machines, horse-drawn potato diggers, fertilizer spreaders, manure spreaders, horse-drawn moving machines, threshing machines, poke-and-tie balers and grain cleaners of various vintages.
"Some of it you buy, some of it they give to to you," says Macken of the implements, equipment, tractors and memorabilia he's collected. "You run into stuff. You forget where you got it."
He and Mary Ann hope the sale will them forget their financial woes.
"We all like to gather," says Mary Ann of upcoming auction, "but this is a gathering we really need. We hope lots of people will come."
"It should be a good time," agrees Jerry. "I think we're going to be in pretty decent shape."
Regional Editor Lee Juillerat covers Lake, Siskiyou, Modoc and northern Klamath counties. He can be reached at 885-4421, (800) 275-0982, or by e-mail at lee@heraldandnews.com.
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| Where to find auction |
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