Northwest Thresher Manufacturing Company

Written by R. Molenda

Here lies a great mixture of post-Civil War adventure and intrigue, right here in river city, Stillwater, Minnesota.  The story of Northwest Thresher Manufacturing Company includes a great offering of products, employment of as many as 1,600 men, the use of convict labor within and outside the prison confines, contracts with the territorial prison, building of huge manufacturing facilities, engine shops, woodworking shops, machine shops, foundries, politics, railroad shipping inside and outside the USA and of course, competition. 

In the 1860’s, George Seymour organized a prison-labor based cooperage at the north end of Main Street near the Territorial Prison.  Dwight Sabin joined Seymour later.  Much of the technology in Seymour, Sabin & Company had to do with steam-powered tractors that were later built right across the street from the Territorial Prison.  Prison labor gave the enterprise a competitive edge and kept idle hands from becoming the devil’s playmate at the Territorial Prison.  After the arrival of railroads, in the mid-1870’s Seymour, Sabin and Company were shipping threshers to western Minnesota.  During this time period, Mr. Sabin served as a Minnesota legislator as both a senator and a representative.  In 1883, he served as a US Senator.  George Seymour served as a councilman and mayor of Stillwater and was elected as a representative to the Minnesota House in 1889. 

In 1882, Sabin organized the Northwestern Manufacturing and Car Company, which was the largest corporation in Minnesota at the time.  Northwestern manufactured sashes, doors, barrels and other millwork.  They also manufactured railroad cars,steam powered threshers and farm implements that were of very good quality and demand.  The wheels on these threshers were steel and were the origin of the foundries near the Territorial Prison.  Prison labor and civilian labor were used together in this setting.   You can imagine what went on in the minds of product designers, manufacturing engineers and civilian laborers as they worked next to the best criminals in the prison, vetted by the warden.  George Seymour and Dwight Sabin must have been visionaries and talented enough to connect the prison, city, state, business and organization to create the largest corporation in Minnesota.

The business became the Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Company and the steam tractors were well-known in Canada and Mexico as late as 1902.   There were several different tractor models offered and they were regarded as very safe machines to operate.  The safety of operation had to do with how the level or water protected the boiler from failure when the tractor moved uphill or downhill.   

The days of steam tractors were numbered in the early 1900’s and Northwest Thresher was planning on offering a gasoline-powered product.  The Minnesota Thresher Manufacturing Company became Northwest Thresher Company in 1901, bought Universal Tractor Company also of Stillwater in 1911, then all entities were sold to M. Rumely Company of La Porte in 1912.  The new owners wanted to increase the manufacturing capabilities and make it more profitable by selling products in Canada.  Several hundred gasoline powered tractors were made at this time for the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Company.  The Stillwater operations were shut down one year later.  There are still some Minnesota Giant steam powered tractors that show up at regional Steam Threshing shows, but the industry that brought them to life left Stillwater in 1913.

Little, if anything remains of this huge enterprise that started on the north end of Main Street in Stillwater. 

 

References:

 

Brent Peterson; Stillwater Gazette, April, 2015

Northwest Thresher

http://stillwatergazette.com/2015/04/17/back-in-time-northwest-thresher-company/

 

Stillwater Gazette, World’s Fair Edition, August 22, 1904

Washington County Historical Society

 

Intensive National Registry Survey of Downtown Stillwater, MN; August, 1989, Final Report; Norene Roberts, Ph.D., Principal Investigator assisted by Rhonda Evenson, Historical Research, Inc.

 

Historical Reconstruction of Riverfront, July, 1985, US Army Corps of Engineers,

Norene Roberts, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, Historical Research, Inc.; John A. Fried, Associated Architects and Engineers, Inc; for US Army Corps of Engineers, St. Paul District, Contract DACW37-84-M/459; July, 1985

 

Farm Collector, Article by Bill Vossler , Built with Minnesota Prison Labor, May, 2010

http://www.farmcollector.com/company-history/northwest-thresher-company-began-with-minnesota-prison-labor

 

Farm Collector, May/June 1998, Larry G. Creed, New Giant Traction Engine and Field Crew.

http://www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/northwest-thresher?slideshow=1

 

 

Farm Collector, Heritage of a Farm Machinery Company, Bill Vossler, September, 2005

http://www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/heritage-of-a-farm-machinery-company

 

 

Farm Collector, Article on Products, Company, Bill Vossler, November 2005, part of a Two Part Article, includes photos, products and story.

http://www.farmcollector.com/steam-traction/north-by-northwest-part-ii?slideshow=6

 

Biographical information on Dwight Sabin, US Senator and Businessman, Biographical Information of the US Congress

http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=s000003

 

FREE Apps 〰️

FREE Apps 〰️

 

All of the Images Below Are Links to Seven Different FREE APPS. These APPS will work for any computer or mobile smart device. They will work from your armchair anywhere. The best experience is when you are in Stillwater, nearby these historic locations. Your smart device then will know where you are and every time you enter a new historic location, it will provide photos, text or audio information related to the location. Just click on the TOUR of your choice and learn about the early days of Stillwater, Minnesota

  

 
Main Street TourApp for All Mobile DevicesThis features 15 active sites and triggers a visual cue when a new geo fence is entered.

Main Street Tour

App for All Mobile Devices

This features 15 active sites and triggers a visual cue when a new geo fence is entered.

Downtown Guided TourApp for All Mobile Devices.This features a quick guided tour of downtown Stillwater MN. It triggers a visual cue when a new geo fence is entered.

Downtown Guided Tour

App for All Mobile Devices.

This features a quick guided tour of downtown Stillwater MN. It triggers a visual cue when a new geo fence is entered.

Main Street TourApp is ONLY for APPLE iOS Devices.It features 19 active sites and triggers an audio as well as a visual cue when a new geo fence is entered

Main Street Tour

App is ONLY for APPLE iOS Devices.

It features 19 active sites and triggers an audio as well as a visual cue when a new geo fence is entered

 
 
 
 
This APP is for all Mobile DevicesTake a tour of Stillwater as it was when it was serviced by the early Streetcars. Use the map of the Stillwater Streetcars that ran between Stillwater and Bayport. There are stories about the streetcars, the fares and the people who used them. Walk, pedal or ride as a passenger in a car and enjoy what it was like in the early 1900’s to ride on a streetcar. This APP can provide a Virtual Reality Tour from your armchair anywhere in the world. The APP works best when you are actually in the city of Stillwater when you use your mobile device to sense your location and provide photos, text and sounds of the Stillwater Streetcars of what that same location was like in the early days of the streetcars.

This APP can be used on any mobile device.

Take a tour of Stillwater as it was when it was serviced by the early Streetcars. Use the map of the Stillwater Streetcars that ran between Stillwater and Bayport. There are stories about the streetcars, the fares and the people who used them. Walk, pedal or ride as a passenger in a car and enjoy what it was like in the early 1900’s to ride on a streetcar. This APP can provide a Virtual Reality Tour from your armchair anywhere in the world. The APP works best when you are actually in the city of Stillwater when you use your mobile device to sense your location and provide photos, text and sounds of the Stillwater Streetcars of what that same location was like in the early days of the streetcars.

 
Stillwater Interurban Streetcar to Wildwood This APP is for all mobile devicesTake a tour of the places where the Stillwater Interurban Streetcar crossed as it came and went to Wildwood Amusement Park. View the path of the early tracks and hear about Elliott Crossing and the family that lived along the streetcar tracks. Listen to and read about the “News Flashes” sourced from the newspapers that described the progress and problems of building the streetcar line in 1899. Learn about how these powerful Interurban Streetcars crossed busy railroad tracks between Stillwater and Mahtomedi. This APP can provide a “Virtual Reality” tour from your armchair anywhere in the world. The APP provides the best experience when you are nearby any of these locations. Your mobile device knows your location and when it senses your nearness to any of the historic locations, it provides you with historical images, text and audio that are relevant to that location.

Stillwater Interurban Streetcar to Wildwood

This APP can be used on any mobile device.

Take a tour of the places where the Stillwater Interurban Streetcar crossed as it came and went to Wildwood Amusement Park. View the path of the early tracks and hear about Elliott Crossing and the family that lived along the streetcar tracks. Listen to and read about the “News Flashes” sourced from the newspapers that described the progress and problems of building the streetcar line in 1899. Learn about how these powerful Interurban Streetcars crossed busy railroad tracks between Stillwater and Mahtomedi. This APP can provide a “Virtual Reality” tour from your armchair anywhere in the world. The APP provides the best experience when you are nearby any of these locations. Your mobile device knows your location and when it senses your nearness to any of the historic locations, it provides you with historical images, text and audio that are relevant to that location.

 

FREE APP History on The Loop Trail

This APP can be used on any mobile device. Enjoy and Learn about the History of Locations near the St.Croix Crossing Loop Trail. Figure out how many sawmills were here and explore the difference between Mr. Hersey and Mr. Hershey. The APP provides a good map and a “Virtual Reality Tour” of these important locations along the trail in Wisconsin and Minnesota. The best Experience is to be nearby any of these locations and have your mobile device sense your location. Your mobile device will then tell you about what it was like in the early years at the same location. It will show you historical photographs, text and audio about the nearby historical or fun location.

 
 

Free APP Fire Run Tour of Stillwater

 

This APP can be used on any mobile device. Have you ever wanted to be a Firefighter? The Year 2022 is the 150th Anniversary of the Stillwater Fire Department. This tour takes you to all of the Fire Stations in Stillwater and some historic fires that were part of the historic past of Stillwater, Minnesota. There are sounds of the past that will let you know when you have arrived at one of the active locations. There are linked videos and stories of how important horses were to the early firefighters.

 
 

Click on the Image above to Go to The Stillwater Riverfront Boat Tour. This tour features the photographs of Frederick Holcombe taken in the time period of 1895-1900. The photos were taken with glass plate negatives that gave the images high resolution so that you can see the background of his original images in considerable detail. The Tour path is taken from a boat path up the center of the St. Croix River. The tour shows what the riverfront looked like in 1895-1900 as seen from the lens of Frederick Holcomb’s camera. The tour takes you from the south of Stillwater to the Stillwater Boom Site.

 
 

Click on the image above to go to the Stillwater Land-based Tour of the Riverfront. This tour features the photographs of Frederick Holcombe, who was a photographer in 1895-1900. His photo was taken on a coated Glass Plate that provided a high resolution image. This allowed the background in his photograph to provide another story about the riverfront of Stillwater at that time. The tour will take you from the south of Stillwater (Oak Park Heights) to the St. Croix Boomsite and some of the scenes you might have seen along the way. It represents some of the very few images we have of the Stillwater waterfront at that time.