SPECIAL FAIR & RODEO SECTION
EIGHT The Gazette-Times, Heppner, Ore., Thursday, August 18, 1977
A collector of heritage
Harold Peck is at it again
It's easy to get lost in Harold
Peck's workshop. Not that the
converted barn at his Upper
Rhea Creek farm is all that
big, it's just that it's filled with
so many nostalgia items and
bits of history, it tends to
make the mind wander.
You wind your way through
the workshop, skirting a wood
lathe here and a Model T
fender there, and look up at
the walls andihelves. They're
covered with spurs and bits
and harnesses, calf weaners
and hoof nippers, buggy parts,
"T" parts and "A" parts,
railroad lanterns and hurri
cane lamps, tongs and hinges
fashioned from hammered out
horseshoes. A McCormack
reaper lies outside waiting for
a few more spare parts and a
hand-crank clothes washer
sits waiting for the next load.
Harold Peck is a collector of
heritage. He not only collects,
he also restores and revital
izesturning worn out dis
cards into showcase pieces.
.His attention is particularly
drawn to those irreplaceable
machines and implements
used by the early settlers and
if he hears something is
available, he'll do some
traveling to get it.
"I find things all over the
place, especially at antique
and farm sales," Peck says as
he dismantles his latest find
an antique steam cooker he
found at a yard sale in
Lexington.
"The parts were scattered
all over the barn but I finally
came up with everything," he
said.
Coming up with the unusual
is nothing new for Peck. He's
been pleasing the crowds at
the Morrow County Fair for
years with his antiques and
oddities. And he's picked up
more than a few blue ribbons
along the way.
Peck will be back at the
Collectors' Corner this year
with several "new" items
including a hand-powered
cement mixer which he says
poured "half the original city
of Arlington". Also featured
will be a hand-powered corn
sheller, one-horse cultivator,
feed grinder, corn planter,
wooden hay fork and a hay
cradle. Each is in working
order and looks like it came
right out of the mail order
catalog down at the general
store.
Not limiting himself to the
elbow grease era, Peck also
has a few prizes from the
early motorized years. In fact,
it was a couple of vintage
motor cars , that got him
started in the collection bus
iness. "I heard there was a 1907
International and a 1906 Sears
and Roebuck autobuggy at a
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sale in Three Rivers," Peck
recalled. "I went up there, not
expecting to buy anything,
and ended up bringing back
both cars. I've been collecting
ever since."
The Sears and Roebuck car
sits in another of Peck's
storage barns and still turns
over smooth as a sewing
machine on the second crank.
The International chauffeured
the Morrow County Fair and
Rodeo Court at this year's
coronation. One of the two will
make an appearance at the
upcoming Fair parade, Satur
day, Aug. 27.
Although Peck enjoys his
hobby of finding and restoring
the old items, he says people
should be able to catch a
glimpse of their past more
often than the annual exhibits
at Fair time. With his own
storage areas filling up, he is
looking for support from the
Morrow County community in
the establishment of a histor
ical machinery museum.
Space is already at a
premium at the present
County Museum and Peck
feels it will require another
structure to accommodate the
tools and machinery. He is
now looking into the possibil
ities and is open to sugges
tions. Harold Peck is one man who
doesn't want to see one of the
most vivid links to our past
wither under a layer of rust
and neglect. One look at his
Collector's Corner entries will
tell you that he's doing
something about it.
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Wilis
Then enjoy the
fine facilities of
your lodge
FRIDAY & SATURDAY
Jim Adilev
GROUP
HEPPNER
C.P.O.E. Ho. 358
Tour files lodge'
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