Mining, Tractors, One-Lungers And More

Machines are more than cold iron and moving parts. They are artifacts that hold stories of ingenuity and farms, mines, icehouses, blacksmiths, agricultural work, road construction.

To keep them in working order and extract the tales of what they did and why this is so important to humans is held safe by dedicated members of the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association in Kent.

See for yourself at the Connecticut Antique Machinery Association (CAMA) Spring Power-Up and Open House on Saturday, May 1, rain or shine. This is an event for the whole family (or for dedicated engineers and collectors) with literally acres of exhibits (inside and out), food and plenty of parking.

The Diebold Agricultural Hall barn houses antique farm tractors, large farm field implements, and agricultural memorabilia of all types – with a new small engine display in progress.

The organization started out as a bunch of engine collectors, and they used to meet at private homes, according to John Pawloski, CAMA’s president. “Then we said, why not start a museum?”

Why not, indeed. Today, CAMA has amassed an extensive collection of steam and internal combustion engines, tractors, all stored under period-type structures. The non-profit is run by all volunteers (no paid staff) and also includes the historic Cream Hill Agricultural School (one of the earliest schools dedicated to teaching scientific agriculture in the U.S.) and the Connecticut Museum of Mining and Mineral Science.

“We now have 11 buildings and an operating railroad,” said Pawloski, who at 67 has a passion for sharing history, geology and minerals of Connecticut that is evident even in a telephone interview. The mining museum is composed mainly of his own lifelong minerals collection and related earth-moving equipment.

“Connecticut is the cradle of the mining industry,” he said. “Mining started with John Winthrop Jr. (in the 1600s) who eventually became governor. He started a lead mine, a cobalt mine, the first graphite mine, just to name a few accomplishments. He was quite an entrepreneur.”

The state has many firsts in mining – copper, tungsten, bismuth, even marble. Pegmatite mines are a whole chapter of valuable minerals and gemstones.

Pawloski contacted CAMA more than 12 years ago, joined the group, and the initial concept of a mining museum grew into reality. Over the years it has become a living history lesson for school groups and visitors.

“Now we’re planning another wing to use as a classroom,” he said. His collection is preserved and the stories and history will be passed to a new generation.

Actually, the weekend event, machines collected and CAMA itself is a labor of love and desire to preserve a rich heritage of ingenuity. The site is adjacent to the Sloane-Stanley Museum in Kent (that’s another story); the CAMA Fall Festival alone draws up to 8,000 people to Litchfield County.

And things find their way to the collections. (Even a steam-powered motorcycle.) “People collect things then want to find a way to preserve them.”

“The Wolverine Diesel used to power an ammonia compressor for an ice house in Naugatuck,” he points out as one example. “The ammonia was used then as a coolant. Some of these machines are from private collections – such as the oilfield engines. Or the Baldwin #5 (a 1925 Hawaii Railway Co. steam locomotive) that was used in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid Early Years movie. That is on loan to us from private individual in California.”

Admission is $5; $2, 12 to 6 year olds, and free for 5 and younger. For details and directions see www.ctamachinery.com; call (860) 927-0050; Jim Daly, show chairman, (860) 354-1859, or John Pawloski, CAMA’s president, (860) 354-0296. Open to the public Wednesday through Sunday, May to October, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., or by appointment.

Also on the weekend, May 1 and May 2 is the Zagray Farm Spring Swap Meet and Gas Up at Zagray Farm in Colchester (Route 85, 2 miles north of the town green). The Zagray Farm Museum is operated and maintained by the Quinebaug Valley Engineers Association (QVEA) and is a New England museum of working farm machinery.

Sunday, May 2, Granite State Gas & Engine Show (Dunstable Show), Route 113, one mile west of Route 3, Dunstable, Mass.