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The Arrival of Machines

Several men and a small boy are using a threshing machine to harvest grain. A large pile of straw is on each side of the threshing machine. There is a large pile of bagged grain near the threshing machine.

Lumby Logger Collection

In Lumby’s pioneer years, almost everyone was involved in farming.  Even as late as 1900, farmers worked the land by hand with help from farm workers, horses, oxen and even mules.  Things were about to change with the arrival of steam, gasoline and diesel powered machines.   

Farm workers were no long needed.  What happened to them?  Many moved into town and found work building roads, logging or trucking.  A few started businesses and the town grew.  When World War 1 broke out in 1914, men looking for adventure enlisted in the army.