Back in 2003 when Irene Olson was going through the Greenbush newspapers she found a story that is very fitting for this Greenbush centennial year. We use the article with permission from the Greenbush Tribune. The article is a reprint from the June 25, 1964 issue of the Greenbush Tribune and tells the story of Andrew Solom, who was for a blacksmith for over fifty years. 

There is an old poem which goes, “Under the spreading chestnut tree the village smithy stands.”  It is a poem which has particular significance to Andrew Solom for in May he marked his 50^th active year as a blacksmith in Greenbush.  The days of the clanging anvil and glowing forge had been his life even before that for he started his career at Fox in 1912, the year he married Anna Thyeson.  “I had a little shop on the farm at home and I learned it by myself.” he laughed.  He learned well—for his shop is in operation today and two of his sons have followed the trade he taught them, Arnold and Helmer.

Andrew moved to Greenbush in 1914 (he was born in Roseau in 1891) after the little wagon fixing and horse shoeing he got at Fox proved inadequate.  “I bought an old building which stood where the shoemaker shop is today.” he remembered. “I got a few tools and went to work.” I used to sharpen plow lathes by hand for 35 cents.  I got 50 cents for a shoe for re-setting a horse-shoe and $1 a shoe for putting new shoes on a horse,” he said.  The new shoes had to be forged and fitted by hand to the particular horse.  “Yes I used to get a lot of tough horses….but you had to walk around and talk to them….size ‘em up and not let ‘em get nervous.  Some of ‘em liked to lean on a fellow a little,” he chuckled.  He would trim the hooves, caulk and fit and nail the shoes on.  “Horseshoeing was the best in those days……you could make money at it,” he recalled.

He remembered having to tie some broncos down to shoe them and told of one time a farmer brought in a stallion for shoeing.  “He told me he was gentle and wouldn’t hurt a fly.  The owner tied him up and left.  Well, I got to working on the horse’s front foot and pretty soon he grabbed me by the seat of my pants and threw me….then he tried to get me with his feet.  The owner had tied him too short.  He emphasized the fact he would “never trust a stallion.”  Andrew used to shoe oxen too.  “We hung them up in a sling because they kicked worse than a horse…..there were some pretty bad ones,” He made the split shoes for the oxen.  “I bought the rough shoes from the traveling salesmen…on credit for two-bits!” he shook his head.

While the days of the buggy and wagon are gone, Andrew remembers them well.  “Used to have to put new spokes in the buggy wheels and new rims, I remember we put a bolt between every spoke after we’d set the rims, I use to get a lot of rim setting when it was dry weather because they would dry out and shrink.  Then along about harvest time I had to have three men because everyone came in with their wagons saying ‘going to harvest tomorrow –got to have it right away.”

  Andrew continued by telling the interviewer how he fixed the metal rims on the wooden wagon wheels when they shrunk due to dry weather.  “He would build a big fire outside and toss rims (iron bands) into the fire to get them red hot.  He would cut a little out of the rim, weld it again… and then slap it on the wooden wheel.  “We had to dunk it in the water fast to keep from burning the wheel…it would shrink right down tight and be ready to go.”  Later on, when binders were popular, he had a lot of work during harvest season making canvases and racks for bundle hauling.  He built his own forge; and remembers farmers coming in to get points for their breaking plows.  “I would pick up buggy axles and make points for the big breaker knives.  I made them up to slip over the points and had to make a good weld or the first rock would bump them off.  It is sure different now” he said.

“In winter he did a lot of work on sleighs, ‘I made bolsters, runners, beams and poles and cross-chains, he got the rough runners from the wholesale houses, traveling salesmen like today,’ he confided.

“He laughed aloud when he thought of the first automobiles.  “The blacksmith shop was the only place they could take them to get the axles straightened and the fenders fixed.”  “A fellow had to have too many tools and the things changed too often,” he remarked

“Perhaps the toughest time was during WWII.  “No one could buy what they wanted. so I had a lot of hard repairs to make.  I worked on autos and everything else to keep them going.”  It was tough during the depression too when he had to give credit and “hope” he could collect.  He kept building his shop once things became available again, and making parts and repairs.   “I remember the little boys who came in with their dads and hung around the shop while I worked.” (referring to one of the customers he had that day he said) “like Kjos up here….I used to work for him in the buggy days…then I fixed things for his son---and now it’s HIS son who comes in. “A lot of times I think of the old days….there aren’t many of the old customers left,” he said ruefully.  “But it’s been a pretty good life. Tough, but I think I’d do the same thing again…I had a big family and I figured I wouldn’t be better off any place else…so here I am.” 

Andrew’s wife died in 1959, Andrew passed away in 1965. 

Very few farmers remember the days of the wooden wheels. Change has made life easier for the farmer and now the only black smiths are the ones who do it as a hobby. For those who have not been involved in farming, a trip to the Pioneer Farm may be in order.