This card was made to illustrate the terrible locust invasions of Nicollet and other counties in the 1870s. This card specifically mentions St. Peter and Nicollet County, and is dated June 22, 1877.
Five men have been busy loading a straw bundle wagon and are taking a break. The straw bundles will be later threshed in a threshing machine. The men are sitting on and around the large steam engine. One man is sitting on the large wheel used by the belt to power the threshing machine.
The John Kangas log house shown here was built by Hanse Annala about 1898. There are a rake and several scythes hanging on the wall, with a washtub used for doing laundry on the far left of the photo. Originally the house had a birch bark roof. It was donated to the Finnish American Memorial Foundation of Esko - now the Esko Historical Society - and land was obtained for its current placement as a building of the museum in 1965. The back of the postcard has handwriting saying, "built by Hansi Annala John Kangas home about 1898 Birch Bark Roof."
A team of three horses is pulling a binder to cut the grain and puts it in individual bundles. A man is riding the open binder The second man is gathering the bundles and placing them in shocks to be later thrashed.
Postcard depicting the Minnesota State Fair's Newspaper Building at night. Portions of the building are tinted pink and blue to highlight its lights. Reverse has a message written in Dutch, which was sent to "Miss H. v. d. Molen" in Bussum, Netherlands.
This postcard shows a team of horses hauling loose hay, two men on top pitching the hay, and a woman watching them. The card has written on it in the lower left, "In the Good Old Summer time." The back of the postcard shows that it is number 492 of a series entitled, "Vacation Series Postcards." It was sent to Mrs. A.L. Winterquist from Minneapolis, Minnesota.
A view of the Sylvan Border Farm in Underwood. A barn, windmill and house are in the background surrounded by trees; and a harvested field covered in snow is in the foreground.