SCHWARZE THRESHING

This wonderful vision of long ago was framed and hung in home of Ed Schwarze.  His daughter, Lucille, inherited it and contributed this copy.  Using special cameras and film, photographers began taking panoramic photos in the 1850's and this technique reached its greatest popularity in the early 1900's.  These panoramas present towns, cities, universities, sporting events, disasters, modes of transportation, celebrations, the military, businesses such as this one.   These prints normally have a natural curvature to them caused from the movement of the camera.  It took a considerable amount of time for such a view to be "panned" by the camera and sometimes individuals would be captured on film on one edge of the picture, run around to the other end and be photographed again.  In this way, the same person was often pictured twice on the same photo!

Owner, Edwin Schwarze, can be seen standing on his 1910 Garr-Scott tractor to the far left. Since the engine burned either coal or wood, it was important to operate it a safe distance from the dry grain. The canvas belt which connected it to the separator weighed nearly 300 pounds. This early panoramic photo exaggerates the actual distance and also give an unrealistic curvature to the barn roof. The Model T Ford in the center of the picture was built in 1915 and the superb condition of its Firestone Tires and retractable top suggests it was less than a year old. The farm was located in the heart of Clark County, Wisconsin, at the intersection of county roads O and N, in Warner Township.