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Second Generation
6.
Mina MOGEN was born on Jul 16, 1888 in Marietta, Lac Qui
Parle County, MN. She died on Mar 8, 1976 in Regina, Saskatchewan,
Canada. She was buried in Regina Memorial Gardens, Regina, Sask..
Mina was a school teacher in Blooming Valley. Helmer grew up in Blooming Valley
also, but emigrated with his family to Canada in 1903. This was two years before
Saskatchewan was formed. Helmer returned to South Dakota ten years later to
marry Mina at the Mogen home with Julia and Gilbert Mogen as witnesses.
Helmer and Mina spent their lives farming on the Saskatchewan plains. Mina
MOGEN and Helmer Hartman HANSON were married on Jun 16, 1913 in Mogen family
home, Ortley, SD.
Helmer Hartman
HANSON was born on Jul 11, 1883 in Sioux Rapids, Buena Vista County, Iowa.
He died on May 9, 1968 in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Helmer was
a farmer and inventor. He, along with his brother Ellert brought in the era
of swath threshing to Saskatchewan. Their formal education was brief, part of
four school years for Ellert, and three winters for Helmer. However, they made
good use of their reading skills and kept ahead of the average farmer on farm
machinery developments.
The Hansons got into the farm machinery modification business at an early age.
Helmer was the family blacksmith at the age of 15. The Hansons' father homesteaded
in South Dakota near where August Hovland did his first experiments with swath
thrashing in 1909-10. This gave the Hansons an idea that led to a major revolution
in grain harvesting.
The Hanson family emigrated to Canada in 1903. Helmer told the family later
that when he crossed the border into Canada, he had $14.12 (US) in his pocket.
The Hansons were committed to change. When they bought land in the Lajord
district, they commenced together and separately to improve available machinery
to make farming less costly, easier and more efficient.
Ellert Hanson was intrigued by the silent power of steam and, from 1908, held
an engineer's certificate to operate steam boilers and engines.
Ellert believed tractor power would replace horse power and by 1919 he had sold
his horses. In 1921 he had made a 30-run seed drill out of two 20-run drills
to have an implement large enough for his tractor. He also extended the rack
of a Jackson stook loader to enable horseless stook gathering.
In 1921, Helmer made a 21-foot disc harrow that was adapted for commercial use
by the International Harvester Company. The brothers also produced a fold up
hang up harrow draw bar, wheels on combine pickups, use of hydraulics to control
swather tables, on-the-go combine concave adjustment and a levelling auger on
combine hoppers.
But their crowning achievement was the first successful introduction of swathing
and swath threshing in 1926. Laying a swath on stubble was regarded as folly
by stook-minded farmers but the Hansons made it work. Their success brought
a number of farm machinery company representatives to their farm and two years
later Case, John Deere and IHC had commercial versions of the Hanson swathers
on the market.
Neither of the Hansons were interested in patenting their findings and they made
them freely available to companies such as IHC, Case, John Deere and co-operative
Implements.
The brothers were original members of the Saskatchewan Wheat Pool. Helmer was
the first Pool delegate from his sub-district in 1924, helped organize the Riceton
Co-operative and was one of the founding fathers of the co-operative Refinery
in Regina. Helmer was a reeve (councilman) of the Rural Municipality of Lajord
No. 128 from 1913-16.
Source: Saskatchewan Agricultural Hall of Fame, 1993
Mina MOGEN and Helmer Hartman HANSON had the following children:
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