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Nathaniel Minor
Rollag, Minn.

Separating wheat from chaff at the Rollag threshing festival

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Loading wheat
Volunteers use pitchforks to load shocks of dried wheat stalks into a threshing machine.
MPR Photo/Nathaniel Minor

Every Labor Day weekend, thousands of people come to the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion in the tiny northwestern Minnesota town of Rollag. Dozens of sometimes-antique steam engines are shown that were once used to thresh -- to separate grain from the stalk.

Gallery
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Seed
The wheat seed is deposited into a holding bin, where it is then ready to be ground into flour.
MPR Photo/Nathaniel Minor
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Loading wheat
Volunteers use pitchforks to load shocks of dried wheat stalks into a threshing machine.
MPR Photo/Nathaniel Minor
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Steam engine
A volunteer running the steam engine watches dried wheat being loaded into a threshing machine.
MPR Photo/Nathaniel Minor