Carole St-Aubin
Bryson Nov 24, 2021
Bryson resident Oscar Tourangeau was born and raised on a farm. In 1970 he purchased his ancestral farm in Litchfield.
Tourangeau, originally from Calumet Island, worked at the . . .
pulp and paper mill Consolidated Bathurst in Portage-du-Fort for 28 years. He retired in 2017, just a year before the mill’s closure.
Tourangeau always had an interest in old farm equipment, especially those that were abandoned in farmers’ fields. He began purchasing them and collecting these pieces of equipment more than 12 years ago.
“I stored them in my sheds because I thought it would be a good hobby for me to pass the time when I retired,” said Tourangeau.
When he saw a potato digger abandoned in a Bristol farmer’s field he knew he had to have it, so he purchased it for a good deal, according to Tourangeau.
He then gave it new life after repairing the seized parts and replacing the drive chain.
“It took me about six months to repair it,” said Tourangeau.
“I attached it to my tractor and the hydraulics [system] of the tractor lowers the plow area at the front of the digger. It digs into the ground deep enough to force the potatoes out and they fall on the chains. The dirt falls through the chain and the potatoes are left lying on top of the row,” Tourangeau explained.
The digger used to be pulled by up to three horses, according to Tourangeau, because it pulled pretty hard as it dug into the ground.
Typically if a farmer owned a potato digger, he would go around to other farms and dig up the potatoes for his fellow homesteaders, according to Tourangeau who said this antiquated piece of equipment was used for many years before it was abandoned when tractors became a popular farming tool.
Part of his collection of old farm equipment and tools that are displayed in his garage, which he built a year prior to retiring.
“This was the best thing I ever built. I built it just a year before I retired,” said Tourangeau who enjoys going out to tinker in his garage for hours and hours.
Tourangeau, who lost his wife of 45 years in 2015 said she would often go out to the garage and spend time there with him. Together the couple have a daughter and two sons.
When asked if any of his children enjoyed fixing and repairing things he answered, “no, it just wasn’t in them.”
Among the 76-year-old’s collected artifacts are an old ice cream maker, a 1889 butter churn that he refurbished, cross-cut saws, old cart wheels and a hay bale hoist that he proudly displays in his garage.
Tourangeau also pointed out the refurbished wagon out on his front lawn, saying that he had to go visit the Mennonites in the Renfrew area to have some wooden pieces made for it.
Then as he spoke of the bright red sleigh he restored and painted, his face lit up with youthful exuberance when he explained how he enjoys decorating it with reindeer, wrapped presents in the back seat and a figure of Santa that he rigged with a small motor to make him wave at passing motorists.
