History: Colby Blacksmith Shop, 1882
Poster:  Helen Vater Blaha
Email:  feasantman@pcpros.net

Source: Colby Phonograph 8/2/1882

In passing N. P. Peterson’s blacksmith and wagon shops last Saturday, our curiosity was roused by seeing N. P. and two of his workmen out back of the shop, each with a brick in one hand and some very soft, wet mud in the other, and our first thought was that the men had struck and N. P. was trying to persuade them to go back to work at former prices. Being a reckless cuss and wishing to know the cause of the fracas, we drew our book and pencil, (we always go armed), and approached cautiously, until reaching an adjoining shed where we could take observations without much danger of going home a corpse. We peeked through a knot hole in the north side and discovered that we had wasted about 450 steps of this short life, in trying to get where we were, and for what? Only to find that there was no fight at all. N. P. had purchased an engine and boiler and the boys were only helping him build the arch. Putting on a bold face, so we wouldn’t look guilty-like, we slid out of a side door and asked Peterson what was up, and he informed us that he intended to put in machinery to do the greater portion of his work that is now done by hand, and will, in the near future, put in the necessary machinery, and run in connection with his other business, a first-class machine shop, an institution much needed in this city. The wagons manufactured by Mr. Peterson are pronounced by all, the best for this country, and the farmers in this and neighboring towns should not forget it. Patronize home trade and be happy.