ENTERPRISE — Erl McLaughlin is calling 2024 his 30th anniversary of showing antique farm and other equipment at Sunrise Iron LLC, although he’s not exactly sure when he started collecting the pieces.

“It was sometime in the early ‘80s,” he said.

In 2022, he expanded his main show room so he now has an area of 40 feet by 300 feet that’s crammed full of antiques — thousands — and they’re nearly all in prime show condition.

And you can tour the collection, at 65708 Sunrise Road, on Saturday, Aug. 3, 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. during the annual Sunrise Iron Antique Tractor Show.

A collector

McLaughlin has everything from tractors to steam engines to wooden washing machines and butter churns, treadle sewing machines and cash registers from 1900 or earlier.

“I’ve got some household items that I’m not sure what they are, but I find them interesting,” he said.

Recently, he’s started a collection of one-cylinder motors, some of which are in running condition, that can be used in water pumps, on a drag saw, a feed grinder or a milking machine.

“Basically, anything you could hook it up to,” he said.

The largest one-cylinder motor he has is a 6-horsepower motor used for a feed grinder or saw mill.

One of the largest items on display is a steam traction engine from about 1913 once used to farm or operate a saw mill. Its 30-inch-base wheels are 6 feet in diameter and are driven by a 40-horsepower steam engine.

“Those are real horsepower,” he said.

As it’s one of the largest items in the museum, he said his family insisted he get it cleaned up and repaired — so he did.

As a result, he said, ”It is a real honor for me to have it at Sunrise Iron.”

McLaughlin, a long-time farmer who raised wheat, barley, peas, canola and hay, said he started collecting and refurbishing the antique equipment because winter left him with little else to do.

“Winters are long and if you’re not done farming by first of November, it’s frozen up and there’s not much to do,” he said. “So you’ve got time to do something.”

Originally from Colorado, where he did raise some livestock, he only raised crops in Oregon.

“I’ve spent about 50 years trying to teach myself how to farm,” he said.

He took to spending the off months — after he prepared for the next season — refurbishing and restoring antique equipment.

He’s now retired from active farming, though he does lease his farmland to others to work and he works with his renters “so they can see their way to continue.”

McLaughlin welcomes an estimated 700 to 800 people a year for tours through his museum — at no charge, though donations are accepted for future projects. He welcomes visitors virtually any time — just call ahead to arrange an appointment.

“They’re pretty impressed,” he said of visitors’ reactions to the museum.

The most valuable donations he gets are when visitors tell him of antiques they’ve found and just hauled off to a corner of their property to be neglected. When possible — if he finds the antique interesting — he’ll buy it.

“So I … clean it up and paint it and get it to run,” he said. “I don’t rebuild things to new specs, but I get it to move.”

McLaughlin enjoys interacting with the visitors to his museum and is eager to hear their comments.

“I don’t like to charge people because then you never get to meet people and they might know more about the things than I do,” he said.

But the retired farmer is quite proud of what he’s built here.

“It’s kind of a unique thing that I’ve got going here,” McLaughlin said.

In addition to the Aug. 3 event, McLaughlin welcomes visitors by appointment — call 541-263-0755.