NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/1028906
ebraska farmers used to pick corn by hand after a fall frost when the corn was ripe and dry enough. Even in territorial days, devices were on the market to lighten the labor and reduce the discomfort of cracked and bleeding hands. Probably the first device in general use in Nebraska was the husking peg. This originally was a small, round piece of hardwood, about six inches in length and sharpened at one end. It was held in the hollow of the right hand, and a loop of buckskin or soft leather was attached to the peg and passed over the middle finger to hold it in place. The sharpened end of the peg was thrust through the husks at the tip end of the ear, enabling the operator to husk the ear quickly and easily. The next great development, at least in Nebraska, was the invention in the early 1890s of the corn husker by William F. Lillie (1852-1921) of Rockford in Gage County. Lillie originally developed the device to help his father-in-law, who had lost his right thumb, to husk corn. It worked so well that the inventor decided to apply for a patent and put it on the market. Worn on the right hand, the point was used to penetrate the husk top, making it easier to remove the complete husk. A leather pad protected the palm of the user's hand. The Prairie Farmer said on Oct. 24, 1896: "The Lillie Corn husker has been in successful use for the past three years and wherever it has been introduced, it has effectually supplanted every other kind of corn husker where husking is done by hand." Buffalo County historian Samuel Bassett noted that Lillie perfected his device "after much thought, labor and expense. A poor man, he attempted to manufacture them and create a market under great difficulties. He succeeded in every way except financially. A grateful posterity will see that he is given the credit he deserves." According to historian James C. Olson, the Lillie corn husker was still being used in Nebraska as late as the 1920s. That was the decade when mechanical corn harvesters began coming into general use. It was this machine that transformed the whole process of picking corn, making Lillie's device obsolete. ■ k cor or or or or or or or or or or orn n n n n en n ugh gh gh gh gh gh gh gh gh. we we we we we were re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re re duc uc uc uc uc uc uc uce th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th th t e braska ka ka ka ka ka ka was as as as as as as as as as as as as as as as ece W. F. Lillie demonstrating the use of his corn husker. History Nebraska RG2411-3234 A Lillie corn husker in the Nebraska History Museum collections. History Nebraska 1581-1 A Brief History What It Really Means to Be a Cornhusker By Patricia C. Gaster, History Nebraska (Nebraska State Historical Society) N Harvesting with a McCormick-Deering 15-30 tractor (manufactured 1923-29) and a one-row corn picker. Ads claimed the picker "increases your husking capacity six to ten times" over manual husking. History Nebraska RG3358-12s 10 NEBRASKAland • OCTOBER 2018