“One must see it to believe it” is a well-used saying, but it surely applies to the immense antique-tool collection that Big Valley’s Rod Miller has accumulated.
The collection of more than 10,000 pieces, with no two alike, has been donated by Miller, 81, to the Big Valley Historical Society for inclusion in the new museum the society plans to build.
Currently, some of the Miller collection is on display in the Railcar Museum, located near the Big Valley train station. This is just the tip of the iceberg — a mere fraction of the entire collection. Miller’s triple-car garage is brimming with the remainder, all cleaned and polished to immaculate condition.
Miller and his wife, Ione, arrived in Big Valley 11 years ago from Abbotsford, B.C. According to Rod, it was the reasonable price of serviced lots that attracted the Millers to the village, where they built a home and large garage.
Miller, a former heavy-duty mechanic and welder, has been collecting for 27 years. He says he acquired items from auction sales, swap meets, private purchases, garage sales and collector shows from Vancouver Island to Manitoba.
“Very few things were given to me,” he said of his collection.
In addition to the tools, the collection also includes gadgets and equipment found on early western Canadian farms. Grist mills, grinders, rope makers, corn planters, ice saws, cherry pitters and livestock equipment are just a small sample of the antique collectables he has gathered.
Miller has extensive knowledge on each piece of his collection.
“Everything that people think is new, was invented long ago,” said Miller of his many tools that are early versions of more modern pieces.
Growing up on a farm at Yorkton, Sask. Gave him first-hand knowledge of some of the early farm tools.
A family heirloom — a parlour heater that has been in the family for generations — along with a valuable nickel-plated parlour heater, have also been donated to the museum.
With Ione now in long-term care, her porcelain doll collection has also found its way to the museum.
Larger items donated by the Millers are a 1924 Model T truck, with a cab built mostly of wood, a 105-year-old Monitor 6 HP gas engine and a Model T tractor which was converted from a Model T car using a jobber’s kit.
Perhaps Rod’s pride and joy is his own creation, the Tubmobile, which he built in the early 1990s. Comprised of an antique bathtub on wheels powered by a sawed-in-half Model T engine, the Tubmobile has seen many parades and is often on display when the Alberta Prairie tourist train arrives in town. The Tubmobile, too, will find a home at the Big Valley museum.
Rod is an active volunteer and vice-president of the Big Valley Historical Society. When the tourist trains arrive in town four days a week during the summer months, Rod can be found tirelessly volunteering at the Railcar Museum, greeting guests and answering questions on the antiques on display.
The collection is clearly a passion of Rod’s, and once Big Valley’s new museum is completed, it will be enjoyed by the public as well.
The Millers’ legacy will be preserved for future generations, enabling them to have a hands on experience with tools and equipment their forefathers once used in everyday life.