The 1927 Seagrave is approaching its centennial. Photo provided by Tod Carlini
The last time the 1927 Seagrave fire pumper was before Douglas County commissioners, the decision resulted in a legal battle between two Carson Valley fire departments over where it should spend its golden years.
Last week, without comment or controversy, Douglas County commissioners transferred ownership of the pumper they purchased nearly a century before to the East Fork Fire Protection District.
The Seagrave was likely the first fire apparatus in Carson Valley that wasn’t pulled by a horse.
Its predecessor, the Rumsey & Co. engine was towed by horses and operated by a score of people.
It had been in service in Douglas County since 1899 and sparked the formation of a volunteer fire company. When the Great Genoa Fire broke out June 28, 1910, the Rumsey engine went through two teams of horses to respond from Gardnerville, where it was kept.
So, it was front page news when county commissioners agreed to purchase a motorized engine in October 1926.
Fire engine manufacturers Seagrave and LaFrance had representatives in the room in February 1927, when commissioners voted 2-1 to go with Seagrave, represented by Hellberg. LaFrance would get its chance a decade later when another engine was purchased, which saw the county sell the old horse-drawn engine to a collector in 1936 to help subsidize the cost.
The LaFrance is still in use by the Town of Minden for parades and other special events.
The Seagrave was transferred to the Genoa Volunteer Fire Department in 1948, according to R-C Editor Steve Falcone writing in 1979.
Falcone said the engine was on loan to the Genoa volunteers who used it to fight fires and occasionally cart children around town during special events, like Candy Dance.
When Genoa received a new engine and it was time for the Seagrave to retire, commissioners voted to transfer the truck to the Douglas County Engine Co., in Minden.
True to form, the Genoans didn’t surrender the engine willingly and hired Jack Sheehan to plead their case before Judge Howard McKibben, who agreed with District Attorney Mike Rowe that it was the county’s fire engine, and commissioners could decide where it would go.
The engine made its last Genoa run as part of Candy Dance on Oct. 6, 1979, before being transferred to Minden, according to R-C writer Joyce Hollister.
In 2002, one of the last Minden volunteer firefighters, Henry Dreyer, drove the Seagrave at the head of the funeral procession for fellow volunteer Daniel Hellwinkel to the Genoa Cemetery.
The Rumsey & Co. engine is not that far away, either. It is currently housed at the Comstock Firemen’s Museum in Virginia City.