Blacksmith finds his passion early on

GRAND DETOUR - Rick Trahan is a company man through and through. He's especially proud of the man who founded the company he works for: John Deere. No, he doesn't design new tractors, or even sell them. Trahan does what Deere did - he's a blacksmith in a small forge in Grand Detour. Deere would have spent most of his days making things such as nails, corn dryers, horseshoes, wagon jacks, drill presses, pitchforks and other things needed in a small town in the mid-1800s. Because the tools people need nowadays are mass produced, Trahan contents himself with making decorative items such as trivets, gates, fireplace poker sets, wall hangers and shepherd's hooks, all of which are sold on site in the John Deere Historic Site gift shop. His job h