TRACTOR TRIVIA and other interesting stuff! 1/2/2024

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Antique Tractors Represent Neglected History

Many early tractor brand names have disappeared over the years while others have become household names that are known worldwide.

Whether you are a farmer who is well-acquainted with the inner workings of the tractor, a novice who just likes tractors big or small, or someone who has an interest in antique mechanics and engineering, you can enjoy the uniquely competitive and progressively adaptive history of the tractor market and the products that it released.

Wikipedia lists a thousand or more brands of tractors and farm implement manufacturers that have come and gone over the past century and a half.

 Of course, the story of the early tractor industry does not end with Great Depression though it did mark the demise of many brands. World War Two upended the nature of the market itself so entirely that this section of the timeline is particularly special. Many brands merged while others departed the tractor and implement scene and began the manufacture of industrial products to support the war effort.

You can rest assured that I will be unable to do justice to the entire list furnished by Wikipedia but I will select those that have reliable information sources and share some rather unique agricultural history during the coming weeks.

I will begin by providing what little information I could find concerning a rather extraordinary purpose-built tractor that met a specific need in a particular place.

Very little information is available on the “Sidehill Tractor” but it could be operated with the rear wheels offset to allow the operator and engine to remain practically level while working on steep terrain. The wheels could be raised or lowered on either side or run level.

E. G. Adams of Dallis Oregon built the “Sidehill Tractor” to fill a need in his area of the country. Many fertile fields along the Columbia River are very steeply sloped and this unique tractor found its rightful place in history by making it safer to operate a tractor in this challenging environment.

 

[8ntruck 6,998]

@ebinmaine  there is another idea to add to Colussis.  

 

Purpose built to adapt to the local topography. 

 

I could probably use one of those along the back property line on our Ky. acreage.

[ebinmaine 67,420]

6 minutes ago, 8ntruck said:

@ebinmaine  there is another idea to add to Colussis.  

 

Purpose built to adapt to the local topography. 

 

I could probably use one of those along the back property line on our Ky. acreage.

Some seriously neat stuff ain't it?

[Sailman 1,291]

That "side hill tractor" is an amazing piece of equipment! Can't imagine navigating that thing at the end of the row or taking it back to the barn....

Kind of reminds me of a story my dad told me years ago. My grandfather had a 160 acre farm in northeastern Iowa. Quite hilly but not as bad as the Oregon terrain in the pic. Story has it my ancestors settled in that area as it reminded them of their native terrain and climate in Norway. My grandfather, Gilman, was always looking to improve his farming and had gotten information about "contour" farming which utilized plowing across the hill instead of up and down, which was the traditional method in his area at that time. So grandpa started plowing across the hill one spring. Neighbors saw what he was doing and beat a path to my grandma concerned that "Gilman has lost his mind"! 

It did not take long before contour farming became the norm.