IH Tractors on Montana Farm

[Old Binder Guy]

I've got some photos I'd like to share. I was blessed with being born in Montana's Judith Basin country and I grew up over there, farmed & ranched, but moved here to Kalispell, Montana 25 years ago. I have many good and bad memorys, but wanted to share some good! The earliest tractor I remember there on the homestead was a Titan with four cylinders and four carburetors or mixers, when I was very young. It ran but got junked when a neighbor wanted to buy a rear wheel for a spring he was developing. Before my time they had four 15-30s and two 22-36s. We were still haying with Farmall Regulars and an F-20 or 30 (I can't remember but it was red.). At my earliest memory we had one styled Farmall, a 1939 H. I still own it, use it, and it is FBH681, making it the 181st one built.

I've been accused of many things in my life but being "normal" isn't one of them. That's just a setting on a clothes dryer, anyway.

This first photo is far from my favorite, but it shows my dad on a 15-30 pulling a McCormick-Deering combine. As I recall, the tractor was well liked, but the combine.... Well, I remember it sitting in a fence corner, the motor used in "the old log shop" to power the line shaft.

This is a later photo. I don't remember when the Cub Cadet first came out, but this is the second one sold in Lewistown and my cousin bought the first one.

This is a picture of my nephew, "Ralphie", on Grandad's new Cub Cadet. I would like to point out the IH equipment in the distance. I see a 141 Combine, a TD-40, A 125SPVC Combine, A Farmall Super A, and a grain drill.
Gary

[MAGNUM]

great pictures, keep em comin'

[THE snowman]

Check out the smile on that kid! Ear to ear, thats cool.

[Old Binder Guy]

Magnum,
Are you really sure??? The guys who frequent the steam side of SmokStak will tell you that is like waving currency inside a house of ill repute!

I discussed my Farmall H, the 181st one built... This is "Old Annie" and my grandson, Maverik, was driving it around my place when I lived near Whitefish, Montana. That other toy to the left is another of my fettishes. It is my 1909 Case 15hp steam engine and tender.

ANNIE... My dad and his brothers seldom ever bought anything new for the farm. Most of it they bought as is, used and rebuilt them in the winters. That was true back in hard times, anyway. This Farmall H was bought new in 1939 by Anna Stilson and traded in for a Farmall M in 1940, when needing a little more tractor. Dad and his brothers bought the H then, in like new shape, and promptly named it Old Annie. Every used tractor they got, they named after the former owner. This tradition continues in my family.
Gary

[Old Binder Guy]

This is a picture of my best friend, before I met her. This picture was taken in 1949 of (now my wife of nearly 44 years) Sharon sitting atop her dad's WD-6. By the time she was 14, her dad let her run his WD-9 and she went to the field for the day, not just a couple of rounds around a field. But he paid her quite well for what kids that age received back then too.

I found the only picture of his WD-9 I could find and posted it. He and I were farming together by this time. I'd bought my new IH 806 Wheatland with IH cab, at right, by this time. My father in-law, Lynn Simpson, was pulling my two IH 150 shovel drills with his WD-9.

Gary

[MAGNUM]

heck ya gary, keep postin!!

[PhilipC]

That is some good stuff. Does your family still farm?

[Old Binder Guy]

Here are a couple of photos of newer IH tractors on the farm. This May 1968 picture taken on a Brownie Hawkeye was of my 806 Wheatland with factory IH Cab and duals. A Wheatland denoted an 806 Standard without a Torque Amplifier or PTO.

This second picture shows the one tractor I'd really love to own again! It was my 1256 Turbo diesel with IH factory cab. It is shown here on the farm in her winter clothes. Would that old girl ever plow snow! I would plow from around 7-9 mph in all that blade could contain and it just rolled off to the side, like a county road grader would do.

[JDHumm]

Great photos, please keep them coming!

[Old Binder Guy]

That is some good stuff. Does your family still farm?

PhilipC,

My family does NOT still farm, but I still have cousins over in the Judith Basin that farm and ranch there. Still lots of IH stuff too.

I am part of a local old iron club here at Kalispell and we have a show every year, the weekend after Labor Day weekend. My son Mike owns the threshing machine and I'm one of the steam nuts, so I get to "farm" for a few minutes each day and that tides me over for another year. Binding and shocking grain is something I still like to do, and I started shocking long before I started school... Or at least I thought I was helping shock.

Gary

[ole three bottom]

These are great photos Old Binder Guy!!!!! I just love the little cutie in curls on the WD 6. With curls like that I can see why you took her for your bride when she grew up a little. If you still have any more old photo's, keep them comming we NEVER get tired of good pictures.

[RJ-AZ]

Good pics Old Binder. I worked on a spread over to the east of you some. It was east of Grass Range and they had all red equipment including pickups a travelall and two Loadstar 1800's. That was back in 1976.

[IHman1256]

Here are a couple of photos of newer IH tractors on the farm. This May 1968 picture taken on a Brownie Hawkeye was of my 806 Wheatland with factory IH Cab and duals. A Wheatland denoted an 806 Standard without a Torque Amplifier.

This second picture shows the one tractor I'd really love to own again! It was my 1256 Turbo diesel with IH factory cab. It is shown here on the farm in her winter clothes. Would that old girl ever plow snow! I would plow from around 7-9 mph in all that blade could contain and it just rolled off to the side, like a county road grader would do.

Great pictures!! What does that 806 say on the side curtain above the 806 number badge? I did not know that wheatland models did not have a ta. Keep the pics coming these are great!

[Old Binder Guy]

RJ-AZ,

Good to hear from someone familiar with that area. Was that toward Winnett, or more toward Roundup? One place I'd never been that I always wanted to see was the NBar Ranch. I've read much about it and their fabulous black cattle. They were more toward Half Moon Pass, though, weren't they? I used to play for dances in the 1950s at Grass Range, Winnett, Pine Ridge, Flat Willow and about 50 other old community halls that weren't in that area. I have a list of places at home of those places. I also used to be on a seismograph drilling crew in the Tiegen area in the early 1960s.

IHman 1256,

That is a decal that IH placed above the 806 emblem that said WHEATLAND... That's all. That was a darn good tractor, but I discovered with some of my uneven ground, I should have had the TA. I really loved my 1256, because of the TA.

Gary

[TimsIHtractors]

Super, super pictures. Most enjoyable ones in a long time!!! Love them ice cream boxes and most particularly that 1256!!! What a beauty!!!! THANK YOU!!! And keep on bringin' any ones you want!!!!

[Loadstar]

Thanks for the pictures Gary. A real flashback to the kind of farming I grew up around. Those machinery pics could easily have come out of Sask. all that wheatland equipment. The heavily weighted WD6 on a dual hookup of Van Brunt drills. The IH 150 drills doing an excellent job of seeding behind what I think is a model 45 Vibra-chisel? Very popular method of seeding here in the sixties.

Nice blade on the 1256 but I don't recognize the name (Renn?). Looks a little like Degelman and a bit like Leon but still different. With those chains that thing would be almost unstoppable at 7mph I'd think.

[RJ-AZ]

RJ-AZ,

Good to hear from someone familiar with that area. Was that toward Winnett, or more toward Roundup? One place I'd never been that I always wanted to see was the NBar Ranch. I've read much about it and their fabulous black cattle. They were more toward Half Moon Pass, though, weren't they? I used to play for dances in the 1950s at Grass Range, Winnett, Pine Ridge, and about 50 other old community halls that weren't in that area. I have a list of places at home of those places. I also used to be on a seismograph drilling crew in the Tiegen area in the early 1960s.

Old Binder; Going south outa Grass Range take the first left turn on a county road and the place was about 15 miles out. Think it was on Elk Creek (CRS). Had a 1200 head feedlot with a Harvestore setup for feeding. All irrigated hay from a oil well that came in with good warm water that was piped into a holding reservoir then down through ditches to the fields. Can't remember the original owner, you probably knew or heard of them. The N Bar ranch is a nice outfit, Dad and I went to look at Bulls there once.

[Old Binder Guy]

Thanks for the pictures Gary. A real flashback to the kind of farming I grew up around. Those machinery pics could easily have come out of Sask. all that wheatland equipment. The heavily weighted WD6 on a dual hookup of Van Brunt drills. The IH 150 drills doing an excellent job of seeding behind what I think is a model 45 Vibra-chisel? Very popular method of seeding here in the sixties.

Nice blade on the 1256 but I don't recognize the name (Renn?). Looks a little like Degelman and a bit like Leon but still different. With those chains that thing would be almost unstoppable at 7mph I'd think.

Ralph,

You know, since I worked at the IH dealership, we sold all three of those brands and I don't remember for sure, but I think it was the Renn. My son Mike can tell a story about that 1256 setup, one Christmas eve. We'd had a heck of a blizzard and our annual family get-together was about to not happen. The storm let up and there was no way the county would show up with their patrol, so I said I was going to plow the approximate 3 miles of road, so people could get in from the highway. He was standing beside me, on my right in the cab and darned if I didn't hook a railroad track with a corner of the blade. I understood the name the approximately 9 year old called me after he hit the windshield, but it was undoubtedly one he'd picked up from being around me on the farm.

I found a couple more old pictures from our farm, before I was born. They owned two of these 20' cut Advance Rumely "Combine Harvesters" and usually pulled each with a 15-30. Some of our place was quite hilly and they had to hook on two 15-30s to manage the hills. Notice each tractor has a headlight. They were Dietz carbide lights run on Prestolite tanks. The first picture shows my uncle Adelrich (Audie) checking something on the combine and uncle Fritz watching. Audie drove the Model TT dump truck. I may post a picture of him dumping that truck. I'm not sure of its age, but it was before the standard cabs were available in the 1924 model year. They ordered a chassis, installed their own grain box (with dump) and an old Model T Roadster body... Well it could have been a chopped off touring car?

Gary

PS: DON'T ASK ME HOW ONE PICTURE ENDED UP ABOVE?

[red_reaper]

Thanks for those pics, they are great. Look at those steel wheels how shiny they are from being used. Dont see that anymore!

I can just hear that kid when he hit that window! LOL

[Old Binder Guy]

A couple of Mogul pictures near Moore, Montana. The first was and 8-16 that used to be owned by the Tyler Brother's of Moore. It went away in a "Holt 10 Ton" trade.

The second is of the late Walter Mehmke, the late Clyde Corley and the late Robert Hruska and a 10-20 Mogul. Hruska was the seller and Walter was the buyer, that day. Notice Eddie's Corner Station, Cafe & Bar in the background. This is a mile from the Tyler Ranch. Eddie's Corner is better known than Moore, Montana and this place has never been closed since it opened after WWII. In fact it has no keys.

Gary

[Detroit]

I've been to Eddie's. We stopped there to check straps and binders on the combines when we were headed to Big Sandy. I remember seeing a ton of Minneapolis Molines there in Moore. Is someone there a collector or rebuilder? I never did find out the story on why there were so many in one spot.

I traded for a John Deere tractor a few years ago that originally started its life out around Wolf Point. We checked the serial number through Deeres archives and thats about all the info we got on it. Still have the tractor too and its been a good one.

[boog]

Nice pics OBG. I can only remember one WD-9 in this area & a W-6. Don't ever recall seeing a Wheatland 806 / 1206 or similiar tractor around here. Wouldn't mind find a nice old SW6-TA. Had a chance to buy a nice one a few years back for $3,000, even had fresh paint. Boy did I miss the boat on that one Still kick my butt over not buying it.

[RJ-AZ]

Eddie's Corner is better known than Moore, Montana and this place has never been closed since it opened after WWII. In fact it has no keys.

Ah yes Eddies Corner, best Burgers and Coffee around, I used to stop in ther regularly back in 71' when I was hauling barley out of that pert of the country for Central Feeds. Had a bar as well where I remeber getting plowed under once as well.

[Old Binder Guy]

I've been to Eddie's. We stopped there to check straps and binders on the combines when we were headed to Big Sandy. I remember seeing a ton of Minneapolis Molines there in Moore. Is someone there a collector or rebuilder? I never did find out the story on why there were so many in one spot.

I traded for a John Deere tractor a few years ago that originally started its life out around Wolf Point. We checked the serial number through Deeres archives and thats about all the info we got on it. Still have the tractor too and its been a good one.

Detroit,

Jim Janicek was a year behind me at Moore High School and he is your collecting culprit. He has a bunch, I think. EDIT: While Jim has a nice tractor collection and his father farmed with M&M, the bunch you're thinking of belong to the Tews Brothers there at Moore.

Gary

Eddie's Corner is better known than Moore, Montana and this place has never been closed since it opened after WWII. In fact it has no keys.

Ah yes Eddies Corner, best Burgers and Coffee around, I used to stop in ther regularly back in 71' when I was hauling barley out of that pert of the country for Central Feeds. Had a bar as well where I remeber getting plowed under once as well.

RJ-AZ,

That's the reason I also mentioned Eddie's Corner, as most people who travel the highway know it and few if any can remember Moore, where I graduated from. My wife of 43 years started working at "the Corner" when she was 14.

Gary

[Old Binder Guy]

This picture is of my late cousin Alvin, Charles, and older brother Bill. They were the hay mowing crew in 1950 on the Lewistown farm. The Farmall Cub at left is the one I started mowing with when I was 9 years old. That angled lever lifted the mower... No hydraulics here. Our McCormick-Deering 28" separator is up the lane in the distance. There is the front end of a TD-9 at the very right, in the shed.

Gary