IH Tractors on Montana Farm

[Old Binder Guy]

I'm scraping the bottom of the barrel this morning. Nothing new to report. This first picture is for Anson. It is a picture of the homestead in circa 1953. I see Dad's 1950 Studebaker Commander that he bought as a salesman's (Scotty Cunningham) demo in 1951. To the left of it is a TD-40 TracTracTor with a "Carryall" scraper. Over by the machine sheds I see an IH combine.

This is a picture someone shot and sent me of me threshing near Kalispell, Montana about a dozen years ago. I was visiting with Dick Tombrink, now the Northwest EDGE&TA Director. I'm going to attend "Dick's show" at Huntley/Worden, Montana this August. It is the National show for EDGE&TA and I've never been to Dick's show, although I've been to his place a few times. Since I was one of the Hall of Fame recipients at the National EDGE&TA show last year at Winfield, Kansas, I wanted to go and see some of the fine people I met last year.

Now, to put an IH Tractor on a Montana Farm here for a change, this is a picture I took from the rear of the 15hp Case and Mike's Farmall M, "Toot," last week after Toot pulled the Case out of the shed. Gary

[busman7]

Ralph,

I hate to show you ANOTHER ONE coming down. Yesterday morning at 8:AM, Moore, Montana Grain Terminal Association Elevator, in the town where I graduated high school nearly 51 years ago, this is what happened. Gary

Gary, it is a sad sight alright but I just have to think how lucky we were to live through the wooden elevator era. When the first one was demolished here in 88 it was quite a novelty although not too surprising as the old Federal was in need of repair or replacement. Nobody ever dreamed that the rest of 'elevator row' would come down within the next 14 years. Even the big new Sask pool one built in 84. Soon after that the rail line was gone, just short of a hundred years life span.

I have an edited version of the demolition here.

Haven't been on the Canadian Prairies since the mid 80's but well remember the wooden elevators from my Alberta pipelining days. Remember reading somewhere that there are only 5 left in Canada (if not right please correct), found it strange that one of the 5 happened to be just down the road from the bus shop I built in Pontypool ON.

[Old Binder Guy]

I won't be around tomorrow, so I'm posting this "stuff" tonight. I'm going to go near Great Falls and look over a treasure trove of rusted cast iron with a friend. This is an old postcard photo of a 110hp Best pulling a Best Combined Harvester near Merced, California.

This is a very early 32hp Reeves cross compound plowing in North Dakota. I'm not positive what the automobile is but I'm going to say its a 1904 model, likely a Ford or Cadillac. The 32hp Reeves came out in 1904 and that coal box was used on the very early ones. Notice the three horse drawn plows being used, as the "engine plows" may not have been available here yet?

This is a 25hp Reeves cross compound threshing on some farm "in 1910." Gary

[Old Binder Guy]

I think this is Roger's new 1926 Model T Ford, remodeled by the US Government's Chrysler division?

Gary

[Roger Byrne]

OBG . . How dare you post something like that!!

It's almost sacrilegious. . . you could lose your STG rating if you do something like that again!

[Loadstar]

Haven't been on the Canadian Prairies since the mid 80's but well remember the wooden elevators from my Alberta pipelining days. Remember reading somewhere that there are only 5 left in Canada (if not right please correct), found it strange that one of the 5 happened to be just down the road from the bus shop I built in Pontypool ON.

I don't know for a fact but would think there are way more than 5 wooden elevators left in Canada. I know of one within ten miles of me although it is privately owned and the rail line is gone.

That is a good shot of your wooden elevator in Ontario. Wonder how long it will survive?

The big old hip (or gambrel) roofed barns are another sign of the past that keep disappearing. This is one I took a picture of recently not too far from home.

[busman7]

Haven't been on the Canadian Prairies since the mid 80's but well remember the wooden elevators from my Alberta pipelining days. Remember reading somewhere that there are only 5 left in Canada (if not right please correct), found it strange that one of the 5 happened to be just down the road from the bus shop I built in Pontypool ON.

That is a good shot of your wooden elevator in Ontario. Wonder how long it will survive?

.

It's up before the City of Kawartha Lakes council for Heritage designation, last I could find was a 2011 where it was decided it met the requirement but being government they needed to study it further.

[Old Binder Guy]

OBG . . How dare you post something like that!!

It's almost sacrilegious. . . you could lose your STG rating if you do something like that again!

Well It is kind of like when I was a kid... Sometimes it is easier to get forgiven than permission.

STG - OBG

[Old Binder Guy]

A local friend and I went to visit Clarence Young, near Great Falls today. He has some neat stuff. His 110hp Case is in the record books on SmokStak as "the newest 110hp Case extant." My friend took this picture of Clarence and me inside Clarence's shop, where the 110hp Case awaits restoration. It sure was an enjoyable day, even with a flat tire on Corky's wife's Buick. The little "lifesaver" got us home just fine this evening. Gary

[Old Binder Guy]

I've got a dental coming up this hour, so these are just "junk" thrown on here.

This first photo was taken at Columbia Falls in 1997. It was the late Austin Monk and the late Kim Tuttle with the 28hp Minneapolis and 12-bottom Verity plow, plowing at our show, north of Kalispell, Montana. I am at right center on the plow with my red polka dot cap.

This was a picture of the 45hp tandem compound Minneapolis at Rollag in 2005. That year I got to see my late friend Richard Rorvig, who tended to this engine and was responsible for its restoration years ago.

This is an old photo of a Minneapolis engine plowing in North Dakota.

This is the Tyler's 30hp double simple Minneapolis near (Moore, Eddies Corner), Montana. I just learned that Ron, a younger Tyler brother passed away yesterday in California.

This is a picture of a 50hp Case engine taken in 1940 and shows (at right) steam icon of several decades, "Steam Engine Joe" Rynda, of Montgomery, Minnesota. He had the largest collection of steam engines in the US in the late 1950s. Gary

[Old Binder Guy]

The "work" I chose to perform after my dental appointment this morning, became the "grate shaker" for the 20hp Reeves of Mike's & Randy's at Silver Creek. The engine was sold as a coal burner with shaking grates, but somehow, the manner in which they got shaken got misplaced or neglected in its 1950s restoration or fix up. We had photos of the 20hp Reeves at Choteau, Montana, so we knew what we had to build. It worked out better than I thought it was going to. There is a rectanguar bar that Mike made when he put the grates back into the engine, after the work we did on the water bottom's staybolts in 2008. I built upon that piece of bar. If you look through the draft door, you can see the shiny nuts that hold that bar to the tie bar that ties all of the grates together, down below. This first view shows it in normal operating (firing/steaming) position with everything relaxed, with the "knee bar lever" resting on the drawbar frame, as they did from the factory.

This is a photo with the handle pulled up and the knee bar in the raised position, which pushes in the tie bar on the grates, tipping all of them.

This is the handle, up above, on the platform that actuates the knee bar lever. I cut the handle off of one of my flue cleaners to get that "D" loop. I could have taken some stock and started a fire in a forge and made one, but I guess I was in a hurry. Gary

[Old Binder Guy]

We'd been talking about grain elevators on the previous page. Here's one that I'll bet brought out some four letter words? Somebody posted this on my Facebook page from some foreign country. Gary

[updraft]

I warned those fellas three times about overlaoding that truck. They just wound not listen. Hummmph!!

[Old Binder Guy]

Since I took us back to elevators, AGAIN, and I haven't posted this picture in a while, I don't think? It was taken on November 16th, 1916 at Big Sandy, Montana (Home of the world's largest farm tractor, Williams Brother's Big Bud 747.). I don't remember the price of wheat on this day, but it was higher than any farmer could imagine and brought on by WWI. Consequently each farmer brought a wagon load of wheat, hoping to get this outlandish price before the prices fell again. Gary

[Loadstar]

Since I took us back to elevators, AGAIN, and I haven't posted this picture in a while, I don't think? It was taken on November 16th, 1916 at Big Sandy, Montana (Home of the world's largest farm tractor, Williams Brother's Big Bud 747.). I don't remember the price of wheat on this day, but it was higher than any farmer could imagine and brought on by WWI. Consequently each farmer brought a wagon load of wheat, hoping to get this outlandish price before the prices fell again. Gary

At a dollar a bushel I guess they'd have emptied out the bins to capitalize on such a windfall. Of course the priced probably dropped by the time they got the second load in.

I like this one (might be a replay) of a line-up of trucks at Simmie, Sask. back in 52. Fairly typical range of truck sizes except for that big Ford cab over at left. Never saw many of them. Back in 52 I think there were more 3/4 and one tons trucking grain.

[farmerboy3]

man i love lookin at old grain elevators i'm not sure why but i got a knack for it

the ones in my town were destroyed when i was little but the town not there anymore not far from my farm the elevator is still standin privetly owned of course but i love lookin at it it's the only true piece of farmin history that everyone know and can recognized

i like lookin at this ol site http://www.grainelevators.ca/

[706Wheatland]

The good ole days of farming.

[Loadstar]

man i love lookin at old grain elevators i'm not sure why but i got a knack for it

the ones in my town were destroyed when i was little but the town not there anymore not far from my farm the elevator is still standin privetly owned of course but i love lookin at it it's the only true piece of farmin history that everyone know and can recognized

i like lookin at this ol site http://www.grainelevators.ca/

Yes, I grew up having a view of elevator row 12 miles south of the farm. Its just a memory now but a good one. That grainelevators.ca site is a good one and I have put a few photos in there under the name "rusty6".

Heres one you won't find anywhere else except maybe in a post card for sale on ebay. I happen to own this old one showing our CPR station in front of elevator row. The tall wooden water tank can be seen towards the left of the photo. I can just remember the rail station as it was sold and moved off the site in the late sixties and became a cattle shelter. What a waste. Those stations were some unique buildings and would likely be preserved nowadays. Back then they were just a liability to the railway to be sold for whatever they could get.

[farmerboy3]

yes those were the good old days alright in my town i don't remember the UGG since it was closed in 1998 and the pool was closed in i think 2001 or 2 and i can sort of remember a few trips there with dad

i've been allover the interenet tonight and found a good handful of pictures of my home town elevators and hopefully this summer i can make scaled down replicas of them

[updraft]

I did not pay much attention to grain elevators in this area when I was younger and they were operating. I remember beIng in one in the town where I grew up when we took our wheat and oats in. I can find no pictures of it now. I recall it was converted to a resturant during the 1960's and later to a home or retail shop of some nature. I would have to drive by to see if the upper levels are still in tact. As I think about it it seems that every village in the area had at least one.

We do still have two grain mills in the village where I current reside. They no longer produce flour. I found a 1906 postcard on the net showing the upper mill, a grain elevetor and the railroad line that used to serve them. The grain evevator was taken down in 1963 to make way for a parking lot. The mill was built in 1791 and currently serves as our town hall. Great to see these sructures preserved.

And a more recent photo of this same mill.

The back of the building with the creek which provided water power.

A similar view in spring.

[updraft]

The sister mill to the one above also still exists and houses a resturant and shops. It is situated about 1/2 mile down the street and was built in the late 1820's.

These are pictures found in the net. It is stated that this mill at it's peak could process two hundred barrels of wheat per day into flour.-

[Old Binder Guy]

I went to Missoula yesterday to our annual Montana Steam Engineer's meeting. They hold it in conjunction with Logger's Day at Fort Missoula, where "our guys" have an 80hp Case turning the sawmill in the building behind the horses, grading the road.

This is a McCormick-Deering powered dragline on permanent display at Fort Missoula.

This is a "backhoe" that is cable operated and powered by the same engine a WD-9 McCormick Standard used. Gary

[Delta Dirt]

"Updraft" wuz hitting all around it-------------but one subject that we have not discussed is the "water wheel". I reckon that's what you call it????-----------I was admiring his old mill photos---------figuring that the water wheel was gonna be in the next picture.

The water wheel idea has always intrigued me--------when thinking about all of the energy flowing past us every day out on the Mississippi River. Initial reaction from most everybody is that it would have to float---------------my thoughts are that it could be in a fixed position if submerged. Lots of strong current running at the bottom.

*******

I am surprised that you steam boys don't have a vertical exhaust stack mounted up on those two horses----------I always understood that if a vertical exhaust sytem had been invented for the mules----------we may have never known about the tractor????

Delta Dirt

Avon, Ms 38723

[Old Binder Guy]

I just got off of the phone with Tubacase47 or Tom Railsback in Great Falls Benefis Hospital. He's in intensive care and had been in very precarious health, but is now able to talk on the phone, since the tubes have been removed. I talked to Gary Larsen, also of this forum, last night who told me I was able to now call Tom. Tom I'm glad you're feeling a little better now! We'll be looking forward to your posting and keeping track of the odometer on this thread.

This first photo is one I took of him last fall when he drove over to borrow my dad's boiler staybolt reamer and threaders, to use on a 20hp Reeves like Mike's and Randy's at their Choteau, Montana club.

This was Tom on the McCormick-Deering F-12 on my birthday in 2010.

This is Tom standing by one of his Case tractors, his real area of expertise. He is second to very few, when talking Case gas tractors. Gary

PS: Notice there are three IH Tractors on a Montana Farm here! And get well soon, TOM!

[Old Binder Guy]

I've had a book called Trains in Transition setting here beside me since last night and am just now getting around to make some quotes from it. I put a photo of the Union Pacific RR's 4004 or Big Boy locomotive on that sets in a park in Cheyanne, Wyoming. I wanted to put those statistics with this photo for your benefit, in case you didn't know what I didn't know!

They were built by American Locomotive Company, aka: ALCO. for fast freight service. They were used also extensively in the Wasatch Mountains for hauling coal, as well as in Wyoming to Utah. It's boiler delivers 7000 horsepower, it has a cruising speed of 80 mph and consumes twelve tons of coal and 15,000 gallons of water every 60 minutes! Its operating pressure is 300 pounds to the square inch and total weight of the locomotive and tender is more than 595 tons!

Gary