IH Tractors on Montana Farm

[Old Binder Guy]

28 minutes ago, ray54 said:

I say TD 9. Missed the marker on the first look, but was looking at the hill in the background. Looks like coastal California, if it is vegetable ground he might plow it 3 times a year, for 3 crops. A good crawler in even ground almost the same as auto steer.

Someone on Facebook said Salinas, California. I spent two months at Fort Ord, California and was at Salinas, but couldn't verify the photo as being there. 

I sure agree about a good crawler in even ground almost the same as auto steer. My old TD-18A was sure that way.

We used to have a TD-40 that had a stretched track on one side, it would have to be "weaved" to make a straight line.

The TD-40 we have now is a great one for going straight! It's smoking here, as Mike wanted to try it for a short distance in 5th (road) gear. Soon after I took the photo, it quit smoking too! Gary😉

[twostepn2001]

Found this pic on a Texas history FB page. says it is a pic of Burkburnett, Texas approximately 1919 or 20. town was named after Samuel Burk Burnett, founder of the 6666's ranch. Contrary to the myth, he didn't win the ranch in a poker game with a hand of 6666's, but actually bought a 1000 head of cattle and the brand from a small ranch in south Texas.

l'm wondering what that smokestack belongs to. Being in Texas the first thing that pops to mind is a BBQ joint. Or maybe a Chinese laundry operated by Ho Lee Kow. Could be a watermelon preserve cannery...?  And what kind of car is that white one in the lower right of the pic.

 

[MacAR]

1 hour ago, twostepn2001 said:

l'm wondering what that smokestack belongs to

I zoomed in on the photo best I could, and it looks as though it's attached to a steam engine of some description. Looks like the type of smaller engine that was drawn by a team of horses. The only reason I can figure for the giant stack is to get the smoke and steam up above the level of the houses and people. There seems to be another engine setting next to it, or at least a boiler. As to what it's doing, I can only guess, but I'd guess a sawmill given its proximity to what appears to be a railroad track. Maybe drilling a well, but that would only be a temporary thing and there'd be no need for the super-elongated stack. So I'm well and truly stumped! Perhaps Professor Gary will come along and help us out? 

Mac

[hardtail]

Holy cow laundromat that's funny 🤣

[Old Binder Guy]

4 hours ago, twostepn2001 said:

Found this pic on a Texas history FB page. says it is a pic of Burkburnett, Texas approximately 1919 or 20. town was named after Samuel Burk Burnett, founder of the 6666's ranch. Contrary to the myth, he didn't win the ranch in a poker game with a hand of 6666's, but actually bought a 1000 head of cattle and the brand from a small ranch in south Texas.

l'm wondering what that smokestack belongs to. Being in Texas the first thing that pops to mind is a BBQ joint. Or maybe a Chinese laundry operated by Ho Lee Kow. Could be a watermelon preserve cannery...?  And what kind of car is that white one in the lower right of the pic.

 

twostepn2001, you really know how to stir up my old "brane" this close to Christmas. I'm going to say that tall stack boiler (it may have been manufactured by the Titusville Iron Works, or Broderick Brothers?) is for the next door Alonodeffner Feed Company, for manufacturing, grinding, and rolling feed for livestock. The tall stack is to get it to draw the heat through the boiler tubes from above the buildings air. I can't answer why a portable boiler and upright steam engine are also there. I'm sure they had a reason!

Back then, these little steam engines were about the same as a "hit & miss" engine or a later Briggs & Stratton. A power plant for an unknown need. Son Mike has an upright Peerless steam engine he uses to grind feed with. The Reeves engine furnishes the steam through a hydraulic hose.

Homer and Ruby Goodell  use a Hit & Miss upright gas engine to do laundry near Hobson, Montana. 

The light colored roadster with wire wheels has me sort of puzzled. I'm going to GUESS (and bet!) that it is a Metz Roadster! Roger may KNOW what it really is? I looked through my photos and here are some "close calls." I was looking for a roadster with a short rear end, behind the folding top. I came up with: Metz, Overland, Cloverleaf, Marmon, Saxon, Apperson Jack Rabbit, Hupmobile, Haynes, and Buick. My Metz photos are all JFIF, and this system won't take them. I can't seem to change them to JPG.

I'm quite sure this is a different automobile manufacturer below? Gary😉

[Roger Byrne]

As far as I can tell, the car in that Texas photo appears to be a 1917-1920 Marmon Model 34 Cloverleaf Roadster. 

[Old Binder Guy]

Thank you for that post Roger. I don't know one living person who knows old cars better than you. HEY!! I did include the word, "cloverleaf!" Even if I didn't know which brand. I dated a girl in my young single years whose father owned a "Cloverleaf" car, but I can't remember what brand? But looking at it and this photo you posted it explains the "cloverleaf" concept to our Red Power guys. This photo of this Marmon shows the split seats in the front, where the rear passengers enter and exit. (Imagine one of today's bucket seat, two door, convertibles and the center console gone) Thanks for your input Roger. I never mind egg on my face, when I ask for your advice and help! Keeping it straight is important to me. Gary😁

PS: I don't have a picture of it, but in the 1960s, there was an old gentleman in Montana who owned a Marmon Hearse. It was built a lot like a horse pulled hearse with glass sides. It bore similarities to this 1924 REO Hearse.

This old gentleman had an old, old wooden casket. Hanging out from the lid was a bloody rubber "hand!" 

[Roger Byrne]

Before there are a bunch more posts, I figure I should explain what a "Cloverleaf" roadster is.   They are a three seat car with two in front and just one in back . . . the seating was said to look like a "Cloverleaf" when viewed from above.   A very odd arrangement that was NOT a popular design and were only built for a few years by a handful of different companies.  The logic of that one narrow seat in the back escapes me as it did with most people back in the day.  The Ames Company, which made accessory bodies for Fords, made one for a Model T.

[Absent Minded Farmer]

On 12/12/2022 at 5:52 PM, Old Binder Guy said:

twostepn2001, you really know how to stir up my old "brane" this close to Christmas. I'm going to say that tall stack boiler (it may have been manufactured by the Titusville Iron Works, or Broderick Brothers?) is for the next door Alonodeffner Feed Company, for manufacturing, grinding, and rolling feed for livestock. The tall stack is to get it to draw the heat through the boiler tubes from above the buildings air. I can't answer why a portable boiler and upright steam engine are also there. I'm sure they had a reason!

Back then, these little steam engines were about the same as a "hit & miss" engine or a later Briggs & Stratton. A power plant for an unknown need. Son Mike has an upright Peerless steam engine he uses to grind feed with. The Reeves engine furnishes the steam through a hydraulic hose.

Homer and Ruby Goodell  use a Hit & Miss upright gas engine to do laundry near Hobson, Montana. 

The light colored roadster with wire wheels has me sort of puzzled. I'm going to GUESS (and bet!) that it is a Metz Roadster! Roger may KNOW what it really is? I looked through my photos and here are some "close calls." I was looking for a roadster with a short rear end, behind the folding top. I came up with: Metz, Overland, Cloverleaf, Marmon, Saxon, Apperson Jack Rabbit, Hupmobile, Haynes, and Buick. My Metz photos are all JFIF, and this system won't take them. I can't seem to change them to JPG.

I'm quite sure this is a different automobile manufacturer below? Gary😉

I don't mean to change up the subject too much, but what's with the high land prices in MT? Was looking at a 17 acre patch of land by Ringling & they want $230K for it. Has the concrete footings for an old grain elevator on it. Lots of junk to be cleaned up yet. Noticed this phenomena elsewhere too. Ran across an abandoned gas station that was a Subway restaurant at one point in.... I think it was Great Falls? It was $95K. That was half the price of the average run down dwelling in town. Its cheaper to buy that place & sleep on the lift in the old shop. Even a dumpy GI home in a mid sized town brings 3x what it should. Am I missing something? Where does one look, for around 25 acres with some old growth trees & a crick for a decent price? Also, is there any coal on the west side of the state? That would be the trifecta of perfection right there! Only thing I'd need after that is a steam tractor of some kind.😁

Thanks in advance, for any input you may have.

Mike

[Old Binder Guy]

23 hours ago, Absent Minded Farmer said:

I don't mean to change up the subject too much, but what's with the high land prices in MT? Was looking at a 17 acre patch of land by Ringling & they want $230K for it. Has the concrete footings for an old grain elevator on it. Lots of junk to be cleaned up yet. Noticed this phenomena elsewhere too. Ran across an abandoned gas station that was a Subway restaurant at one point in.... I think it was Great Falls? It was $95K. That was half the price of the average run down dwelling in town. Its cheaper to buy that place & sleep on the lift in the old shop. Even a dumpy GI home in a mid sized town brings 3x what it should. Am I missing something? Where does one look, for around 25 acres with some old growth trees & a crick for a decent price? Also, is there any coal on the west side of the state? That would be the trifecta of perfection right there! Only thing I'd need after that is a steam tractor of some kind.😁

Thanks in advance, for any input you may have.

Mike

Mike, I know we can't talk about politics on Red Power. But a certain type of voters are leaving highly populated areas they don't agree with politically, so they seem to be going elsewhere to get away from that "rif-raf." Montana happens to be one of those states that please these city dwellers, migrating back to the dust bowl states their grandparents left for the (mainly west) coast. I sure don't understand what has happened to property values in Montana, but that is the best I can surmise. I'm sure it has made a lot of millionaires on paper? My wife and I just rent a small apartment in Helena. So I'm not in contact with the outer world so much. But I know a few close friends who have told me to keep my eyes open for certain properties here in this area.

I remember 35 years ago, when my wife's dad was living with us some, at Whitefish. Sharon took him to Safeway grocery shopping with her. She said he'd walk along, pick up something he liked, see the price and put it back on the shelf. Then say, "I'm glad I'm on my way out!" I can now concur with him. Gary🤨

[hardtail]

I remember in the 90's Hollywood stars were starting to buy up property on the Swan River and other areas, seemed  CA residents would vacation in July love the heat, view and reasonable prices and then sell and move which started driving up prices, some stayed, lots were enlightened on what a MT winter was like...remember seeing a big pink stucco house on a hill coming out of Kalispell in 98, talk about something that didn't belong...

[Absent Minded Farmer]

23 minutes ago, Old Binder Guy said:

Mike, I know we can't talk about politics on Red Power. But a certain type of voters are leaving highly populated areas they don't agree with politically, so they seem to be going elsewhere to get away from that "rif-raf." Montana happens to be one of those states that please these city dwellers, migrating back to the dust bowl states their grandparents left for the (mainly west) coast. I sure don't understand what has happened to property values in Montana, but that is the best I can surmise. I'm sure it has made a lot of millionaires on paper? My wife and I just rent a small apartment in Helena. So I'm not in contact with the outer world so much. But I know a few close friends who have told me to keep my eyes open for certain properties here in this area.

I remember 35 years ago, when my wife's dad was living with us some, at Whitefish. Sharon took him to Safeway grocery shopping with her. She said he'd walk along, pick up something he liked, see the price and put it back on the shelf. Then say, "I'm glad I'm on my way out!" I can now concur with him. Gary🤨

Ah! I forgot about the migration of the mindless. Seems to be the new plague wherever you go these days. My time on this planet may be a little longer, but am sure as heck glad I'm not 15. But.... then again.... would I have the brains to know any different if I was??

Thanks for re-illustrating the scene out there.

Mike

[MacAR]

On 12/15/2022 at 12:37 AM, Absent Minded Farmer said:

I forgot about the migration of the mindless.

The same thing is happening all across the country, even here in Podunk, Arkansas. When my wife and I bought our farm 10 years ago, land was cheap; some places you couldn't even give it away. Fast forward to today, and the price of land has skyrocketed to the point that my I have had offers of double what I paid for my place and turned them down. Not so much because of my attachment to the place, but due to the fact I can't find a replacement for it. Sadly, it's knocking a lot of local people out of a place to live, and the move-ins aren't what I call "neighborly". But I'm told I've a crotchety disposition and sour outlook, so that may have something to do with it. 

Mac

[Mike H]

Wife and I were out in the Bozeman area in 2008 spent 6 weeks out there in a camper on the Madison river

at the Red Mountain camp ground by Norris Mt.

looked at land prices then was $20,000.00 an acre for grass land

the tallest things there was me and the fence post

decided to move to the Keweenaw instead

ya know a hundred million tree cant be a bad thing 

Mike

[MT Matt]

On 12/13/2022 at 6:08 PM, Roger Byrne said:

Before there are a bunch more posts, I figure I should explain what a "Cloverleaf" roadster is.   They are a three seat car with two in front and just one in back . . . the seating was said to look like a "Cloverleaf" when viewed from above.   A very odd arrangement that was NOT a popular design and were only built for a few years by a handful of different companies.  The logic of that one narrow seat in the back escapes me as it did with most people back in the day.  The Ames Company, which made accessory bodies for Fords, made one for a Model T.

Was the cloverleaf seat for the mother-in-law that nobody wanted to sit next to???  🧐😆

[MT Matt]

On 12/14/2022 at 11:37 PM, Absent Minded Farmer said:

Ah! I forgot about the migration of the mindless. Seems to be the new plague wherever you go these days. My time on this planet may be a little longer, but am sure as heck glad I'm not 15. But.... then again.... would I have the brains to know any different if I was??

Thanks for re-illustrating the scene out there.

Mike

Good luck finding cheap land in Montana, at my little part of the state there isn’t any. Hasn’t been for awhile. Part of it is people from other places sold their postage stamp for way too much and that bought a bigger postage stamp here.  What we thought was expensive was reasonable land to someone from California, Texas, Oregon…

Also, there is only so much private land here. 80-90 percent of the land in this county is State or Federal land. Not like you can head out into the hills to build a cabin anymore and claim the land. You’ll get tossed off pretty quickly.

It seems like within the last five years, all of the available land around here sold, no matter the price. There is a small golf course next to me that had lots which sat vacant for years at a high price. Every one is now sold and most are being built on. I was working in my shop one day and a guy comes walking through the little buffer strip of trees with his poodle on a leash (I kid you not). He wanted to meet me and talk about my garden/greenhouse. His garden didn’t seem to be doing as well as mine. “Back home in California” he had better luck with his garden. I just shake my head…  

I saw a T shirt one time that said “Welcome to Montana, we are full.”  No offense to anyone wanting to move to Montana. 🤠

[hardtail]

Used to go down for a MD run in August in the late 90's every summer in the Stillwater forest, guys at work would ask how was your vacation, terrible after year 3 they started questioning why do you keep going back...great people, great rides, awesome scenery but it was already evident that things were changing from the influx from other states, imagine that has only gotten much worse

[Old Binder Guy]

I have no actual facts, but I remember probably 30 years or more ago I remember reading that in North Dakota, as the multimillionaire corporate farmers moved in and bought up the little farms for their conglomeration, you could sometimes get a couple of lots where the farm buildings were for little or nothing. Sometimes free, as you'd be charged in watching so nobody robbed the grain bins the owner still used. Gary😉

[Absent Minded Farmer]

On 12/16/2022 at 4:12 PM, Mike H said:

Wife and I were out in the Bozeman area in 2008 spent 6 weeks out there in a camper on the Madison river

at the Red Mountain camp ground by Norris Mt.

looked at land prices then was $20,000.00 an acre for grass land

the tallest things there was me and the fence post

decided to move to the Keweenaw instead

ya know a hundred million tree cant be a bad thing 

Mike

I like visiting the peninsula, just haven't been there in years. Gorgeous country & the only time I was to a Gay bar. Dang good burgers!! Is land still relatively cheap up there?

Mike

Just so there's no confusion....↓↓↓↓

[Mike H]

about $1,000. to $1,500. an acre average

if it touches water $1,500. a foot frontage for a buildable lot

we are about 20 minutes from the Gay Bar to the west

right on the snowmobile that runs from Lake Linden to Dreamland restaurant & Bar 

Mike

[Old Binder Guy]

19 hours ago, Absent Minded Farmer said:

I like visiting the peninsula, just haven't been there in years. Gorgeous country & the only time I was to a Gay bar. Dang good burgers!! Is land still relatively cheap up there?

Mike

Just so there's no confusion....↓↓↓↓

AMF, Confusion Explained! Whew! Gary😉

[Old Binder Guy]

Winter (our first snow) hit here in Helena, Montana on October 26, 2022. We have been white ever since. I can never remember if tomorrow (December 20) or the next day will be considered the first day of WINTER? I'm trying not to sound like I'm complaining. We need to end our drought for good. I don't know how many more steam threshings I have in me. I'll be 80 in August and threshing is on my bucket list. I'd like some more threshings before I kick that bucket.

Christmas is in 6 days. I think I only remember one "non-white" Christmas in my life? I remember a couple that were not white until I woke up on Christmas morning. And at this age, I remember the Real Reason for Christmas. The celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

I just gathered a menagerie of Christmas and winter scenes for this post, to put us all in the winter mode and Christmas spirit.

I was born in and raised near Lewistown, Montana. This is a steam rotary snow blower at work on the Jawbone Railroad in Lewistown.

This was a Jawbone locomotive that got in trouble in the Buffalo area of central Montana, with another locomotive coming to the rescue.

Other places get snow too. This was in North Dakota.

This is more pleasing! A Shay locomotive at the water tank tower back east.

This was our 15 hp Case engine near Whitefish, Montana Christmas day 1982.

This was our Case in last year's Andy Troutwine calendar for December.

This was the day in 2018 when the above photo was taken. The photographer's son was engineering our case threshing. Of course we had an IH Tractor on a Montana Farm parked nearby too.

I'm sure I stole this from someone here on this thread!  

I remember two hayrides in my young years with a hayrack behind a Farmall M.

I can't remember where I procured (stole?) this photo either!

Santa Claus in a little North Dakota town with an L model IH pickup parked at right.

I was tickled pink to get this Jensen steam engine for Christmas. I think I was a 3rd grader when I got those glasses?

Our first grandchild, Maverik is playing with Granddad's Jensen steam engine. Note he has his gauntlet steaming gloves and is wearing his engineer's polka dot cap.

This is something I always wanted for Christmas as a kid. Never got this one. 

Charles Marion Russell was an amazing artist. He used to stop by and visit Grandpa Jäger on his way from the South Fork of the Little Belt Mountains where he was a wrangler cowboy, on his way to Lewistown to meet his friend and fellow wrangler cowboy, Teddy Blue Abbott.  (when some paintings sell in the $million$ you're a pretty fair artist?) At least he preserved the "old west" the way he remember it being. I can't hardly afford his Prints anymore.

I love this picture of Russell's, "Jerkline Freighter" painted at Grandpa Jäger's first Montana hometown, Fort Benton. Grandpa was a jerkline freighter as well. For a different outfit though.

Since Grandpa Jäger worked the steamboats from St. Louis to Fort Benton for three seasons, this is one of my favorite steamboat paintings of Russell's. Indians discovering the "Fireboat" on the upper Missouri River.

Montana was blessed with another "top rung" artist. My pencil artist friend Don Greytak of Havre, whose photos grace the walls of our little apartment. Don preserved an early time in farming and agriculture with his prints. This is one of my favorites.

 

Don does impeccable pencil drawings. These are some I have in our dining room. (I have more!)

These are on Mike and Pam's living room wall. We have more across the road in the shop too!

I just picked this up on Facebook last night. I thought it was a cute way to have a Christmas tree.

Roger and Andy all dressed up, the AutoWagon rear "tires" roped up to head out. (A few years ago?)

A Model K Ford at Christmas.

An early Model T Ford Touring Car at Christmas.

Another early T.

Coming home with the Christmas tree in the rear of the 1914 Model T Touring Car.

A ca. 1919 Model T "mailman's special" "snowmobile."

My 8th grade baseball coach at Moore, Montana was a US Postal "mailman." Virgil Jennings' Model TT Ford with a "cabinet builder's cab," has  his snowmobile equipment installed and his wife Edna poses with it.

Roger's photo of a ca. 1925 Model T with a snow plow mounted. 

A 1926 Model T Touring Car coming home with a tree. A 1929 Model A Roadster Pickup behind it.

A 1926 Model T Ford Roadster Pickup in the dealership's showroom.

Roger's 1927 Model T out playing in the snow.

 

Roger's 1929 Model A all dolled up for Christmas. Just returned from Christmas shopping?

A 1932 Model B Ford Pickup at Christmas.

From Paul Tyler's Christmas card a few years ago with CaseIH combines.

Merry Christmas from Old Binder Guy!

 

[hardtail]

1982 was a cold winter up here I went to work surveying up north and it never got above -30 for daytime highs to whole month of January I was there, working outside 12 hours a day, one night we reassembled the rear diff in a Chebbie 3/4 ton 4x4, worked all day put a tarp around the box of the truck and tore it apart and rebuilt it all night, test drive at 5am then breakfast and another 12 hours outside, was past -40 that night

Gladly seems like a dream and not as nightmarish as the decades fade away, the diesel trucks never shutoff that month, some were Detroit powered and you could hear those screaming Jimmies for miles in the crisp air

[Sledgehammer]

The crisp cool air….  As I was deer hunting this year one morning it was calm and crisp. I was 1.5miles from my house. My place also happens to be where my Father keeps his cattle. He comes twice a day before and after work (will be 71 in a few days) and calls to the cattle the same way his Grandfather did so many years ago. Oddly, that morning I could hear my Father calling the cattle from all that distance away and couldn’t help but smile.  He never yells, just a firm call in a loud tone.  

[hardtail]

Went to technical school in fall of 82 in Edmonton which at that time still had the inner city airport operational right next to school and a mall, used to love the jets in cold weather, one small airplane hit a window opening on the upper floor of the Royal Alexander Hospital and stayed imbedded in the opening instead of dropping to the ground, good place to receive care, tricky place to admit you to a room