So many tractors in Minnesota!
If you are at all a tractor fan, like me, you have heard of Minneapolis-Moline tractors, Twin City Tractors, or maybe even Flour City tractors. But how about tractors like the Tom Thumb, The Bull Tractor, or how about the Midget or Grain Belt tractors. All these(plus many more) were made in Minnesota. I have heard a number as high as 130 different tractor manufacturing companies that existed in Minnesota. Research tells me there were 87 in Minneapolis alone! Ohio had around 81, Wisconsin 60, and Iowa almost 40!
It seems amazing in today’s world, since we are down to just a few tractor manufacturing companies that are in existence, that many companies at one time were around, especially in Minnesota!
Let’s talk about a few of them: The Little Bull tractor, made in Minneapolis, was one of the fastest selling tractors of its time. It was considered revolutionary bringing what is considered a “small” tractor to the farm. Before this time many internal combustion tractors were built like the giant steam tractors before them. The Little Bull was advertised as being able to do the work of 5 horses for the price of 2! Unfortunately the Little Bull with its exposed gears, etc, was not as durable as it was hoped. It was plagued with many breakdowns.
Many companies wanted to get into the tractor business. Don’t get me wrong-there were many innovative and creative people working to engineer these new machines, but one of the problems was just that, there WAS a lack of knowledge on exactly how to make a tractor! This happened to the Common Sense tractor. The Common Sense tractor adopted the 3-wheeled design. This may not fly today but one of the advertising slogans of the Common Sense tractor was “even a woman can drive it!” This was sort of a result of the fact that many men were away fighting in WWI. The economic downturn in agriculture in the 1920s is probably one of the main reasons the Common Sense tractor did not survive.
Here is an interesting tractor I stumbled across. The C.O.D. tractor. The tractor was actually named after the men who invested in the company, although there is controversy over who exactly it is named after, the names listed are Conrad, Ogard, and Daniel. It is believed 200 of these tractors were built by the Crookston, Minnesota, tractor company. Advertisement for the C.O.D. stated it was capable of doing all farm work, filing silos, grinding feed, threshing, and all other things needing a belt pulley. It could also plow, disc, harrow, and harvest! In 1919 the company collapsed and there are 5 known to exist today.
When I was young I asked my grandfather, Ames Mickelson, what was the biggest tractor that you ever drove. He answered, “ A Pioneer.” He said they pulled 14 bottoms with it. Wow! We were probably pulling 4-14s behind our G John Deere at this time, so fourteen seemed huge. I didn’t know what a Pioneer was at that time, I couldn’t Google it! When I got older I was watching a tractor video put out by Dupont advertising tractors painted with their paint, and low and behold there was a huge antique Pioneer tractor. The tractor in the video had 8 foot tall rear drive wheels. This must be like the tractor grandpa drove!
The Pioneer company actually started in Minneapolis, MN, in 1909. Then in 1910 they moved to Winona, MN. The first tractor they built was the 30-60, weighing over 20,000 pounds. It was manufactured to break up the Dakota prairie sod(which is where my grandfather drove one). More models were made but along with other companies the agricultural depression of the 1920s put an end to Pioneer tractors, although they did continue to make some road construction equipment. One problem was the price. Henry Ford was working to reduce the price of his tractors, but the Pioneer was selling for $2700 in 1911.
How about a little tractor trivia?
1. Pioneer had its factory in WInona, MN, but also they built one in this Canadian town.
A)Calgary, Alberta B) Winnipeg, Manitoba C) Kelvington, Saskatchewan
2. The Pioneer 30-60 had had drive wheels with a _______ diameter and a 24 inch face.
A) 6ft B) 7ft C) 8th
3. A C.O.D. 10-20 tractor sold for __________ in 1917.
A) $595 B) $700 C) $1000
4. T or F: The Flour City tractor company made a 40-70 mean forty hp on the drawbar and
70 hp on the belt.
5. T or F: The engines in the “Little Bull” tractor were made buy the Toro Motor Company.
Answers: 1. A. Calgary 2. C. 8ft 3. B. $700 4. True it was a huge tractor for the times.
5. True
Eric Mickelson
Green Magazine
RIchard's Publishing
Oklee, MN 56742
218-791-9157