The
need for tractors originated when humans first began to till
the soil. When early man scratched in the dirt to prepare
the soil to receive the seed, he pulled a stick or so me
kind of sharp object. For thousands of years animals were
used to make this important task more efficient. Oxen, water
buffalo, mules, and horses were domesticated to till the
earth's soil so that mankind could plant crops.
It
was not until the turn of the century that serious
consideration was given to motorized traction. My forebears
had been farming with animals for hundreds of years. My
father and mother started farming in Meade County with
horses and mules. I, however, was born too late to learn how
to drive a team of horses with a plough or some other
implement in tow.
My
father bought his first tractor in the1920's. Actually,
tractors had been around for some time but he had not owned
one before this. This tractor was a 15-30 McCormick Deering
International. It was not the largest model they made nor
was it the smallest. Most farmers in Meade County who had
the International tractor found the 22-36 to be more
adaptable to the type of farming which was in vogue there at
that time. The 15-30, which my father had, was one size
smaller.
Farming in Western Kansas in the 1920's and 1930's did not
require a large outlay in farm equipment. If you had a
tractor, a one-way plough, and a seed drill, you could put
in a crop. When the tractor replaced horse- power,
possibilities unlimited existed for the aspiring farmer. It
is no wonder that even today we use the term "horsepower" to
rate the performance capacity of engines.
During the 30's and 40's when I when growing up, there was
not a large variety of tractors in our community. While
there were a few Case tractors and maybe a
Minneapolis-Moline or two, most of them were McCormick
Deering International or John Deer. There were significant
differences between these two. While both were powerful and
useful, they looked different, were operated differently,
and they certainly sounded different. Most of the John Deers
in use were the D model, which compared in size and pulling
power to the 22-36 International. The International was a
reddish color and the John Deer was a bright green. The
sound of the International's four cylinder engine could be
described as a gentle roar, while the two cylinder John Deer
made sort of a rhythmic poping sound when it ran. The were
nick-named "Johnny-pops." The International was started with
a hand crank which protruded from the front, just under the
radiator, while the John Deer had to be started by spinning
the big fly wheel which was mounted on its left side.
Some
of the more prosperous farmers, who had many acres to farm,
experimented with their 22-36 tractors, looking for ways to
make them more efficient. They invented a devise which
allowed them to hook two tractors together, thus doubling
the pulling power of an already powerful tractor. Someone
also invented a self-guide, which extended out in front of
the tractor. A small wheel was mounted on this extension and
it closely followed the furrow, making it possible for the
operator to enjoy the ride, not needing to steer except to
turn the corners.
The
15-30 International was not a mechanical monster, but to a
small boy it seemed so at first. The early tractors did not
have rubber tires. They came equipped with lugs, which were
sharp, triangular iron grips, attached to the rear wheels.
This provided almost unlimited traction in the field.
Tractors with lugs were prohibited from driving on paved
roads but this was never a problem for us as we did not live
or farm near a hard surfaced roadway.
The
gasoline engine was very noisy. It had to be started with a
crank, and if everything was in order it was quite easy to
start. Often, however, the operator had to turn the crank
many times before the engine could be persuaded to come to
life. It was back breaking work and also dangerous and also
contributed to extended vocabulary development on the part
of the operator. Many an arm was fractured when the engine
backfired and the crank suddenly whipped around in a
counter-clock wise spin.
The
tractor had an iron seat, very much like the ones used on
horse-drawn farm implements. It never occurred to anyone to
try to make these early tractors comfortable or safe. The
operator was perched over the drawbar, with an iron steering
wheel in front of him. The 15-30 had a clutch petal and a
steel lever to shift the gears. It had a low gear, which was
used for the heaviest pulling, and a second gear, which was
used for most fieldwork. The third gear was used mostly for
travel on the road or light work. There was also, of course,
a reverse gear, so that the iron horse could be backed up
and hitched to whatever implement was to be used.
There were many reasons why this tractor would prove to be a
challenge for a small boy to operate. To turn the engine
over with the crank required the strength and stamina of a
grown man. The clutch pedal was too far away from the seat,
and a boy's short leg would just barely reach it, and if he
could reach it, he would not have the strength to push it
all the way forward. The gearshift lever was also to far
away for him to manipulate. If he should manage to get all
of the above done, he would be faced with the difficult task
of steering the beast with a steering mechanism that had not
been designed for small arms to maneuver. In short, the
15-30 was not small boy friendly.
But
there was a way around this. After all, when a boy is eight
years old he wants to become a tractor driver and many a
father is anxious to initiate his growing son into the
fraternity. I would often ride with my father on the
tractor. There was ample room for a boy to stand beside the
seat or sit on the fender, just above the big wheel with the
iron lugs. Sometimes he would let me sit in the seat and
steer the tractor and after a while I was able to wrestle
with the steering apparatus and persuade the tractor to turn
the corners. Since we worked all of our ground with the
one-way plough, we always drove in the same direction and
the corners were all to the left.
When
I was able to keep the right front wheel in the furrough and
successfully turn the corners, my father would sometimes
jump off and let me go round after round by myself. When it
was time to stop, he would climb aboard while the machine
was under way, and take over driving duties.
As
time went on, I mastered all of the controls and even was
able to crank the engine. During the early 40's, as drought
and depression receded, farmers began to see a bit of a
profit as wheat prices rose. Soon a major improvement became
available for tractors all over western Kansas. Steel wheels
were being replaced with rubber tires, and this is what we
did with our 15-30. Soon tractors all over the county were
running more smoothly. Such was progress.
But
rubber tires were not the only advancement being sought by
these Kansas farmers. They had just suffered through a
devastating drought, much of their soil had moved south with
the infamous dust bowl winds, and they were ready to recoup
their losses. As the rain came and wheat yields improved,
many were looking for more land to farm, and for newer, more
efficient equipment.
My
father was also thinking of replacing the old 15-30. The
second big war had just begun, and while there was a tractor
dealer in every small town, new tractors were in short
supply. He went to Branans in Meade and signed up for a new
W-6 International. Many farmers had signed up and everyone
had to wait their turn. I couldn't wait to get the new
tractor, but as the months passed I almost gave up hope. One
day the call came. But it was a mixed message. They were
getting a new Farmall M, and the farmer who had signed for
it had decided not to take it. Since we were next on the
list, they offered it to us.
So
it was that we traded in the old 15-30 for a brilliant, red
Farmall M. The Farmall had been designed for row crop work
with the two front wheels set close together on the front
axle. When pulling a heavy load, such as a 12-foot oneway
plough, it became very difficult to turn the corners,
because the front wheels did not provide enough resistance
to counter the forward drive of the large back wheels. Thus
individual brakes were provided so that one of the back
wheels could be stopped while the other continued to drive,
and this made it easier to negotiate the corners. This also
put a lot of ware on the left brake drum and it became a
routine task to change the worn drum at regular intervals.
The
Farmall, however, was a wonderful tractor for use in front
of the wheat drill and the combine. When cutting wheat you
could make the turns so sharp that the combine would back up
just enough to make a square corner, thus not leaving any
standing wheat which would need to be cut later. It became a
matter of pride for the tractor operator to keep the corners
clean.
It
was also a great road machine. When traveling between fields
in road gear it could run twenty miles per hour, which
incidentally, was too fast for any implement you might be
trailing. It was also quite light in the front, so that,
when pulling heavy loads, the front end had a tendency to
raise up, and if the power was not cut quickly, it could
come over on its top, with the operator pinned beneath it.
This
then, was the extent of my experience with tractors during
my boyhood. It was only later, when I worked for other
farmers as a college student or during my early days as a
teacher that I had the opportunity to operate larger, more
powerful tractors. I will always cherish the memory of the
old 15-30 and the new M. They were not the biggest and the
best, but they were reliable companions on many a long day
under the Kansas sun. The sound of their engines is music to
my ears even today.
