Saturday, August 7, 2010

My State Fair, Part III

At the far corner of the Fair, the antique farm equipment organization displayed some of their best pieces.  I loved the bright colors, the beautiful lines, the link to our agrarian past. 

Have you ever heard of an Oliver tractor?  This is a 1950 model "66."  Oliver began as the Oliver Chilled Plow Works in 1857; James Oliver merged his company with the Hart-Parr Company (which made tractors beginning in 1900) and two others in 1929.  The last Oliver green tractor was made in 1976.
I heard several young people exclaim "It looks like a tank!"  while I was getting the shot below.  It is a 1931 McCormick Deering "Trac TracTor."  Cyrus McCormick created his harvester in 1831 and patented it in 1834.  In 1873 William Deering began competing with McCormick with his version of the harvester.  Their companies and three others merged in 1902 under the hand of J.P. Morgan, and International Harvester was born.  The last International Harvester tractor was built in 1985. 

Here's an Allis Chalmers tractor. They made farm equipment in the United States from 1914 until 1985.
Here's an angle with a few of the tractors; love the bright colors. 
Below is a beautiful red and yellow Massey Harris, from a Canadian manufacturer that began making mechanical tractors in 1847, moved to Toronto in 1879 as Massey Mfg. Co., continued as Massey Harris in 1891, and then became Massey Ferguson in 1958.  I didn't photograph the plaque with this tractor's year, unfortunately.
A very old John Deere; a 1930 "D" model.
Next is an old John Deere seeder/planter on a period tractor.
Last is an Oliver seeder/planter.  The colors are striking! 
It was a nice walk through history...and the beautiful shapes and bright colors activated my artistic side a bit.  While I was there, two young guys (maybe 17-20 years old) walked through; one bragged to the other about his family's tractor and blew the "oooo-ga" horn for the kids.  I loved the fact that these young guys were so involved in farming--it gives me hope.

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