A Woodcutting Saga

Iowa Tractor Boys is a Blog dedicated to Memories and also Current Events involving Tractor Boys. Recently my sibling Brother shared this story with me.

It was either January or February 2006 and my Sibling Brother and a Nephew were enjoying a few adult beverages during a Blizzard. Never to be outdone by the story of long ago when our Father took us to the Woods to cut firewood when the temperature was 45 degrees below zero and the school buses could not run because it was too cold these two males determined that it would be a great day to cut firewood. Therefore they traveled the total of two miles to the Timber which is located on an outcropping near the Mississippi River to cut down a tree. This Timber has been in the family since 1946, when our Father purchased the twenty acres for a mere $40.00 an acre.

The challenge of traveling to the Timber and the fact that they would cut down a tree was a real challenge and these two males were looking for excitement to spice up the long nights of Winter. They took the John Deere 2030 (shown above) and fitted it with the wood handler on the three point hitch. My sibling Brother, being the older of the two determined that he would not hurt this John Deere in as much as he had spend many hours in bringing it back to Factory Fresh condition just a few years prior. In fact he had stated that he would never take it into the woods. That promise was thrown aside as they both sought excitement. My sibling has reported that this saga does have a happy ending. The tractor hardly got a scratch and they harvested a generous supply of fire wood.

Thank You, Sibling Brother for this Saga.

Please note that this John Deere Tractor was new in 1974. The home in the background is now owned by the Sibling Brother. It was new in 1952 and our parents raised six wonderful children there. The farm is a small one by today's standards, but 80 acres plus rental acres allowed our parents to raise us all in an adequate manner.

Iowa Tractor Boy

On July 23rd I introduced you to the original Iowa Tractor Boy. I did not post a picture of this great inventor, but I did have some pictures from the museum. Today, I received a postcard from this museum so the above picture allows you to obtain a better view of this "First Gasoline Traction Engine."

Along with the post card was a lovely T-Shirt from Iowa and obtained at the Froelich Museum concerning the invention of this Traction Engine. A special "Thank You" to the photographer and family member who forwarded the post card and the Shirt.

Current Events

Iowa Tractor Boys

This is an image of an Iowa Tractor Boy taking round hay bales from a transport trailer to a storage shed. This handling equipment certainly makes this task much easier. The Flower Child has many memories of stacking sixty pound square bales on a wagon to be transported to a barn and then again stacking them inside the barn for use during the Winter for feel to Dairy and Beef Cattle. This handling system is certainly much easier and also quicker.

Every consumer of food stuff knows that for the Farmer to remain competive and still generate an income to remain solvent that new technology and methods must be employed. What you are viewing in the above picture is a crop duster approaching a Corn Field near Kale Avenue in Clayton County, Iowa. The duster is spreading a treatment to "kill the fungus that grows on the ears of the corn." This should allow a higher corn yield. The crop on the left is a planting of Soybeans and the target corn field for the duster is on the right side of the road. The crop dusting firms travel the corn belt and start in Texas and travel North to provide their services to the Farmers. Young Farmers embrace new technology in an effort to produce higher yields all in the goal of continuing to produce the most at the least cost to us City Folk. As a former "Iowa Tractor Boy," I can appreciate this concept. The dusting companies are from Missouri and Texas.

This is a picture of a "square baling rig" baling straw for use in a Dairy Barn. Note the automated equipment behind the baler. This system shoots the square bale into the high sided wagon. No longer do Iowa Farm Boys have to stack the bales on the Wagons. Note the Tractor and empty Wagon in the background ready to take the full wagon to the barn so that the straw bales may be stowed for use this Winter. The farmstead in the Background is where I was an Iowa Tractor Boy from 1941 through 1961 which was the year I joined the U. S. Navy. I always stated that if I had a nickel for every hay and straw bale I stacked on a wagon behind a baler that I would indeed be a rich person. I enjoyed the job of stacking bales on the wagon more than being the persons who placed the bales on an elevator to run into a tall barn or even the person who stacked the bales in the barn. To be fair, in my youth, my Sibling Sisters put the bales on the elevator and my Sibling Brother stacked them inside the Barn. They were younger than me and I enjoyed stacking bales on the wagon with the frequent cool breeze that often passed by. This was much more pleasant than stacking bales inside the Barn or even loading the elevator.

"The Original Iowa Tractor Boy"

In 1892, John Froelich invented the first successful gasoline powered engine. He operated a wheat threshing rig which required a steam engine to power the threshing machine. Because of the prairie fire hazard of these behemoth wood fired steam engines, John developed the gasoline powered engine. To learn more about this accomplishment, please visit:

http://www.froelichtractor.com/tractor.htm

This is an image of this gasoline traction engine, as it was known then. It is in a local museum in Froelich, Iowa in Clayton County. This tractor concept was then purchased by a group of investors in Waterloo, Iowa and the gasoline powered tractor was known at "The Waterloo Boy."

Shown here is a 1892 Froelich Traction Tractor. You will note that this was the tractor on display on the 100th anniversary.

The Burlingame General Store in Froelich, Iowa, which is now the mecca of Iowa Farm Boys who are visiting Froelich, Iowa to acquire information about the "Original Iowa Tractor Boy."

This image was taken on Sunday, July 22, 2007 as a Tractorcade was being assembled to travel from Froelich, Iowa to Clear Lake, Iowa. The Tractorcade is sponsored by a radio station in Clear Lake. What a neat way to highlight the accomplishments of John Froelich and the importance of the gasoline traction engine first built in 1892. You will note that there are tractors in this picture that are not green and yellow. We all know that the green and yellow colors belong on John Deere Tractors and other Farm Equipment. You must also know that the Waterloo Boy Tractor Company was later purchased by the John Deere Company in 1918 for $2,350,000.00.

Now you know the early history of the John Deere Tractor Company and the very first Iowa Tractor Boy of Froelich, Iowa. Should you be motivated to learn more and also see first hand the activities the annual celebration in Froelich, Iowa which is held during the last weekend of September please be aware that the original Traction Engine through the lastest John Deere Tractor will be on display.The "Flower Child" gratefully acknowledges that the pictures contained in this Blog were acquired by a member of the Family on Sunday, July 22, 2007. Froelich, Iowa is a mere seventeen miles from the birthplace of "Flower Child" near Clayton, Iowa.

John Deere, Dubuque, Iowa Tractor Works

The John Deere, Dubuque Tractor Works recently celebrated sixty years as a production plant manufacturing the small John Deere Tractors along with Crawlers. This celebration was named: "Full Throttle Day." Here you are viewing the gallery of some of the Tractors built in Dubuque. This factory is located alongside the Mississippi River and in the Northeast corner of Iowa. To become an employee of this manufacturer you must pass a fourteen step program of screenings, testing and physicals.

This John Deere Tractor fitted with a sickle mower is not in the traditional John Deere Paint because it was built for a Department of Transportation deployment as a roadside mower to reduce the amount of weeds and also tall grasses along side the roads. If my memory serves me correctly this model was manufactured in the 1950s era.

The "Flower Child" has two nephews who currently work at the John Deere, Dubuque, Iowa Tractor Works. They are both welders. Many years ago, Flower Child's Dad was a Fork Lift operator at this same factory. He worked in the shipping department and one of his favorite stories was way back during the Cold War when our country was selling farming and construction equipment to the former USSR. He always told us about shipping buckets to be fitted on crawlers which the Soviets had bought. Their original contract did not require the buckets. The buckets were ordered after the crawlers arrived in Russia. The cost of the buckets was a fair amount of money, but the shipment of the buckets was much more expensive than the cost of the buckets.

Of course My Dad always quickly informed us that the Soviets were using money from the U. S. A. to make the purchases.

Beef on the Hoof

Iowa Tractor Boys also enjoy fine food. Here you see some fine Steaks, Filets and even Hamburger being nurtured in a range free environment. The brood cows at the hay feeder and the yearlings in the pasture are all part of the future "Meat Lover's" Diet.