1997 SHOW REPORT- ALBANY PIONEER DAYS

By Staff
Published on October 1, 1998
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Some of the different crawlers that made Pioneer Days a great show.
Some of the different crawlers that made Pioneer Days a great show.
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Large and small, we welcomed them all!!
Large and small, we welcomed them all!!
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This interesting unit was a part of the 'Tracks' show.
This interesting unit was a part of the 'Tracks' show.
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The 'muckers' were used to build roads. They are also called elevating graders.
The 'muckers' were used to build roads. They are also called elevating graders.

35747 County Road 10 Albany, Minnesota 56307

The 23rd annual Albany Pioneer Days Threshing Show was held at
the show grounds at Albany, Minnesota, on September 12, 13, and 14,
1997. It was billed as the ‘Year of the Tracks’ and
featured all construction equipment and also antique and vintage
snowmobiles.

The equipment came from near and far to make ‘tracks’ to
the Albany Show. The snow mobile part of the feature was very
interesting and brought machines from many states. Some of the
machines that made the journey to Albany were from manufacturers
that no longer exist. These included names like Wheel horse, John
Deere (300, 400, 500, & 600 models), Foxtrac, Herters Husky,
Moto-ski, Sno Jet, Evinrudes, Johnson Skeehorse, a ‘T’
Bird, J.C. Penney Man handler, Columbia, Bolens, several Kitty
Cats, a double Eagle Raider, Johnson Challenger, Snow-Pony, Trail
master, a number of Rupps, a Trailblazer, The Trade winds, a
Mercury Cougar, and even a Model A snowmobile with metal tracks and
a 1962 Auto boggan. There were lots of different models from the
current manufacturers. Polaris models included the Mustang, Colt,
Playmate, Comet, a number of Snow-Travelers, Charger, and a TX-L.
Some of the models of the Ski Doo Company were an Olympic, the
Alpine with twin track and reverse, a 1973 with cutter, Nordic,
Elan, and even a very nice original Elite with the double seat.
Artic Cat was well represented with many of their different models,
some of which included the Cheetah, a Panther, 170D, and a 101 made
in 1962. There were over 115 different snowmobiles registered.
Definitely a nice showing for a piece of equipment that is not
featured very often at our antique engine shows. The Club thanks
all the exhibitors who got those old sleds out of storage, even
though the snow wasn’t flying yet.

The crawler and construction equipment part of the featured
‘tracks’ was also a huge success. One of the things that
most spectators really enjoyed and appreciated was the fact that
not only could you look at all the old and BIG equipment but you
could also watch many of those massive machines actually do some
work. The heavy equipment put on quite a show as they scraped away
a high hill and filled a low area in the neighbor’s field.
Seeing the giant old HD 41 Allis crawler push the mountains of
dirt, working side by side with the newer modern version of power,
the D10N Caterpillar, was a spectacular sight. We thank Minerath
Construction for the extra effort to get the big D10 to the show on
time. They had to shut down the job they were on in Iowa a half-day
early so they could get their gigantic machine hauled to the show
grounds in time for the show.

There were over 120 crawlers and numerous other pieces of
construction equipment displayed. Crawler names included: J. D.
Lindeman’s, M.C.s, 450 Cs, 420s, a number of 350 Case’s,
quite a few Cletracs, a 1945 Avery, a 1929 Monarch, a 1921 Best
’60’ (a really rare item), and a Minneapolis Moline
crawler, of which there were only 100 built. There was a 1960
Motrac crawler, and two Terratrac crawlers also arrived with nice
new paint. Ford was also on display, as there were numerous
Ford-sons on tracks and a 1952 8N Ford with Arps tracks registered,
too. Even the littlest ‘crawlers’ were in attendance with
some home-built machines and some factory-built ones like the
little Kitty Katt 600, and the C. F. Struck Company mini dozer. The
Allis name was well represented with models starting from the huge
HD41 to an HD69, HD3,a 1936 L, a 1934 K-O and a model K. There were
a couple of little Allis Ms pulling some of the small scrapers. A
C108 Allis pull scraper also was used to move some dirt. The
Caterpillar elevating graders (muckers) put on a good demonstration
showing how this equipment was used to build roads many years ago.
The number of Caterpillar crawlers was pretty impressive. Some of
the models that were seen were: the No. 10, 15, 20, 22, 30, 60, 70,
and the D2, D3, D4w/dozer, D6, D7, D8, a D9, a D2w/Balder son
dozer, another D7 and an R4, and even a 1/16
scale D 11 got in on the act. There was also a 2-ton with a
Baker-Maney scraper, a 5-ton and two 10-ton Holts. There was a
variety of old scrapers and road graders along with some very
unusual machines like a big dragline, a Bucyrus-Erie 10-B shovel,
and a completely restored old Marion steam shovel that was steamed
up and demonstrated digging all three days.

Right beside it stood its scale replica named Mary Ann, built by
one of the owners. Another unusual machine was a V 110 Cleveland
tilling machine and roll over scraper. A Cleveland crawler also was
on display. One young exhibitor was very excited about his new
‘old’ find, a Parsons 250 Trench-liner. A 1923 Case steam
roller showed how those machines were used to pack the roads when
they were being built. One exhibitor brought a 1968 Jet Star 3
Minneapolis Moline Vibra-trac Roller, and another brought a MM R
Industrial with a sweeper. There were a number of IH crawlers in
the line-up, too, like a T20, T35, T40, T6, TD6, T9 & D9, T14,
TD18 and pull scraper, a TD24, and a TD30 that was used to push
scrapers. Even the really old Len hart dump-wagons made their
appearance. There were many other odd machines put to use once
again and it was truly a nice sight to see.

This was the biggest show our club had ever had. This year’s
show, which will be held on September 18, 19, and 20, 1998, will be
featuring vintage ‘garden tractors’ and will be on the
other end of the size spectrum. Come join us for lots of good
old-fashioned fun.

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