RR 1, Box 63, Avoca, Iowa 51521
It’s always somewhat difficult to start writing a story, so
I suppose I’ll start by stating that I was born in Marshall
County, Kansas. Our 80-acre farm overlooked the Big Blue River
Valley, near a small town of Irving, Kansas. The year was 1931 and
some will remember that that year was still influenced by the Great
Depression.
When I was 6 years old, I attended Prairie Ridge Country School
District 55. It was a one-room school, to which I walked a mile
each day. My teachers have told me in later years that I was always
greatly interested in anything mechanical and especially gas
engines and tractors. My father was a horse farmer and I enjoyed it
immensely when our neighbors on either side would work their
fields. On the one side was a ‘regular’ Farmall with its
smooth purr which never changed tone to any great extent. On the
other was a ‘D’ or GP John Deere. I always enjoyed
listening to it, as we could always tell when that neighbor would
hit a hard piece of ground when plowing. There was something
special about the sound of an old John Deere when her governor
would open.
I suppose I’ll always be partial to John Deere. The only
power we had of that sort was a 3 HP New Way. My parents had lost
almost everything in the Great Depression, but Dad had managed to
keep his horses and his New Way. There were small items of interest
such as his forge. I recall pulling the handle to operate the
blower as he would heat plow lays and things of that nature. I
would often daydream of how those gears must work in the rachet on
the forge and longed to take it apart to see.
I recall that, during school, when I could convince the teacher
I had my lessons ‘down pat’, she would allow me to play. I
once recall making a model of a steam engine out of a paper tube
and bits and pieces of our ‘Indian’ tablet back. I had made
a paper tube cylinder with a paper and card stock piston. When the
flywheel was turned it would blow dust out of the exhaust stack.
This would distract all the other kids in the room, although there
wasn’t any noise they would all watch it work instead of doing
their work. Teacher would smile and retire the engine to the top of
the piano until recess, at which time I would be flooded with
questions on how it worked.
About the time I was to graduate from the 8th grade, our school
was closed in favor of consolidation. By this time I had grown up
and formed my own opinion of how the world should be managed. Dad
and I arrived at a difference of opinion and I went my way to make
a a life of my own. As the years went by, I always remembered the
old New Way.
Several years later I had married and had a fine young son of my
own. I wished that we could have a New Way to play with together.
Luckily my son is also interested in John Deere tractors and all
makes of gas engines. We subscribed to Gas Engine Magazine
and would read the For Sale ads looking for a 3 HP New Way. They
seemed such a high-priced engine, we didn’t expect to ever buy
one. However, when Mr. Albert Eshelman closed his gas engine and
tractor show at Elliot, Iowa, Roger (his son) decided to sell some
of his engines also. My son and I contacted Roger, as he had a 3 HP
New Way. (One thing about the Eshelman family their engines are
exactly as they are represented.) After a lot of conversation and
several visits, we agreed on a price for his New Way. It took time
to get her home.
Before we hauled home our trophy, Mother, David & I went on
a little vacation to visit old friends and relatives in Kansas. One
of the families we visited was the Lewis Loper family at Garnet.
They were one of my adopted families when I first left home to work
out as a kid. They still live on a beautiful farm nestled in a
valley with lots of trees and a pond that is stocked with fish. All
in all, a very nice place. One evening their son, Norman, and our
son, David, went fishing. We old folks later went to see if they
had had any luck. While walking around the area, I saw a dandy pair
of iron wheels and an axle by some other old iron. I asked Lewis
what it was and he said the front wheels from an old John Deere hay
loader. I guess it was a machine pulled behind a rack that lifted
the hay up, though I have never seen one work. He said
‘Mama’ wanted he and Norman to do something ornamental
along the drive with them. They were about 28′ in diameter and,
of course, I could envision a wagon to haul a gas engine. Later, I
saw a similar pair of wheels laying behind the barn. They were also
John Deere wheels but only about 24′ in diameter. Later I
cornered ‘Mama Loper’ and asked her about the wheels. It
took some talking but finally she was convinced that it would be a
dreadful waste to bury those nice wheels halfway in the ground.
When we were ready to leave the next day, Mrs. Loper smiled and
told me I had forgotten to load my wheels. We were really pleased
and scurried around to take them apart and see that they were
loaded. My wife joked about us boys and our junk and told us to not
scratch her suitcases.
When we arrived home after our vacation and everyone was back to
their everyday routine, I kept thinking about how this wagon should
be built. I’m a carpenter so it’s easier for me to think in
wood. I sent an order to one of the gas engine book companies. I
bought a copy of the New Way catalog D11. Inside were pictures of
the 6,7, and 8 HP engines on wagons similar to the one I wanted to
build. Consequently, I copied as close as I could with wood. The
book said steel frame, but I chose 2×6 boards instead. We had our
local lumber yard mix gold paint for striping. I personally like
John Deere yellow best. It seems to stand out better against the
John Deere green. I drew the daisies freehand. We then transferred
them from the paper to the boards with a common carbon paper. I
measured out the striping and used white masking tape for a paint
guide.
I have been told John Deere Plow Co. bought out the New Way Co.
The book I have says ‘by JD Plow Co.’ on the front. The
engine we have has dates from 1904 to 1908. I felt that, if this
was the case, a New Way should ride on genuine JD wheels and have
JD colors. We hope to have the engine repainted complete with
daisies and pin striping for next summer’s shows.
We took her to two shows this last summer one at Irwin, Iowa,
where it misted both days. Sunday it cleared enough to have a
parade. Everyone scurried around and prepared their rigs. We asked
Mr. Donald Schultz of Macedonia, Iowa, to pull our wagon with his
newly restored 112 International tractor. The parade route was
muddy and all wheels balled up, but everyone enjoyed it anyway.
There was a very good turnout, considering the bad weather.
The second show was at a farm just west of our town. It’s
called The Carsten Farmstead. We had nice dry weather; however, we
didn’t unload our New Way wagon from the trailer. This is a new
place and doesn’t have a loading dock yet. We started her up
for people to see and hear.
Also this past summer, our niece visited from Ogden, Utah. She
is a photographer and took black and white as well as color photos
of our new toy, two of which are shown on these pages.
