Illinois 62613
I have been a reader of the Gas Engine Magazine ever since it
has been introduced, but I have not seen many stories of Crawler
Tractors so I will state some observation.
In the summer of 1932, State Highway 58 was rebuilt between
LaValle, Wisconsin and the Juneau County Line. The contractor for
the grading was Fred Kutzke of Brooklyn, Wisconsin. I still
remember the day he moved his equipment in and set up camp on our
farm. I was fascinated by the machinery which consisted of four
Caterpillar ’60’ tractors and one new Caterpillar
’65’ tractor. Compared to the earth moving equipment of
today the tractors and scrapers of that day seem very small.
One of the Caterpillar ’60’ tractors pulled a
Caterpillar sixty leaning wheel Grader. As for scrapers the
contractor used two ‘Highway’ 5? yard self-loading scrapers
made by the Highway Trailer Company of Edgerton, Wisconsin. The
other combinations were: three 1? yard Euclid self-loading scrapers
made by the Euclid Crane and Hoist Company of Euclid, Ohio and two
‘Warco’ wheeled scoops made by the W. A. Riddel Company of
Bucyrus, Ohio. However, later thatsummer the Euclid and Warco
scrapers were replaced with revolving scrapers.
I spent quite a lot of time watching this apparatus at work. The
one thing that intrigued me most of all was watching the operators
start the ’60’and ’65’ Caterpillar tractors using a
bar which slipped into holes in the flywheel.
One day in July the Drott Tractor Company of Madison, Wisconsin
brought out a new ‘Allis-Chalmers’ Model L crawler tractor
for a demonstration. This tractor was equipped with an electric
starter. As I recall, the Allis Chalmers tractor could go faster
after the scraper was filled, but the Caterpillar ’65’ had
more lugging power. I have been a Caterpillar booster ever since
then.
In the summer of 1938, Wm. Lothers, Jr. of Madison was the
contractor when Highway 23 was rebuilt between Logan-ville and
Reedsburg, Wisconsin. He was using ‘Cletrac’ Model FD
crawler tractors and ‘Heil’ dig’n carry scrapers. This
was the only time I ever saw Cletrac crawler machines at work.
The Sauk County Highway Department used an Allis Chalmers
‘L–O’ crawler for plowing snow in LaValle Township in the
winter of 1936. Then in the summer, they used it for grading the
roads. As late as 1951, Sauk County still owned a Caterpillar
Diesel ’75’ track-type tractor and used it for grading and
rebuilding county and township roads.
Quite a few years later I saw an International 7D-9 crawler
tractor at work grading roads in Inka Township, Marion County,
Illinois. This was the only International crawler tractor I ever
saw at work on a road grader.
I hope that more readers of the Gas Engine Magazine will write
articles on crawler tractor experiences.
A Bull Tractor shredding corn and threshing. This tractor was
very popular about 1912 in this locality and gave very good
service, pulling 2-12 plows in good shape. Also, made the small
threshers very popular. The thresher was a Williams made somewhere
in the Eastern States.
The Bull Tractors were made in Minnesota at the time, but later
were taken over by Allis-Chalmers. Had a two cylinder opposed motor
which gave good service in their day.