Box 88, Milnor, North Dakota 58060.
I’m an avid reader of GEM. I think your readers would find
the following to be interesting, plus I need help.
I, Royce Granlund, am standing beside the antique C.O.D. tractor
I recently purchased to bring back into the Granlund family. My
grandfather, Emil Granlund, originally owned this tractor. This
C.O.D. tractor is back in the family after being gone since
1958.
My grandfather farmed northwest of DeLamere, North Dakota. The
tractor had served its purpose and was sitting in the trees for
many years on the farmstead when my brothers, sisters, and myself
used to play on it as kids.
In 1958 the old tractor was sold for scrap. Jimmy Rathert of
Forman, North Dakota found it in the scrap yard and bought it. He
in turn sold it to Jack Davis of Forman who managed to get the old
tractor restored and running again. At Mr. Davis’ estate sale,
Homer Linderman of Carrington, North Dakota bought it.
Five or six years ago, while talking with Jimmy and his son,
Rudy Rathert, we got to talking about the old C.O.D. Rathert
remembered it had gone somewhere near Carrington, North Dakota. One
weekend I went in search of the old tractor and after inquiring at
numerous farms I finally found the tractor.
While visiting with Mr. Linderman for several hours, I asked if
he would sell me the old tractor, but he said no, he didn’t
want to part with it. About two years ago Mr. Linderman passed
away, but I didn’t hear about this.
I noticed in the June issue of GEM a C.O.D. tractor in an
auction sale ad at Carrington, North Dakota. I called the party
having the sale and sure enough, it was Mr. Linderman’s C.O.D.
tractor. I decided to go to the auction and try to purchase it. My
brother Walter, friend Bob Glass, and I teamed up and bought the
tractor.
Now for the help part. Can anyone help me with any information
about the C.O.D. tractor? I found some information in the
Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors, but would appreciate more
information. I would like to know how to identify the proper year
it was built, does it have a serial number, proper color, type of
rear lugs, did it have a canopy or not, how many might have been
built, where there might be any others restored or not.
I think mine is a model ‘B’, but don’t know the year
for sure. It could possibly be a 1919 model. Can anyone relate any
stories about this tractor? Does anyone have any pictures of C.O.D.
tractors?