Thursday, July 05, 2012

A Project for After the Riding Season...

When I was just a little boy, back about 45 years ago, my father and his brother, Harry, bought a tractor. They used this little tractor to drag a trailer into the woods with all the gear they'd need for a week of Deer hunting at the shack. The "shack" was on 40 acres that they owned. It was near the Totagatic River Wildlife Area north of Hayward, WI. About a mile and a half off of the closest gravel road, through the woods, along what would later become a snowmobile trail. The shack was built in the early 1900's as a homestead. I can't imagine trying to live in it year round. The Black Flies and Deer Flies must have ate poor Knute Peterson, the homesteader, alive! Folks must have been a whole lot tougher back then!!
I found a few old pictures of the shack. The first one shows the shack and the wood pile at the end of the building. The wood pile was many rows deep and ran the width of it. The rifles hung in the cases outside. If you brought them in to the warm shack after being out in the cold all day, they'd be covered with condensation.

The second shows the plumbing facilities, the little white building on the right... an out house. That was a cold run in the winter! What you can't see is the "ice box", a small wooden box that hung outside on the wall and was used to keep refrigerated things cold.

In about 1975, my father had a heavy duty 4'x8' trailer made. It replaced the old green utility trailer that was made from a model A axle. The guy that built the new trailer for my father, used to build U-haul trailers. It's built like a tank. I still have it! That's my father on the left, me in the trailer, and my uncle Harry on the right.

Here's a picture of my father driving the little Allis-Chalmers model B through the woods, on the way to the shack.

My father's family has owned the same home in the city of Hayward since the early 1900's. My father grew up there, his brother and sister lived there even after their parents passed away. They continued to live there until they passed. When my father passed away in 1991, the family home became my mothers property. The tractor remained at the home until my mother started talking about selling the home.
I've keep the tractor with me since the early 1990's It has followed me through 6 different homes and a 13 year marriage.

A few days ago, I rented a car hauler trailer and went down to pick it up from a friends place in Minnesota. He stored it for me so I didn't have to worry about moving it up here last winter.
The tractor is a 1950, Allis-Chalmers, model B, with a PTO, a belt pulley, a hydraulic pump, lights, electric start and a distributor ignition. I know my father had talked about cleaning it up and giving it a fresh coat of A-C Persian Orange paint. He never lived long enough to see that project through. I guess that's been handed down to me to do.

The tractor is now finally back in the north woods of Wisconsin... It's home..

10 comments:

  1. Erik:

    You are lucky that you have something from your father, passed down to you. I have no heirlooms, no remembrances and hardly any photos. I'd imaging just looking at that A-C tractor brings back lots of memories

    bob
    Riding the Wet Coast
    My Flickr // My YouTube

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    1. Thanks Bob, I was lucky to go with him and Uncle Harry out to the shack for a few deer seasons. We never got a deer, but the important thing was not the deer, but getting away from home and work and getting a little father-son time. It's too bad I didn't get more of that. But when you're 17, bonding time is the last thing you think about... work, school, cars and girls got in the way! Too bad I can't go back in time...

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  2. Very cool Erik. I also have fond memories of an orange tractor from my childhood, but I think the old man in your story had bigger balls. I can't believe anyone could survive out there like that. Amazing.

    Brady
    Behind Bars

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    1. Brady, I spent a few deer seasons out there. It was kind of neat in a rustic way. I don't think that life style would have worked for me full time though. There was wood to chop, a wood stove to keep going. The water came from a hole in the ground, and we had to break the ice out of the hole every morning. Fun times, but too rough for me now!

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  3. I spent lots of time on my uncle's farm; they were Ford 9N/8N guys early on. Their older neighbor, who my brother would go and help often, had an orange B w/o PTO, just the belt. It was different, odd and cool compared to the red, grey and blue ones we were around. Ah, good memories......

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    1. Yup, there's something cool about old tractors whether they're red, green, orange, blue or gray!

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    2. If you get up this way, you'll have to stop by, say hello, and check it out.

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  5. That is so awesome that you still have that tractor. I bet you think of your Dad and days spent with him every time you see it.

    I can't imagine living in the shack year round. Of course, back then you just did what you had to do. We are certainly softer now aren't we?

    Sorry - deleted my last post - bad spelling mistake and a sentence made no sense. I must need more coffee.

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    1. Thanks, I have wonderful memories of my Mom and Dad.

      Yes, it would be nice for us to be able to edit our own comments.

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