H.A. Wetmore Turned Adversity into Advantage
Iowa businessman invents tractor after losing Waterloo Boy dealership
October 2009
Loretta Sorensen
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Entrepreneur and inventor H.A. “Harry” Wetmore.
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Editor’s note: This brief biography of H.A. Wetmore and his company is in addition to “The Wetmore Tractor,” Loretta Sorensen’s article on Wayne and Roxie Ebright’s restored circa-1920 Wetmore.
Traction supremacy was the hallmark H.A. “Harry” Wetmore lauded in advertising the tractor he designed and built in Sioux City, Iowa, from 1919 to approximately 1938.
Early ads crowed, “Wetmore 12-25 Holds the World’s Plowing Record.” Writers hailed the tractor’s ability to handle “three plows in heavy gumbo 9 inches deep,” conditions that offered little resistance to the innovative tractor.
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“At Fresno, Calif., it was put to work in a field spotted with hard ground and loose soft sand with the thermometer registering 110 degrees – a most severe test for any tractor,” the ad continued. “In the face of these conditions, the Wetmore 12-25 pulled three disc plows on second speed, 14 inches deep, without a halt at a speed of a little over 1/3 mile in five minutes [or 4 mph]. The fuel cost was extraordinarily low because on second speed you deliver all your power direct to drives and no transmission gears are at work.”
An enterprising businessman and inventor, Wetmore launched several successful undertakings before tackling tractor design. From 1901-08, he operated an automobile and farm implement dealership in Anthon, Iowa. During that time he also manufactured a flexible harrow of his own design and sold more than 1,800.
In 1908, Wetmore moved to Sioux City, then Iowa’s second largest city (population 61,000). For the next 10 years he sold a variety of automobiles and became a successful distributor of Waterloo Boy tractors, selling 1,000 units.