This is a photo of me and my grandfather, John Bailey, who was born in Kansas in 1896. This particular day it was too wet to plow, as evidenced by the straw and mud on the Farmall’s wheels. That is a 3-bottom 16-inch Minneapolis-Moline trip plow. The tractor’s serial number tag was gone. I now think it was a Rice R-9, as it had real wide tires and flat fenders. It also had a hand clutch. It had an LP engine; 60 gallons would run about 20 hours. In the picture we had already put the cans over the exhaust pipes. You can also see in the picture the backward tread on the rear wheel. That’s the spare. The cab could be from an early Ford Model TT. There was a small toolbox in each back corner of the cab. In cold weather, we put cardboard over the windows and it worked just fine. The old tractor did many years of hard work on my grandparents’ ranch west of La Veta, Colorado. My grandfather was a veteran of World War I. I am thankful to have been able to work and hunt with him for many years. This photo was taken in 1971. I was 20 years old; Grandpa was about 75.
Doug Bailey, La Veta, Colorado
