We give a fair amount of thought and
consideration to each issue of Farm Collector, but each
issue invariably takes on a life of its own. This issue, for
instance, showcases several rare and unusual tractors. We ended up
with an eclectic blend that includes the Yuba Ball Tread, Thieman
tractors, IH crawlers, Rumelys and a few steamers. What we didn’t
In this issue, Sam Moore completes a two-part profile on
Alexander Legge, who started his agricultural equipment career in
1891 with the McCormick Harvesting Machine Co. McCormick eventually
became part of International Harvester. By the late 1920s, under
Legge’s sure hand, Harvester was engaged in design of crawlers for
farm use, the subject of an article in this issue by Oscar Will.
Early crawlers also pop up in this issue’s installment of Iron Age
Ads, where we take a look at the Holt Caterpillar line during the
World War I era, and in a James Boblenz feature on a Yuba Ball
Tread tractor produced at about the same time.
Just as Harvester got its start with Cyrus Hall McCormick’s
reaper, the Rumely company (check out a couple of fine specimens in
the article on the Canandaigua Pageant of Steam in this issue)
started out building separators in 1853. In a 1911 parting of ways,
company President William N. Rumely left the company his father
founded. He went on to launch the Illinois Thresher Co. in
Sycamore, Ill., which is home today to an antique steam engine club
that celebrated its 50th anniversary last summer. At its golden
anniversary show, featured in this issue in an article by Lyle
Rolfe, the Northern Illinois Steam Power Club proudly displayed a
relic of the Rumely years in Sycamore: a 1916 Sycamore steam
engine.
A final connection in this issue: From all of us at Farm
Collector to each of you, our very best wishes for a happy
holiday season!
Leslie McManus, Editor
lmcmanus@ogdenpubs.com
