Route 4, Box 160-A, Bolivar, Tennessee 38008.
This is a steam traction engine manufactured by the Harrison
Machine Works of Belleville, Illinois in 1895. This tractor is the
14 horsepower ‘Jumbo’ model. The wheels are 6? feet in
diameter and weigh one ton each. The tractor itself weighs 13,400
pounds. The tractor is powered by a steam boiler and has chain
The tractor was originally purchased by Frank Robertson of
Crockett Mills, Tennessee, from the Harrison Machine Works. It was
shipped by steamboat from Belleville, Illinois down the Mississippi
River to Memphis and then by rail to Bells, Tennessee. Then it was
fired and taken to Crockett Mills, Tennessee, where it was used to
run a sawmill, grist mill and threshing machine. These machines
mentioned above were powered by attaching a belt to the flywheel on
the left side of the tractor. It was later owned by Aylmer Perry of
Crockett Mills, Tennessee, and was used primarily to run a sawmill
until the mid 1930s.
Our research reveals that there are only two tractors of this
year and model in running condition in the United States. The
owners, Randel Richardson of Alamo, Tennessee, and Danny Jacobs of
Bolivar, Tennessee, had the engine renovated by Joe Graziana of
Wood River, Illinois, and hope to eventually place the tractor in a
museum or public display of some type.
