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Antique Grader

Started by Tillaway, February 02, 2003, 04:45:14 PM

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Tillaway


Look what I found last December.  My camera was out of film so I didn't get back to this spot until last month.

It is a Wehr One Man Power Grader powered by a Fordson tractor with an track conversion by an unknown source.  It is a mid 1920's vintage and almost entirely complete.

I had never seen anything like before. 8)
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

Fla._Deadheader

That's pretty neat. I love old equipment. Really makes ya appreciate todays toys.
All truth passes through three stages:
   First, it is ridiculed;
   Second, it is violently opposed; and
   Third, it is accepted as self-evident.

-- Arthur Schopenhauer (1788-1860)

Ron Scott

What kind of site or related job site was it found on, old mine site or whatever? Any info on possible ownership? Interesting find.
~Ron

Tillaway

Ron,
It is at an old homestead / Goldmine.  The road into it no longer usable  ::).  It is in private property but the owner is a large public corporation now so I don't know if they own it or if it is still owned by the original family that lived there.  Either way I think it will be a beuracratic mess gettin the OK the retrieve it.  I'm pretty sure the corporation does not know it is there and family members may be hard to track down.
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

Paul_H

Nice one Tillaway.
Old iron is just as interesting rusting in the bush,as it is restored.Maybe even more so in the bush,makes you wonder who ran them,what they sounded like.The old grease smell is unique too.

I have often thought about going all over the country(fields&bush) and photographing old rusted equipment in repose,and putting together a coffee table type of book.

I'll probably never do it,but I would buy one in an instant.
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Bro. Noble

I've always liked old machinery and have collected and restored a few pieces.  I think the most interesting ,however, are pieces like this old grader that a person is lucky enough to stumble across.  The same with old buildings------gets your mind to wondering how things were.

Thanks for sharing that with us.

Noble
milking and logging and sawing and milking

Weekend_Sawyer

I have an early 30s crawler in my yard. When people ask what I am going to do with it I tell them, "nothing, it's lawn art!"

Hope you can recover it.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Norm

That's a neat grader, I've never seen one that had tracks on the back. Any ideas why they would convert it to tracks?

I think you'd be amazed at how many people would buy that book Paul, if you ever do get around to it I'd buy one in an instant too.

If you get a chance Jon I'd like to see your lawn art :)

Weekend_Sawyer

 You know that would be a good thread. Lawn art. And I Have LOTS of it. Over the next week or so I'll get some pictures together and post them.
Imagine, Me a Tree Farmer.
Jon, Appalachian American Wannabe.

Ron Scott

Old mine sites can lead to some interesting finds. I remember many of the old coal mine sites we use to come across in West Virginia after the property changed ownerships. Always things of interest left behind besides the old "stills".
~Ron

Tagerts_crossing

 a couple of years ago I was going Through a construction salavage yard near  Brazil In. looking for parts for my cat d6.  In the back (the woods) was a wher Grader with a w-30  I believe for power also ther was a early cleatrac crawler with a stearing wheel.  The old man that had started the buisness and had retired years before was there that day and told lots of stories.  
John Schoolcraft

Frank_Pender

Paul H. you can begin your book on your way down to Dallas, Oregon to pick up a pice of my yard art, the 4 sided planer. 8)
You could probably dedicate a chapter or two from just here on my place. 8) ;D  You DonT even have to pay the admission fee cause you would be a first timer.  :D
Frank Pender

Paul_H

Frank,
The first picture I need taken is a passport photo.Carla told me the other day that it's required at the boarder now.(is it for sure?)

I'm working on it.
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Frank_Pender

Yes, as I understand it that is what they are wanting.  I have heard of some poeple carrying a copy of their birth certificate, also. just to make sure.
Frank Pender

Paul_H

I went down to the Government Agency to apply for a passport yesterday.I was assured, that to enter the US,all I needed was picture ID(drivers license) and Birth Certificate.

I was glad to hear that,but we are going to apply for the whole family any way.
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Tillaway

Paul,
Drivers license and birth certificate used to work for me.  In fact I have crossed the border with drivers license alone.  Getting into Canada is tougher than the US, well at least for a US resident.  Canadian customs / border officials don't have a sense of humor either I have noticed.
Making Tillamook Bay safe for bait; one salmon at a time.

Paul_H

About 8 years ago,Carla and I went to Hawaii.My Dad told me the only thing they ever needed was a drivers licence.I guess we got one of those more officious type Custom Officer.He went on and on about the licence not being enough,and could refuse us,etc.........

We were listening politely for 10 minutes or more,explaining,but not arguing, that we didn't realise more was needed.He obviously hadn't finished his tirade,but my temper got the best of me. I cut him short and told him to decide one way or another whether we would be admitted,because I'd rather go home than listen to any more of his nonsense. >:(

It was tense,but he let us through.
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Paul_H

Tillaway,
How the heck did we go from an old grader in the bush,to Customs :D

It's Franks fault 8)
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Tom

It's the Forestry Forum Way! :D

Frank_Pender

Yep, it is my fault.  the Penders are riotors for changing things around, sawmills and all kinds of things. ;D  Just ask my decendents that settled on Pender Island. :P  The name translated means, "One who rounds of stray cattle", or antique roadgraders.  :D  While I have you all looking one way I sneek in and grabe the grader and I am gone.  ::) No one is the wiser. :)  Graders , cattle, horses, logs, sawmills, etc., it is all the same.  Diversion is name of the game. 8) 8) 8) 8)    
Frank Pender

CHARLIE

Paul_H, getting into the U.S. is easy, it's getting back out that is tough. They'll let anyone in but none of them seem to figure out how to leave after their visit. ;D
Charlie
"Everybody was gone when I arrived but I decided to stick around until I could figure out why I was there !"

Paul_H

I hear you Charlie :DWe have a few of those here too.

Hey Frank,you speak the truth.Have you ever driven down Pender St in Vancouver BC.All the streets run right angle but...

PENDER ST link

 8)
Science isn't meant to be trusted it's to be tested

Frank_Pender

You know, Paul, some people around here think that I am so far to the right that I am always at an angle to everything. 8)  Hence, getting off the topic, I suppose. ::)
Yes, I have been there.  I have a number of my students cause their parents to find the street when they are in Vancouver so they can have their picture taken by the street sign post.  Quite an honor for them to do that.  Anyway,  I have not yet taken the opportunity to visit Pender Island.  I am about half affraid I might not be allowed back onto the mainland, ;D  let alone back into the states. :-/
Frank Pender

Corley5

Back to the grader ;D  That's quite an interesting machine.  I wouldn't mind having it my collection.  I think the track conversion was done by a company called Trackson.  There may also be other companies that made track kits for Fordsons.  Somewhere I saw a picture of a fleet a Fordsons on tracks that were headed to the South Pole for some expedition, Amundsen's maybe?  That machine would probably bring a premium if it was out of the bush.  I've never seen one like it.  I've got a MB Powergrader that uses an M Farmall as a power unit and I just picked up an American grader that uses an H as its power source.  I've got to make a trip to Versailles, Indiana to retrieve it in the next couple weeks.  Got to make the Cummins Dodge earn its keep.  That's pretty neat to be able to find a treasure like that hidden away in a forgotten corner.  There are tales of one of those locomotives on tracks being lost in the woods somewhere east of Cheboygan.  People talk about seeing it when hunting etc but can never find their way back to where it supposedly is.  I've also heard tales of a steam traction engine mired in the mud in Beaver Basin in what is now the Pictured Rocks National Lakeshore east of Munising.  It's supposedly sunk in the mud to the top of the boiler.  Once again people claim to have seen it but can never find it again. Maybe these machines are really there maybe they're not.  Either way they make for  neat legends. 8)  Then of course there's the tale of the locomotive being sunk in Weber Lake which is about a mile from my house.  During the logging era there was a siding on the west side of the lake where the engines would water.  As the tale goes one got away and plunged into the lake.  The lake is fairly deep on that side but the muck is really deep.  The legend lives on.
Burnt Gunpowder is the Smell Of Freedom

Jeff

Greg, we have the same legend here on Budd lake in Harrison. I sure see how its possible, the steep banks and the sudden depths at those points, and generally when you have that you have runnoffs that carry silt and sediment that could bury something. we have several lakes right around town here that are glacial lakes. Steep banks and sudden drop offs near shore. perfect place to dump logs for mill ponds. Harrison has a pretty well documented history on logging in a book called "Michigan Timber Battleground" The history of logging in Clare county.  I can't find my copy! I think I loaned it out and can't remember to who. ??? I don't recall anything in it though on the locomotive in Budd Lake. That comes from townfolk.
Just call me the midget doctor.
Forestry Forum Founder and Chief Cook and Bottle Washer.

Commercial circle sawmill sawyer in a past life for 25yrs.
Ezekiel 22:30

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