Back in the '40s and '50s, things were different on the farm.
My dad had all of the machinery necessary for running a farm--a Massey-Harris tractor, a drill, a oneway, a plow, a Gleaner-Baldwin combine and a lot of baling wire. Later, he upgraded to Minneapolis-Moline tractors.
Harvest-time was always exciting, especially in the years when weather conditions were good. My uncles, Marlin and Quentin Roach, liked to came back from California just to help Dad in the harvest. I guess they considered it a vacation. I remember that we got to ride up in the bin where the wheat came in. Nowadays, the government would probably have a rule against that, but I think we were pretty well-supervised.
My dad made a machine from an old truck chassis that I don't even know how to describe. The radiator and the wheels that steered were in the back, which made it a very unique looking vehicle. We called it the "farmhand". It was a primitive forklift, but a lot bigger. He used it to lift hay bales. We got to ride on that, too, and I'm sure the government would have something to say about that, also.
We had a graveyard for old broken-down machinery and vehicles. It was down past the barn, and we used to play there a lot. We called them "the dead cars".
Steve and Tammy Workman own that farm now, and I'm sure they love it as much as we always did. When my dad died in 1995, Tammy let us come out and wander around and reminisce. We thank her immensely for that!
Leone (Gregory) Carlson
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