I remember when we got a farm tractor to help do the work on the small farm and other
land that we were share cropping. The tractor was one of the firsts in our part of the county; it was red in color with big steel wheels with cleats as to hold traction in the wet or loose ground.

After working horses and mules this was something to get use to.
Of course all the children wanted to ride on it when it was started, which was rather different
to today's tractors. There was a large fuel tank for kerosene or number 1 fuel oil and a small
fuel tank for gasoline, It was started with the gasoline then after it warmed up a bit, switched
over to the other fuel.

One of our first experiences was when plowing ground we would take turns driving the tractor.
While others plowed with the team, my cousin was driving the tractor, when
he came to the end of the field that had a large ditch at the end.
As the tractor got near the ditch he said woe, woe and the tractor went on, however he got it
stopped just as the front wheels went over the edge of the ditch.
We all had a good laugh about that and it was told over and over for many times.

Later we were working in a very long field near the creek  (about one half mile long)
The field had soft spots in it, which was easy to get stuck if stopped in one of them.
One of the girls was plowing with the tractor and as she was going through the soft
spot her father yelled “DON'T STOP” she could not hear for the sound of the tractor
so she stopped and said, “WHAT DID YOU SAY?"  It took a couple of hours work to get
the tractor out.

There were large limestone rocks in the fields and some time when the tractor would run
over one of them it would get stuck and jump up and down on the rock which made for
a rough ride. Some problems that one did not have with horses and mules.

I guess that was progress!

_Carlis B. Wilson