In Search of an Elusive “Spoker” JD-D by Lee Tubach

Mil Harr and I have known each other since grade school days. My father, who was a pastor, was assigned to a church at Cosby, Missouri in 1949 where Mil’s family attended. Mil and I became good friends, as kids, and then attended the same high school. We went our separate ways after that but kept in touch. As luck would have it, we both ended up with jobs in the Denver area after we got married and served our time in the military. I found employment during my high school days at Cosby, in the summers working for local farmers. Mil’s dad and his uncle Alvin were among my regular employers “buckin’” hay bales! Most of the farmers in that neck of the woods were avid John Deere loyalists, as were the Harr’s. I drove a lot of the two-cylinder John Deere’s in the course of that employment. Occasionally I was forced to drive a Farmall or, God forbid, an Allis-Chalmers now and then, but I got over it. So, Mil and I both grew up with JD two-cylinder fever, from which we never recovered. Mil became the more serious collector/restorer. I was happy enough to later own a couple of John Deere’s. I did accompany Mil, on occasion, to parts hunt on trips to Rocky Ford, La Junta, Lamar and Holly. Mil knew of junk yards in those areas full of John Deere ‘treasures.’ I enjoyed those times, the camaraderie, the road trip and the “thrill of the hunt!” So then, in the year 2,000, after we all survived Y2K and the millennium, we both retired and had more time to pursue the “old tractor” hobby. Mil heard from an old high school buddy, Wilbur Field, who was a year ahead of us in school. Coincidently, it was this guy’s older sister, Darlene, who was my 7th & 8th grade teacher. Wilbur advised Mil that he had a hot lead on a “Spoker” JD-D. Wow, the “crème de la crème” of all collector John Deere’s! They were model D’s in production in 1924-25. The unique thing about them was the fact they were factory equipped with a spoke flywheel; hence the nickname “Spoker D.” John Deere went back to a solid flywheel in 1926. Some think spoke flywheels were short lived because they were a safety hazard. You could get hands, arms and clothing in the spokes when you were turning the flywheel to start the tractor. Doubtful, but indeed some of them were flawed castings and would crack. Dangerous or not, in later years, this made them valuable as a collector’s item because they were rare. Some of them, in good condition, were selling in the five figures. Recently, one that was in perfect condition, sold for $210,000 at a high stakes auction. Serious money! Probably two egotistic rich fools bidding against each other. So, where could we possibly find such a rare beast? In Golva, ND where our buddy, Wilbur, was living at that time. A map shows Golva located in the Golden Valley of North Dakota, about 6 miles south of Beech and I94. Surrounded on three sides by the Theodore Roosevelt National Park and the Little Missouri National Grasslands. The Montana state border is one and a half miles to the west. Wilbur married Marilyn Roberts, one of our high school class mates. He ended up in Golva, all the way from Missouri, to be near a son and daughter and Marilyn’s brother who operates a nearby Montana ranch to this day. Marilyn could stand him no longer and in 2000 Wilbur lived in a trailer house with a large lot in Golva. Huge town with a population of 61 … 60 when Wilbur was ushered out and returned to Missouri. Wilbur had the prestigious political distinctions of being the Mayor of Golva, dog catcher and park maintenance man. Beside all of his civic duties, Wilbur was the “Successful Farming” magazine rep for the Golva region. He had a “Successful Farming” logo on the doors of his old Chrysler sedan. How many engines had he burned up? He had also set himself up as the local classic and antique tractor and implement dealer. Under the guise of being a magazine salesman, he visited various farms and ranches in the area so he could get a peek at all the old stuff they had lying around. When something wore out or became obsolete, most farmers of that day just let it set where it was last used. Sometimes Wilbur would make deals on the old stuff he thought was valuable, then brought his treasures in to store them on the lot with his trailer. It appeared more a junk yard than an implement dealer. Wilbur’s collectible searches uncovered a JD-D with a serial number that should be a “Spoker.” He could not afford to buy everything he found so he told Mil about the tractor. Mil thought a tractor hauling trip might be a great adventure since neither one of us had been in that part of the country and we might snag a real treasure in the alleged “Spoker.” There was also an old International pick-up truck of 30’s vintage that was for sale. Mil knew someone who wanted it. So, it wouldn’t be a wasted trip if the “Spoker” didn’t pan out. In early April of year 2000, Mil and I headed north in Mil’s Ford Power Stroke pulling his flatbed gooseneck trailer. It was a mostly uneventful trip, but within about 100 miles of our destination, we began to notice the absence of any other road traffic. In that area of the Dakotas, there is only rolling farm land with very few houses or farm buildings and most of what was there seemed abandoned. No signs of life anywhere! Drawing closer to Golva, we realized we had not met another vehicle for nearly 50 miles. It was like we had driven into some kind of a third dimension in time. Had the “rapture” occurred and we didn’t even know it? It was like Tim LaHaye’s “Left Behind” series. Maybe we didn’t make the cut! Arriving Golva, it wasn’t hard to find Wilbur’s trailer. He was directly across the street from the local grade school. Uncle Wilbur was at home. (Maybe he hadn’t made the cut either) He welcomed us to a typical bachelor pad and advised us that he was going to make supper for us of cooked tomatoes, as there were no cafés in Golva. Mil and I looked at each other with some apprehension but accepted his gracious offer. As I recall, it was a pretty decent meal! Mil and I went north about 6 miles to Beech, ND after supper and checked into a motel. We woke up to a light dusting of snow on the ground next day and it was cold. After breakfast we went back to Golva, so Wilbur could tour guide us to places of local hidden treasures. The first was to see a farmer named Rodney. After a visit to his farm house, his mother (this guy was single and lived with his mother) directs us to the field where “Sir Rodney” was planting wheat. At that point, we began to refer to him as “Sir Rodney” for some obvious yet undefined reason. We drove to the field but didn’t see anything. Off in the distance we could hear the “thump, thump, thump” of a John Deere diesel. “Sir Rodney” finally appeared on the horizon and when he saw us, he stopped the tractor and came to greet us. The distinctive things that we remember about him was that he giggled like a school girl in response to some of our questions, and also that he had patches sewn on the patches of the overalls he was wearing. Probably sewn on by his mother! “Sir Rodney” owned a ’49 Hudson pick-up, among his various JD diesel tractors (bought for parts, you understand) that appeared to be in pretty good shape parked in his salvage lot. We figured a Hudson pick-up to be rather rare and a pretty good buy if it could be purchased at a reasonable price. We made the mistake of telling “Sir Rodney” that we were from Denver and that ran up a “red flag” for him. Obviously his thinking was, “big city fellers out to screw us poor farmers out of our hard-earned treasures for pennies on the dollar.” I don’t recall if he named a price that was totally unreal or if he refused to sell it, thus we concluded no deal with “Sir Rodney.” It was then about noon and Wilbur said, “I’m gonna buy you boys lunch.” We graciously accepted Wilbur’s offer, as a “free lunch” always sounded good to us! We motored back to Golva, where we recalled there were no restaurants or cafes! What is he thinkin’? We arrived at the Golva Co-Op grain elevator, which also served as the town meeting house, coffee shop and lunch emporium. Wilbur directed us to a sandwich vending machine and told us to each pick one. He plunked in sufficient coins to buy the sandwiches. Then he asked us over to the pop machine where we did the same thing. We then sat down to enjoy lunch with some of the Golva locals who had a difficult time figuring out why we would come all the way from Denver just to buy junk! We were given free hats with the Co-Op elevator logo as an added lunch bonus. That afternoon we visited a place that had three “D” John Deere’s and the International pick-up truck. Mil bought the pick-up and one of the “D’s” of about 1927 vintage. The supposed “Spoker” turned out to look very much like one but did not have the spoke flywheel. Mil thought the serial number matched the 1924-25 production years, but for the money that was being asked, it was not worth it. The flywheel was solid and it would have been difficult to find an authentic spoke replacement. So, no deal on any “Spokers” We loaded the two “treasures” with come-alongs then told Uncle Wilbur we would treat him to supper that evening. He said there was a nice restaurant in the little town of Carlyle, Montana, about 5 miles south of Golva. Carlyle wasn’t much bigger than Golva, but it did have a restaurant, so away we go. The place was full of locals who were not used to seeing strangers, as that part of the world was far from being any kind of a tourist destination. We were dressed in our farmer togs and thought we looked just like they did. That didn’t fool them! We heard necks popping as heads snapped around in our direction as we came in the door. “Yew ain’t from around here, are yeh?” One ole’ boy and his wife were sitting at a table next to us, and you could tell he was straining to hear our conversation. He finally couldn’t hold out any longer. He was looking at our “free hats” from the Golva elevator and said, “Where you boys get them hats?” We told him that they gave them to us at the elevator in Golva. He wanted to know where we were from. We told him we were from Denver and the 3 of us were driving cross country to deliver 3 brand new Mack garbage trucks. “You came all the way from Denver to get them free hats?” “Well, no, we are actually looking for antique John Deere tractors to buy.” Next thing we had to hear all about the John Deere’s he had owned in his life and how many hours he spent on them, etc., etc. He wasn’t much help on the tractor search, claiming he didn’t know of any for sale. We went back to the Beech motel that night and then returned to Wilbur’s place to get ready for the trip back to Denver. Mil was securing the trailer load when one of the teachers, evidently on playground duty, yelled out at Mil from across the street. “It’s about time you git that s_ _t outta here!” She was obviously referring to Wilbur’s yard of treasures. “Well, thank you, M’am, you have a nice day too!” Some of the children of Golva probably learned new words that morning! Mil and I started back to Denver on that note, with the two treasures and to civilization as we knew it. No “Spoker” D’s on this adventurous, yet entertaining with local North Dakota color, trip!

Update Dad's "70" John Deere (update From Clint Rau)
 
From the editor – Following is an update from Clint Rau and his John Deere 70. The 1st article from Clint appeared in the July-August 2019 FRAPA newsletter. The article covered the very interesting story of the tractor on Clint’s family farm and the coincidental finding of the tractor by Clint years later and its restoration. In the November / December 2019 Newsletter Clint submitted an article about the devastating accident the tractor was in.   Hopefully their will be a 3rd article! 
 
Letter to the Editor { Restoration } – From Clint Rau Because of all the encouragement from friends and relatives I have decided to restore  the "70" one more time.  Some people I would like to thank for helping. Brandon Engelsman for helping get the tractor back home and Dave Hutchison for loaning the front wheel gear so I could get it off the trailer and into the shop. If anyone knows of a 70 with straight sheet medal that’s been parked outside in the trees or a rock pile let me know. 70 row crop wide front gas. Before and after accident pictures below.

The Passing of the Winch by Joe Mahaney 
 
This picture is the last one I have of Wes Stratman, a friend of over 45 years. He was a big part of my life as well as all of the Southern Chapter of FRAPA. I can say without reservation that he was the most interesting person I have had the privilege to know. The winch shown in the pictures came into Wes’ possession as a result of CF&I Steel scrapping numerous tons of scrap steel for feedstock into their electric furnaces. It came to the water department to be mounted on a raft to hoist divers and equipment repairing outlet valves for one of the reservoirs at Stem Beach. I was in the water department at the time and was told to take all the old machinery to the scrap yard. Wes had gotten me hooked on collecting antique farm machinery and we “just couldn’t let” some of those machines go to the scrap yard. Instead I had Wes come out to the West Valve south of Pueblo to see if he was interested in purchasing any of the things destined to be scrapped. He particularly liked the winch/Novo and a Fordson tractor with a road grader mounted over it. I felt that as long as he paid more than scrap value the company would be ahead since we would not have to haul it to the scrap yard.  He loaded the items and we went to the truck scales to verify the weight. He paid more than twice the scrap value and yet got what he considered a real value. The water dept. crew had cut the mounting bolts holding the Novo to the frame which resulted in it falling off and shattering on the way to Wes’ property. There it joined numerous other machines to be preserved for posterity. Wes often spoke of giving the Pueblo FRAPA group its own identity; Puebloans For the Preservation of Things for Posterity—PFTFP. When trying to pronounce the acronym, Wes would sound like he was trying to spit tobacco, which like so many other instances gave us a good laugh. (Wes did not chew tobacco) Wes is gone now, but like his Dad John Stratman, he was instrumental in saving numerous items for the edification of future generations. The wench has gone on to John Lange and has been restored to working condition utilizing all the parts he could to be reassembled to a similar Novo engine.  Thanks to Wes, this fine old machine and so many other items did not become part of a railroad rail.

  Ernest B. Haight, Nebraska Farmer/Quilt Maker  by Elmer W. Haight
 
     John Lange and I reminded each other at the FRAPA annual meeting in early November, that I owed him an article for the newsletter. My offer was a year old by now. My father Ernest B. Haight is a legend in the quilt making arena in Nebraska. It is an unusual hobby for a farmer.  I will give some family background, then get into how he got started in quilt making.   I hope you enjoy this article and share it. My father was born in 1899 and passed away in 1992.   The farm, near David City, Nebraska was homesteaded by the Haight family in 1871. Through generations, Ernest eventually inherited it.  He and my mother Isabelle raised five children. I was the second from the youngest and am now 82. Dad got his Agricultural Engineering degree, and an Arts and Sciences degree from the University of Nebraska in 1923.  A much better student than I, because of his Phi Beta Kappa honor in Arts and Sciences. It was a dryland farm, but produced fairly good crops of corn, wheat, oats, brome grass and sorghum. With a 1931 John Deere GP, and an old crosswise engine Case he provided grain threshing for himself and some of the neighbors. The thresher was a “Twin Cities”. The JD had been burned in a JD exhibit tent fire at the Nebraska State Fair in 1931, and Dad decided to buy it and restore it.  The fire was said to be so hot that the spokes in the wheels were bent.  He restored it and used it continually into the late 1970’s. I have countless miles doing farm work on that old tractor. It is restored and “parade ready” in Rock Springs, WY now. Farming had its tough times, especially in the depression years. It was pretty much hand to mouth as one might expect. He hired some local town folk to help with the heavy work for $0.50 a day plus meals. We children were old enough to help later.        During the cold of winter, the extent of farm work was mostly milking the dozen or so cows twice a day. Dad didn’t like to sit idle, so he busied himself in his shop. He forged tools, and I’m told built a small workable steam engine.  But the shop wasn’t heated, so he needed an inside hobby for the cold winter hours. He carved a little, made wooden puzzles, and then came the quilts. My mother, and my grandmother sometimes had quilting “bees” at our farmhouse, or in town. Sometimes my grandfather did some needlework, too.  There are two main things about quilting, “piecing” and “quilting”.
Piecing is assembling and sewing the top, and quilting is the design stitching, done by machine, or (mostly) by hand in those days. One day Dad stopped to see their work. Since he was used to precision, he noted out loud, that some of the quilt top fabric corners did not match perfectly. This prompted a quick response from Mom and the others, “if you think you can do it better, go ahead and try”. That challenge was all he needed.  The year was 1934.        Dad specialized in designing and piecing/sewing the tops. He also sewed the back fabric on with “batting” in between. His work was done first with a treadle machine, and later electric sewing machines. He wore out a couple of electric machines. The treadle machine is in a museum in David City, NE.    Within a couple of years, he mastered the challenge, and began winning blue (first place) ribbons at the County and State fair, surpassing ribbons won by the ladies.   He did some quilting by machine, but many of his quilts were hand stitched by the ladies. My mother, Isabelle, was a master at the quilting, and of course contributed to the ability to win awards. It was in the late 60’s, 70’s and early 80’s when Dad produced most of his quilts. This was after most of us were away, out on our own. When visiting home, we found that his evenings were definitely for quilting. With a sharp pencil on his ear, a yardstick and large plastic triangle handy, he would use much of the dining room table, and an extension he put on his sewing machine, to measure and mark out his next creation. He liked geometric designs, and at times actually used a kaleidoscope as an inspiration. He usually drew his patterns meticulously, at small scale, and experimented with colored pencils for the color schemes he liked. Then he “scaled it up” to quilt size to mark out his pieces. He experimented with ways to minimize handling each little piece of a quilt, in ways I am not able to explain.  A fabric store in David City or Columbus went out of business at some point, and I’m told he bought their whole inventory. Ernest was recognized for his contributions to quilt making methodology when he became the first man inducted into the Nebraska Quilter’s Hall of Fame in 1986.  His quilts were displayed in Stuhr museum in Grand Island, Nebraska, and a museum in Aurora, Nebraska, as well as one at the Ford museum in Michigan. Also, there are a couple of full-sized prints of his quilts displayed in the hallway of the Dean of Engineering’s office in Lincoln.  He liked designing his own quilt tops, but once in a while used old established patterns.  He made over 300 quilts, and gave some to family for weddings, graduations, births, and other occasions. He also liked to donate quilts to fund raisers and charities. The International Quilt Study Center & Museum (IQSCM) has several his quilts in their possession due to family donations, etc. The assistant curator Jonathon Gregory of the museum did his Doctor’s Degree study and dissertation on Ernest’s work.  Starting in July 2013, extending to March 2014, his quilts were exhibited at the IQSCM located on the University of Nebraska campus. In 1974 Ernest wrote a small book titled “Practical Machine-Quilting for the Homemaker”. His contribution was toward innovating modern quilting practice into older style quilting. We commend Jonathan for his tireless efforts over several years in gathering information, taking quilt photographs, doing interviews with our family, and researching magazine articles published over the years.  He traveled to Iowa, Colorado, and Florida to visit with my siblings, and my wife and me. He stayed with us a couple of times and would be downstairs in the middle of the night entering data in his computer.  His Doctor’s degree was well earned.      Not being a quilter, I’m not able to discuss in depth Dad’s techniques, but I encourage you to use the following on-line sources for much more information than I have provided. There are several ways to get more information and see some of his quilts on the internet. I use Google.  In Google, try Ernest B. Haight Nebraska Quilter; or type in Ernest Haight’s Half Century of Quilting to see videos and other information on Ernest’s work.  You can also go to YouTube.com and type in Ernest Haight quilts, and a number of videos will be shown for you to pick from. To learn about the quilt museum, just Google search for IQSCM. We are thankful he found a way to express his design skills and touch the hearts of so many people. Following are some examples of his quilts.