Spam/Phish> Re: [AT] Towing

charlie hill chill8 at cox.net
Sun Sep 3 10:30:00 PDT 2006


Gene I don't know much about Wake Co. agriculture but down in Columbus Co in 
the 50's my grandfather used sleds or drags that were constructed just as 
you said.  No wheels just a long skinny box on wooden runners and with 
removable sides.

Yes I have roasted many tobacco horn worms in the exhaust of a B or D 10 
Allis.  After you get them cooked good you can make the tractor backfire and 
blow them about 20 feet in the air.  Well, you CAN do it before they are 
cooked but it's more fun to let them get done first.  LOL.

Charlie
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "kgw" <gwaugh at wowway.com>
To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Sunday, September 03, 2006 1:03 PM
Subject: Re: Spam/Phish> Re: [AT] Towing


> Hey Charlie & others---help me see if my memories from 8-10 yrs of age are 
> in the ballpark!  What I remember (from the early 50s, Wake County, NC, 
> was a tobacco "sledge"---or "sled"??  just a long skinny box on 
> runners..???  Pulled by a mule, and then later on by a JD M.   BTW, the 
> M's exhaust manifold was a wonderful device to watch those big ol tobacco 
> worms squirm on!!
>
> GeneW
> Elgin, IL
>
> charlie hill wrote:
>
>> Hi David,  we had some like that here too.  I almost believe those were 
>> manufactured or at least started out that way and were copied.  We 
>> started seeing them about the time we started seeing the first 
>> "harvesters" not the new, automatic mechanical harvesters we have now but 
>> the old ones that several people rode on that had the big chain drive 
>> front wheel and usually a Wisconsin engine pulling it.
>>
>> Charlie
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Bruce" <davidbruce at yadtel.net>
>> To: "Antique tractor email discussion group" 
>> <at at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>> Sent: Saturday, September 02, 2006 7:57 PM
>> Subject: Re: Spam/Phish> Re: [AT] Towing
>>
>>
>>> The version here was two wheeled, on a metal trailer chassis with a 
>>> wooden deck angled from the sides into the middle of the "trailer".  The 
>>> front and back were both made of wood and about 4 feet above the deck. 
>>> They were narrow enough to fit in the field in a "blank balk" (one row 
>>> was skipped during plant setting to make the blank).  Those that ran on 
>>> the county roads often also had a trap as a cover so the leaves could be 
>>> tied down to prevent loose leaves flying.
>>> Mechanical harvesters are now moving in and the design of the "tobacco 
>>> trailers" is changing again.
>>>
>>> David
>>> NW NC
>>>
>>> charlie hill wrote:
>>>
>>>> Al,  the first tobacco trucks I remember were 4 wheeled with a front 
>>>> axle that pivoted under the front of the "truck". (For those following 
>>>> along Al grew up about maybe 60 miles from where I did and I'm sure 
>>>> he's seen these same carts)  The whole rig was made usually out of oak 
>>>> or maybe cypress.  If they were made of pine it was probably heart 
>>>> pine.  Even the wheels were wooden with a metal rim.  They were only 
>>>> about maybe  10" to 1 foot diameter and about 2 1/2 or 3 inches thick. 
>>>> The axle frames were wooden with a piece of iron rod about 3/4 diameter 
>>>> fastened to the bottom and extending through the wheel center with a 
>>>> big washer and a nail or something holding the wheel on.
>>>>
>>>> The deck of the truck or cart  (depending on where you live), was a 
>>>> flat wood deck about 30" wide and just above the small wheels.  It had 
>>>> a hole drilled in each corner and one half way down each side. A post, 
>>>> usually made of white  oak, was driven in the holes.  The top of the 
>>>> post had a nail driven in it with the head cut off.  A burlap curtain 
>>>> hung from the nails and encircled the truck to hold the carefully laid 
>>>> tobacco leaves in place. These were made to be pulled by mules.
>>>>
>>>> Later on we went to a "truck" that was about 3 feet wide and had one 
>>>> old car axle under the middle and a tongue to hitch it to the tractor. 
>>>> They had a bulkhead at each end and a burlap curtain attached to a 1x4 
>>>> that ran between the bulkheads at the top.  They could be taken loose 
>>>> and rolled down out of the way when the load of tobacco got to the 
>>>> barn. Most of these were made of pine around home.  They weren't 
>>>> intended to last as long as the old 4 wheel type.
>>>>
>>>> Charlie
>>>>
>>>>
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>>> Remembering Our Friend Cecil Monson 11-4-2005
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