By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent MITCHELL, Ind. — Elmo Chastain learned about engines when he was a mechanic in the Marines, working on tanks and trucks. The training served him well through the years as he worked on his farm tractors.
“They make them so complicated now you can’t work on them,” he said.
He bought his first John Deere in 1961 – a 1959 model that was still new – and it has a place of honor in the barn.
“It was one of the last two-cylinder models,” he said. “It was all I had for several years. I farmed with it, used it to pull wagons and fertilizer. It was the only new one I ever had.”
Chastain and his wife, Mildred, were recently exhibitors at the eighth annual Antique Tractor and Gas Engine Show at Spring Mill State Park, where they were framed by blooming redbud and dogwood trees on a peak spring weekend. Members of the Tri-County Antique Farm Machinery Assoc. – 300 members strong, representing Orange, Lawrence and Washington counties – assisted with the show.
Visitors were able to see antique farm equipment, then meander down the trail to Spring Mill Village where a working gristmill, blacksmith shop, weaver, apothecary shop, school, tavern and other authentic pioneer buildings recalled the days when horses, oxen and mules were used for crop production.
Chastain has restored several tractors, but his favorites are the two 1953 Ford Jubilee tractors, just like the one his father bought new that year. The couple have been in the association for four years and enjoy driving in parades in the vicinity, such as at Orleans and Salem.
This farm news was published in the May 21, 2008 issue of the Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
