By NANCY VORIS
Indiana Correspondent

FRANKLIN, Ind. — Before there was a Ford dealership, before there was a Wal-Mart, even before U.S. Highway 31 ran through Franklin, John B. Simon farmed the land north of town in the early 1900s.
He plowed with a 1912 P&O Mogul engine five-bottom gang plow, pulled by a 1913 Rumely 15-30 gas pull tractor. Eventually, the Rumely was replaced by an F20 McCormick-Deering and later, by Allis-Chalmers equipment as the farm passed to John’s son Ed and later, his three grandsons.
The old equipment languished in a wooded area of the farm, brush and trees growing up around them after a tornado destroyed the barn decades ago. Richard Simon, John’s great-grandson, now farms the remaining land.
In 1993, Kent Kaster, owner of K&K Antique Tractor in Shelbyville, Ind., heard about the Rumely gas pull tractor on the Simon farm. The old tractor had a 14-inch walnut tree growing through the front wheel. He bought the tractor and restored it in 2003.
Richard Simon donated the old P&O plow to the Johnson County Antique Machinery Assoc. (JCAMA) three years ago and members, led by Harold Hodges, restored the plow.
The two pieces of restored machinery will be together again this weekend at the Johnson County Antique Machinery Show, at the Johnson County Park near Edinburgh and Camp Atterbury, Ind.
“The club is very happy to have the tractor and plow together for this show, as the machinery has had a history in Johnson County farming,” said Sharon Buehrer, spokesperson for the JCAMA.
William Parlin invented the five-bottom gang plow in the 1840s, Buehrer said. In the 1850s, he joined with his brother-in-law, William J. Orendorff, to form P&O Plow Co. in Illinois. The company was purchased by International Harvester in 1919.
“The P&O five-bottom gang plow was a very good plow and was popular in Indiana and elsewhere for smaller farming operations,” Buehrer said.
Gas pull tractors first appeared in 1909, built by the Universal Tractor Co. of Minnesota, and were called Universal Farm Motor tractors. Northwest Thresher bought the company in 1911, which was then bought out by an investment group – which was then purchased by the M. Rumely Co.
B.F. Avery tractors and equipment will be featured at the Johnson County show this year, since the B.F. Avery Collectors Assoc. holds its annual meeting during the show. Hercules gas engines will also be highlighted.
Several semis owned by members of the American Truck Historical Society will be on display Saturday.
Visitors may see an operating sawmill, threshing, corn shucking, baling, rock crushing, blacksmithing, corn shelling and feed grinding.
There will be steam engines, gas engines and a Baker fan in operation, as well as working draft horses.
Antique tractor pulls are scheduled for Friday evening and Sunday morning, with a garden tractor pull on Saturday evening. Other Saturday events include a consignment sale and Parade of Power, plus a farm and traffic safety promotion by Leadership Johnson County.
An outdoor church service will be held Sunday morning, followed by a micro-mini-tractor pull and tractor games. Roam around to see the food vendors, flea market, parts vendors, kids’ games and entertainment.