TORRINGTON – Iron wheels smoothly rolled down 20th Avenue in Torrington yesterday, July 31, as David Cronk drove a refurbished masterpiece closer to Main Street for the county’s annual fair parade. With a beaming grin upon his face, Cronk proudly blew the whistle of a 1912 Minneapolis tractor as cars moved to the sides of the streets yielding in the tractor’s magnificent glory. 

Cronk began working on restoring the tractor eight years ago. History explains the tractor was manufactured by Minneapolis-Moline, a large tractor and farm industrial machinery producer based in Minneapolis and Hopkins, Minnesota. The company was known for its Minneapolis-Moline tractor line.

“This tractor was sold new in this county in 1912,” Cronk explained. “There are three grandsons, they are in their 70s now but about 15 years again they donated it the Legacy of the Plains Museum at Gering (Nebraska.)” 

As a little boy, Cronk was interested in steam engines. 

“I was about seven or eight years old the first time I saw a steam tractor run,” Cronk explained. “I grew up northeast of here in north central Nebraska, about 300 miles from here. East of us about 70 miles there was an old man (Warden) who had an old Case steam tractor, and he told us he would fire that up for us if we gave him some notice.”

Cronk explained as a kid, he had requested his neighbor fire up the old steam tractor not knowing just how long it would take for the tractor to be ready to roll.

“We didn’t quite understand. My dad didn’t even. We just thought we’d drive over and have old Warden start up that steam tractor up. We get down there in the middle of the morning and he says, ‘It takes all day to do that. You’ll have to call me,’” Cronk said as he laughed. 

After a little bit of planning, Cronk was finally able to see the old Case steam tractor.

“It was an hour and a half drive down there and we got there, and he (Warden) had it fired up and running. He had gotten up really early that morning,” Cronk said. “I was just absolutely intrigued by that as a little boy. We rode back and forth in it.”

“I have had an interest in steam. I’ve got a 1917 Case that we ran for a lot of years here, but the boiler is bad on it at this point. This thing (1912 Minneapolis) got taken down to the farm museum and dumped off in its original condition. It was not being taken care of. It was being abused and I didn’t like it,” Cronk explained. 

Cronk decided instead of being upset about the tractor’s deteriorating state he would use his energy to rebuild the tractor. 

“I stepped up to the plate and said, ‘Well, if you will bring that thing up to us, we will do a restoration and you guys will have to cover the expenses and parts,’ which was fine,” Cronk explained. “I told them, ‘I will bring to you a working steam engine.’ So that’s what they agreed to and thank goodness they haven’t held my feet to the fire it took a couple of three years longer than what I really wanted it to, but I have a business to run and a little farm to farm and a living to make too but I am sure I am 1,000 hours into it at this point.”

Cronk invited the Telegram to the first firing of the 1912 tractor in many years on Wednesday, July 31.  

“This is its first firing this morning and I am pretty confident everything is going to go just fine. There will be a few little things to deal with but, it will be in the parade tomorrow (Friday),” Cronk said. “Today I’m going to fire it up and try to deal with issues that we find and drive it up town so it’s a little closer to the parade tomorrow,” Cronk explained. 

Cronk explained the engine burned coal originally however Cronk made a few modifications, so the engine ran on a wood fire deep within the firebox. According to Cronk, the tractor was once used on the Smith ranch as they operated a sawmill so modifying the burn box for wood seemed more practical.

“From the time I light the fire it will be about two hours before it is ready to go,” Cronk explained as he added some finishing touches to the tractor. “There is a terrible amount of energy in that boiler. You stoke a big old fire for two hours and you have taken that energy and put it in that water. This boiler was gone through and refurbished, rebuilt and repaired as necessary by a boiler engineer in New Home, Minnesota.”

Cronk explained there is enough pressure in the boiler to send the tractor straight up into the sky for two and a half miles before it starts to descend or enough energy to put a five-inch cannonball into orbit. 

“I have the greatest respect for boiler and what is contained there,” Cronk explained. “I am confident it is going to go well.”

Cronk built a small fire inside the firebox and sent the Telegram to wait for the tractor to heat up. A few hours later, Cronk called and with excitement in his voice, he proudly announced the massive 1912 Minneapolis tractor was making its way down the street in preparation for the parade on Thursday morning. 

Friday morning, Cronk’s dream came true as the Telegram office shook from the massive 1912 Minneapolis steam powered tractor as it proceeded down Main Street in the Goshen County Fair Parade. 

The beautiful 1912 Minneapolis will be on display during the Legacy of the Plains Museum’s harvest festival in September.