Relic

Jeff Green | Jul 17, 2008

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In 1930, the depression years or the dirty thirties, although times were hard Glenn's dad, Elgin Campbell somehow managed to buy a brand new Allis Chalmers tractor. Mind you, back in those days there were no bells or whistles, rubber or air conditioning on these models, which could only be started with a crank.

Then, on October 15, 2006, a man with the patience of Job came by. He had a passion for restoring old relics and wanted to buy the tractor to do just that. A deal was made. This man was none other than Joe Climie of Oconto area south of Sharbot Lake.

After digging the tractor out of earth and weeds accumulated over the years, Joe single-handedly managed to load it on his trailer. As he was leaving, he quipped, "When I get it running I will give you a call". Glenn and I were both skeptical at the time and didn't think we would live long enough to see that happen.

In fact he had the tractor running the following May, but blew a head gasket and had to wait until the following winter when they went to Florida to acquire the hard to come by parts. So it was back to the drawing board with more sweat and hard labour. In May of this year he had it running again and called us to come see.

Joe says if he can get permission from the fair board and the township he may have it on display at Parham Fair in its original condition or as close as he could get. When we went to see it, it was purring like a kitten as it did many

many years ago, much to our surprise. It brought back many memories of the threshing era in our little corner of the world.