The Heritage Acres Farm Museum hopes to mark the 100th anniversary of the John Deere Model D tractor this summer
The John Deere Model D is the tractor that helped settle the West, moving agriculture into the mechanized age with its time-tested design.
Tens of thousands of these vehicles rolled off the Iowa factory production line for 30 years.
This year, the call is going out for owners of the mainstay tractor to gather in southern Alberta to celebrate the venerable vehicle’s century of service that started in 1923.
Ken Lewis, event organizer, said the goal is to attract at least 100 Model Ds, also known as the “Poppin’ Johnny,” to Heritage Acres Farm Museum near Pincher Creek, Alta., in July as part of the site’s annual show.
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“We’re going to honour that tractor,” said Lewis. “There are a lot of guys out there with Model Ds that have been restored — some that aren’t — but it was a famous tractor in its day.”
Originally built with a two-cylinder engine, the tractor could run on everything from gasoline to kerosene to distillate.
“It was very economical and reliable. In most of this country, people had a Model D John Deere, it was their main tractor throughout the Prairies,” said Lewis.
“Before this tractor, the steam engines were the big thing. But they were so big, the average little farmer couldn’t afford it.”
While there were other gasoline-powered tractors being built, few survived like John Deere over the past 100 years to continue to produce farm implements.
“It was really the heart of the company,” he said.
Heritage Acres plans to welcome Model D owners for three days starting on July 21.
The first day will see tractor-pull events with all makes and models, followed on the second day by field demonstrations with the Model Ds.
“We hope to have 100 tractors out in the field with the equipment of their day — plows, discs, harrows and all the different things,” said Lewis. “It’s going to be an absolutely phenomenal experience for anybody young or old.”
“It’ll be a full weekend,” said Lewis.
Heritage Acres Farm Museum was established more than 30 years ago following the creation of the Oldman Dam and helped save several historic farm buildings that were slated to be swallowed up by the reservoir.
“The provincial government gave us 180 acres of land that they accessed from local farmers and they gave it to us for a dollar to run a farm museum on it,” said Lewis. “It’s an active farm museum. A lot of museums are just static displays. But we do a lot of field work with this old equipment — combines, thrashers.”
The museum features an old Doukhobour barn, working grain elevator and several outbuildings secured from sites that were flooded during the building of the Oldman Dam.
More information on how to participate or attend the museum’s annual show can be found on its website at heritageacres.org.
