Farm Tractors Ain’t Like The Old Mule

Farm tractors had been around for most of Ray's life but there were very few farmers here in the Ozarks that owned one. The old timers still used their horse and mule teams to do all the farming chores, and really there hadn't been many new tractors built during the time of the two great world wars.

But there were quite a few used tractors around the country, and Ray had been able to get his hands on an old Massey from a family who threw in the towel and headed west. The old tractor ran pretty good, but it was hard to get good gasoline that would run it all day in the field.

Then there was the implements to pull behind, the part that actually did the work. Those old tractors had drawbars attached so they could pull the horse drawn implements that every farmer already had. These old iron tools were made to mow hay, plow and cultivate crops, and then there were the farm wagons.

Today they were plowing a corn field up on the hill just west of Wyandotte, Oklahoma with the Massey and a one bottom plow that had been used on the farm for decades. Since the plow was designed as a horse drawn implement it had a seat on top of the plow shear and handles to adjust the depth.

When pulled behind a mule the farmer sat on that seat, held the reigns to guide the animal and used the levers to keep the plow at the right depth. But when pulled by a tractor it took two people – one to drive the tractor and one to set on the plow and control it.

Ray's son Eldon drove the tractor this day with Ray sitting on the plow seat. The old Massey droned along and with the warm sun shining down, Ray got pretty sleepy. As they plowed along downhill it seemed like the tractor was hardly working to plow a furrow.

Toward the bottom of that part of the field was a small wash, but they just plowed right across it, even though it was getting a little deeper with every pass. They would cross the little ditch and just keep going uphill on the other side.

Eldon was watching and ready when they crossed the ditch, but Ray's head was drooping. As the old tractor crossed the ditch and had to power up for the hill, she coughed and sputtered from the bad gas. As the tractor lunged forward it caught Ray off guard riding on the plow and he just about fell off the seat backwards.

Eldon looked back and saw Ray flailing his arms to stay on the seat and the first thing he thought of was to stop the tractor. When he pushed down the clutch the whole rig stopped abruptly right in it's tracks.

The change of momentum sent Ray sailing forward and he landed spread eagle right on the plows drawbar. With the tractor stopped there was no danger of being run over, but the sudden face first crash on the plow had knocked Ray silly.

As he groaned with pain and rolled off the plow onto the ground Eldon could see that he wasn't hurt bad, but just shook up from the incident. It hit him so funny that he rolled off the tractor laughing and rolling on the ground right beside Ray, who was doing a little rolling around of his own.

Needless to say Ray didn't see any humor in that story as it was told year after year at the summer family get togethers, but everyone else loved to hear it.