Tractor Roots

Next to my granary sits a 1947 John Deere model "A".

Dad bought the tractor when I was a little kid. I spent
the better part of my formative years on the seat of that
"A", plowing, disking, cultivating, and watching the clouds
drift by as I floated upon the dreams of youth. For me, the
sound of a "johnny popper" is as soothing as a mother's
heartbeat.

The "A" came with a tattered Owner's Manual. I pored it
over for hours on end, trying to plumb the tractor's secrets,
learning what made it "tick" -- or, more accurately, "pop".

Somewhere in its Owner's Manual was the revelation that
the "A" had been manufactured in some mysterious, mythical-
sounding realm called Waterloo, Iowa. I knew nothing about
Waterloo, but imagined it to be a place where heroic giants
grunted mightily as they hauled epic chunks of raw iron up
from the bowels of the Earth. This rusty, dusty ore was then
forged by an army of sinewy, leather-aproned blacksmiths into
epic wonders of engineering, including our "A".

My wife and I recently found ourselves with a few days
off. When she asked "Would you like to go somewhere?" I
answered, "Well... I've always wanted to see Waterloo."
And so we went to Waterloo, a city where the "east" side
is actually on the north end and the "west" side is located
more towards the south.

Despite this Oz-like stance regarding the cardinal
points, my wife and I were able to easily locate the John
Deere tractor factory, getting lost just once in the process.
At last! After all these years, I would finally get to see
the place where our "A" was born!

The John Deere tractor factory is, using today's
parlance, "gianormous". With forty-eight acres under one
roof, it is more than just a good-sized shed; it would also
qualify as a good-sized field.

My wife and I went in for our tour and were told that
the factory contains many miles of pathways. Because of this
we were given a ride aboard a string of tourist trams which
were, curiously, pulled by an International Harvester garden
tractor.

No, that's not true; it was a John Deere garden tractor.
Our tour guides were so enthusiastic about the Deere name, I
got the feeling that simply saying "International Harvester"
might have been grounds for banishment from the factory.

We were first taken past the area where the tractor
birthing process begins. It starts with a transmission
assembly. A set of axles is added, followed by a frame, then
an engine, and so on.

I noticed some civilians walking around in the assembly
area. We were told that these were Gold Key customers who had
come to witness the birth of their tractors. I could never do
that. The mere thought of looking at exposed gears makes me
squeamish, and the sight of spurting hydraulic fluid can send
me into a swoon.

There's also the money part. When our tour guide pointed
out Deere's biggest tractor -- a 500 horsepower behemoth --
some idiot asked about its price tag. "$280,000," said the
tour guide. "I have an order book right here. Would you like
one or two?"

Not a word was said while I scrunched down in my seat,
trying to make myself inconspicuous as possible.
At the end of our tour, I chatted with our guides. I
asked Dewayne -- a former factory worker, as are all the John
Deere tour guides -- if this is the place where my "A" had
been built.

"No. They were assembled downtown, in what is now our
transmission facility."

What did Dewayne do at the factory? "I started out in
the foundry," he said. "It was a grimy job, so I went to
school and trained to be a gauge auditor. My job was to make
sure that the proper thickness of metal was being used."
When did he start working for Deere?

"I came home after the war and was looking for a job
when they hired me. That was in 1947."

I was thunderstruck. Before me stood one of the very men
who had helped manufacture my "A"! He didn't seem at all
epic. He was simply an older guy who came home from a war six
decades ago and wound up building tractors.

I couldn't help myself. "Would you happen to remember an
'A' you built the year you started here? One that had a teeny
little ripple in the steering wheel pedestal?"

"I believe I do," he replied. "As I recall, that an
especially good tractor. Epic, even."