How I Became a Farmer

The introduction of the plowing tractor on the Southern fields made groundbreaking, no pun intended, discoveries in industrialization and productivity of farming. The initial use of the machinery was considered a stance of wealth to to those who could not afford one and a appreciation of wealth to those who owned one. At the rise of this industrial creation, it could not be said that eventual proliferation of farmhouse machinery would never industrialize the South. Indeed the induction of the tractor on southern farms was only the beginning of a long list of plow equipment. However, more important than this exemplary creation was the spontaneity of its existence. This creation was built in a time of economic prosperity.

According to Vintage Farm Tractors by Ralph W. Sanders (ISBN1-55192-031-X) "Credit goes to the Charter Gasoline Engine Company of Sterling, Illinois, for first successfully using gasoline as fuel. Charter's creation of a gasoline fueled engine in 1887 soon led to early gasoline traction engines before the term "tractor" was coined by others. Charter adapted its engine to a Rumley steam-traction-engine chassis, and in 1889 produced six of the machines to become one of the first working gasoline traction engines."

The first engine-powered farm tractors used steam and were introduced in 1868. These engines were built as small road locomotives and were operated by one man if the engine weighed less than 5 tons. They were used for general road haulage and in particular by the timber trade. The most popular steam tractor was the Garrett 4CD.