INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHTED HARVESTER at the FALL PREMIER BARN CREEK and YATES COLLECTIONS to FEATURE IH TRACTORS and ROAD ART by Kellen Olshefski
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INTERNATIONAL SPOTLIGHTED HARVESTER AT THE FALL PREMIER BARN CREEK AND YATES COLLECTIONS TO FEATURE IH TRACTORS AND ROAD ART By Kellen Olshefski When Robert McCormick began making several small modifications to marketing and distribution techniques experimenting with a design for a his father’s design, which would prove in the Windy City that helped him grow mechanical reaper in the early 1800s to be fruitful in the years to come. In what was once an experimental idea of on his family’s farm in Rockbridge July of that year, Cyrus demonstrated his his father’s into a thriving agricultural County, Virginia, it was unlikely he ever horse-drawn reaper designed to harvest company. Within the span of just 10 knew the chain of events it would start, wheat at Steele’s Tavern, Virginia, and years, his marketing and distribution and it’s certain that he never knew it after making a few more modifications, coupled with the growth of Chicago as would one day be instrumental in the he officially patented the invention just an industrial center and rail hub would creation of one of the most recognized three years later, in 1834. turn the McCormick Harvest Machine names in agricultural machinery: Throughout the 1840s, Cyrus and Company into the country’s largest farm- International Harvester. his family manufactured and sold the equipment manufacturer, with assets Robert McCormick first began reapers out of the blacksmith shop at totaling more than $1 million. experimenting around the time of the the family farm, and Cyrus even took his Soon, Cyrus’ brothers William and birth of his son, Cyrus H. McCormick, in invention on the road, traveling through Leander joined the company to make up 1809, though in 1831, he would abandon the Midwest on several occasions to for the time Cyrus was spending away the idea, turning his work over to Cyrus. demonstrate his horse-drawn wheat from Chicago with his wife Nettie Fowler, Cyrus picked up where his father left off, harvester with the hopes of drumming who he married in 1859. And after about up interest and contracts with a decade, in 1871, the Great Chicago Fire manufacturers in the region. reduced the company’s factory to a pile However, as the middle of of smoldering rubble. However, this too the decade passed, he had would prove to be an opportunity for yet to sell 100 machines. the McCormick Harvesting Machine With little progress in the Company. With a clean slate to work prior years, Cyrus McCormick upon, McCormick built an even larger moved to Chicago, where he factory, increasing its capacity and formed what would eventually affording him the opportunity to pursue operate under the name of opportunities in overseas markets as well. the McCormick Harvesting By the early 1880s, Cyrus had expanded Machine Company. Taking the company into markets as far as New his farm implements to Zealand and Russia. Chicago would prove to be a After Cyrus’ death in 1884, his son, monumental success for Cyrus, Cyrus Jr., took over the business, leading as he developed innovative the McCormick Harvesting Machine 2 • MONTHLY MECUM.COM • 3 Company into a new era as its president, including the well-known Farmall line, Corporation in 1986, which continues all the while maintaining its position introduced in 1924, and the McCormick- to produce medium- and heavy-duty as the nation’s leading agricultural Deering TD-40 crawler in 1932, the trucks, school buses and engines under equipment manufacturer. However, company’s first diesel engine. That very the International name. market conditions provided an atmosphere same engine was put in the International Today, it’s undeniable that the where competition was continually Harvester WD-40 in 1935, which would International Harvester name is one that growing, and by 1900, the company’s become the first diesel tractor on wheels remains synonymous with agricultural main competitor, Deering Harvester in North America. machinery, maintaining its almost Company, would nearly match its sales. Despite finding success in its early legendary status among industry greats Just two years later, in 1902, the two years, the International Harvester would like Allis-Chalmers and John Deere. As companies merged with financial backing near its end in 1979. With a new CEO, in such, it’s no surprise that International from J.P. Morgan to form the International just two years, the company’s finances Harvesters and remnants of its early days Harvester Company, with three other would be at their lowest point ever, and under the McCormick name continue rivals—the Plano Manufacturing Company, things weren’t looking up. On November to turn up at auctions and continue to the Milwaukee Harvester Company, and 26, 1984, International Harvester agreed be coveted items. Warder, Bushnell and Glessner—joining to sell assets of its agricultural division International Harvester has even found its the merger. Despite the merger, the to Tenneco, Inc., which combined the place in Mecum’s Gone Farmin’ Division’s McCormick family would remain crucial in International Harvester line with its own history, as the very first collection the moving the company forward in its early J.I. Case lineup, with production of Case IH division ever offered featured exclusively finding its way to the Mecum auction long and 24-inches tall, a smalt-paint No matter how you look at it, especially years, with Cyrus H. McCormick’s sons, tractors beginning at the J.I. Case Tractor items from International Harvester’s block again in the near future. The Barn McCormick sign serves as the collection’s after mergers over the years, International Cyrus Jr. and Harold Fowler McCormick, Works in Racine, Wisconsin, following past. In 2013, a 1966 International 1206 Creek Collection, set to cross the block on main attraction, and rightfully so, as it’s Harvester memorabilia and tractors presiding over the newly formed company the merger. With the International even commanded a $40,000 bid, proving Friday, November 10 at Gone Farmin’s Iowa a piece of International Harvester history are becoming more and more limited throughout its first 40 years. Harvester name and symbol being sold just how popular these models can be. Premier in Davenport this November 9-11, used to advertise the McCormick family’s as time passes. The McCormick and In the years to come, the company to Tenneco in the deal, the company A plethora of International Harvester will feature eight International Harvester farm machines and implements. Other Deering names have long since gone would introduce several lines of tractors, changed its name to Navistar International memorabilia and equipment will be tractors ranging in model years from a 1940 pieces from the collection highlight the by the wayside, and tractors bearing International Harvester HV Hi-Clearance early years of the company, some bearing the International Harvester name are all the way up to a 1975 International the McCormick-Deering International no longer being produced. As the years Harvester 1066 Hi-Clearance, with plenty name, used after the merger, and others progress, items like these can only of choices in between. featuring the two names with early usage become more and more precious, and Also coming to the 2017 Iowa Premier is of the International Harvester moniker. Gone Farmin’s 2017 Iowa Premier might an impressive collection of International Some pieces advertise the International just be a great opportunity to garner a Harvester memorabilia, set to cross the Harvester name solely, and yet others, little piece of International Harvester block as part of the Yates Collection through such as catalogs, feature the McCormick history for yourself. Mecum’s Road Art Division. At 120-inches or Deering companies individually. ALL LOTS OFFERED NOVEMBER 9-11 AT DAVENPORT 2017 4 • MONTHLY MECUM.COM • 5.