A Palouse discovery

Most likely a Cletrac tractor crawler, Circa 1940’s and a 1947 3100 Series Chevy truck.

It has been more than a while since I have attended to this web site and it is about time to make a post.

I will start of anew by adding this image from our find a little north of Garfield, Washington on route 27. Seen along side the rode the rage Chevy truck caught my eye so I doubled back and parked to the south and walked along the wheel tracks running through the grass to get to the this scene. It turns out that the farmer who owned this property had set up this small testament to farming history. It took some research to discover the vintage of the Cletrac crawler and even more to learn about them. It turns out that the Cletrac’s were some of the first powered farm equipment which farmers could purchase to move away from horses. They started building them around 1917. I believe the model above is of the early 1940’s. Behind the Cletrac is an example of a 1940’s wheat combine which fed the products to the Chevy truck.

I love visiting the Palouse area with their old barns, wheat fields, to lights and shadows in the mornings and evenings. But like so many things, its history is slowly being lost. Many of the iconic barns are falling into further decay. It is images like these that helps preserve the life that once was.