Modern technology has revolutionized farm life, not only during the harvest but year round. When the West was opened for settlement in the 1870s, horses and oxen were the basic means of motive power and the implements they pulled were small and primitive. By the late nineteenth century, general purpose horses were being replaced by purebred horses. At the same time tractors began to appear. Large steam-powered vehicles were the first to be introduced. Useful in threshing, they were less valuable for plowing because of their limited power and heavy weight. The designs, too, were very experimental, ranging from adaptations of the steam engine to the military tank. The shape of the modern tractor did not make its appearance until the war years. A thousand of one of these early modern models, the Fordson, pictured here, were distributed at cost by the federal government across the prairies. Note the heavy metal wheels, a feature that made the tractor as much a liability as an asset because it meant they were easily mired in mud. Another problem for many of the early tractors was the shortage of fuel. Many of the early tractors came from the United States but there was significant tractor manufacturing in eastern Canada. In the West, too, there were a few attempts at manufacturing tractors, particularly before 1920, but they all failed. More importantly, though, the development of the tractor contributed to an immense farm machinery distribution business, centred in the larger cities but represented in all significant rural communities as well.
During the 1940s two developments, the rubber tire (replacing metal wheels) and hydraulic hitches (allowing farmers to lift equipment more easily) permitted the manufacture of larger and larger implements. During World War II, tractors became general on the prairies. Horses were sent to the war effort or were slaughtered for meat. Since World War II the changes in tractors have been remarkable. Sixty- to 150-horsepower machines, equipped with hydraulic systems, power steering, air-conditioned cabs and two-way radios have become commonplace. Costs have risen to $60,000 or more, although cheaper models, some imported from Europe, began to appear in the mid-1970s.
Courtesy: National Museum of Science and Technology, National Museums of Canada (S30-959)
