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July 1941. "Driver of caterpillar tractor which draws combine in wheat fields of Whitman County, Washington." Photo by Russell Lee for the Farm Security Administration. View full size.
I was working for Caterpillar in 1976 when OSHA regulations regarding rollover protection (ROPS) went into effect. Our plant was shipping truckloads of devices for many months. Soon after that we started putting ROPS on our forklifts. Cat was a bit behind actually following the law but was quick to profit from it.
Future farmer? I look at that date and I'm thinking, "Future pilot, pronto." I mean, he already has the swagger, style and aviator glasses. Only thing still needed is December 7.
That's a Holt combine behind the tractor. The combine was designed by the same inventor that designed the Caterpillar tractor. I was driving a similar tractor when I was 10 years old and I was promoted to combine operator ($12 a day) when I was 12 years old.
I love his no-nonsense command of that tractor, and the one flinty eye visible beneath the left-hand (or right-hand, depending on your perspective) lens of those ultra-cool goggles.
Well, I tell ya, I might have to find that hat and goggles if they are still out there somewhere.
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