When we began to farm our new land in 2000 (our Harkins Slough home and farm), we soon realized that our 40 horsepower wheel tractor wasn’t up to pulling the disc through our heavy soil or up our steep slopes.Since we had signed up for a life of indentured servitude, one would think that the buy-in would be cheap, but that’s sadly not the case. A 4-wheel drive tractor in the 70–90 HP range can cost upward of $50K. And the tillage implements to go with it between $4K and $8K each. One way around such costs is to buy older used equipment. We purchased our 1940s-era disc for a few hundred dollars from a retired apple farmer. Our similarly old chisel plow, we pulled out of the brush on the edge of a leased field some time back. It had been sitting there so long that a sizable oak tree had grown up through the frame.With the additional burden of having to make large monthly mortgage payments, we weren’t in position to buy a new wheel tractor. So after doing some research, we decided to look for a D4 wide-track caterpillar. “Crawler”-type tractors have good stability on hillsides, have more pulling power per horsepower than wheel type tractors, cause less soil compaction, and are available for a comparatively reasonable price.
Responding to an ad in a weekly Ag newspaper, I stopped in to look at a 1953 D4 at an old farm just south of Stockton, on my way to pick up our seed potatoes. The walkway to the farm house was crisscrossed with dead beech limbs, knocked down by winter storms. Daffodils and Narcissus were in bloom along the edge of what at one time must have been a well-tended yard. Bob Lynch, now completely blind and well into his 80s, had tended all 200 acres by himself. He grew alfalfa and oat hay that ranchers from points West would load into their empty stock trucks on their way back from a nearby slaughterhouse. In later years he had added twenty acres of walnuts. Now with all of their acreage leased to other farmers, he and his wife appeared to be alone and incapable of keeping up with their house and outbuildings. Bob’s wife led me to the shed where the D4 was housed, then returned with Bob seated on the back of a little 4-wheel drive cart.
When buying used equipment, first impressions mean a lot for me. And despite being covered in dust and not having been run in over five years, my impression of the crawler was a good one. It appeared straight and sound and no cheap attempts had been made to spruce it up or cover imperfections. Although I wasn’t able to try it out that day (Bob had sent the pony motor gas tank to the shop to have it cleaned), I was determined to come back. As we walked toward the barn door, a tremendous hail storm descended, rattling the corrugated metal roof so loudly that we couldn’t hear each other speak. As I drove out the gravel drive I felt a little guilty leaving the elderly couple in their forlorn setting.
On my return trip I brought along Miguel, a friend who had serviced caterpillars before and who has the perfect temperament for maintaining aged machinery—sure but cautious. The scene at the Lynch’s farm had changed completely. The fallen limbs in their entry way had been removed and the front lawn had been mowed. A warm, gentle breeze stirred the bright green walnut leaves.
It took some doing, but we were able to get the small pony motor started and with it, the large main diesel motor. We pulled it out of the barn and into the sunshine. When we put it through its paces we were delighted to find that everything was in good working order. After plying the dark adobe soils in the Stockton area for over 5 decades—more than 12,000 working hours—all 12,000 pounds of countless parts, bolts, and accessories still worked together as a tight and unified whole.
In the years since we brought the D4 home to our farm it has fit in perfectly. It is powerful enough to pull implements up our steep back hill, yet nimble enough to navigate tight spaces. And when I look down and see a few walnuts still in their shriveled brown husks in the tight space next to the engine, I think of Bob Lynch discing his walnut orchard on a hot Stockton summer day long ago.
(This essay was originally printed in June 2003. The caterpillar is still going strong.)
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
