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Eugene “Pucky” Sandager on Saturday used pieces from his own personal collection of vintage farm artifacts to help promote the History Center in Luverne.
For Saturday morning’s Buffalo Days Parade, he drove a 1942 B John Deere that was the first tractor his father, Sheldon, owned after returning to Hills from his service in the Navy during World War II.
The tractor’s original wheels were steel, but the senior Sandager replaced them with rubber, and he also replaced the tractor seat with what he felt was a more comfortable International seat.
Pucky Sandager used his dad’s “B” to pull a 1900 John Deere High Mountain iron-clad covered wagon. He recently acquired the wagon from a Montana rancher he’d bought cattle from for 15 years. “I noticed it sitting in a shop one day and asked if he’d sell it,” Sandager said.
He said the Montana wagons today are rare, because they were typically stored outdoors and didn’t survive the elements.
He said this one is 98-percent original; the hoops and fabric cover are the only replaced items.
The tractor and wagon are stored at Sandager’s farm near Hills, but he brought them out for Saturday’s parade to help the History Center promote its displays of Rock County agriculture.
Rock County Historical Society President Betty Mann “drove” the “Deere”-drawn covered wagon in the parade, pretending to horsewhip Sandager on the B John Deere tractor.
The History Center hours are 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and closed on Sunday and Monday.
Also, the Rock County Historical Society buildings (school house, summer kitchen and the barns) will be open at the fair July 29-30.