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John P. Manny Mower Company located on Race Street in the Rockford Water Power District. In the 1850s the John P. Manny Company manufactured the knife sections for the reapers produced by John H. Manny and the Manny Reaper. In the 1860s John P. Manny…

Threshing Bee. A steam engine is in the foreground. Horses pulled the portable steam engine to the field where it operated as the power source for the thresher. The two machines were connected with the long drive belt.

A Big Four prairie tractor pulling equipment in a field. The Gas Traction Company, headquartered in Minneapolis, launched the Big Four tractor in 1910 and it became one of the earliest successful tractor brands. The Big Four, named for its…

Workers on the Orville P. Thomas farm operate a threshing machine. The Thomas Farm was in Owen Township, north of Rockford.