Big Four Tractor

Big Four Tractor

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 4-cylinder engine which was unusual in 1910, was a huge tractor designed to break the Midwestern prairie soil. The tractor had eight foot high steel wheels and ran on gasoline or kerosene. Emerson-Brantingham acquired the Gas Traction Company in 1912 and produced the Big Four tractor until 1920 when farmers moved away from these huge prairie tractors to smaller machines.

1910-1920

Midway Village Museum

jpeg

Still Image

85.109(I).905.120

Photograph

3.75" x 2.25"