History of Farm Tractors - Gas Traction Company

Around the turn of the century, D.M. Hartsough began conducting his own tractor design experiments. In 1904, Hartsough's tractor design was one of the earliest to incorporate a multi-cylinder engine, providing smoother operation and power transmission to the rear wheels.

Big 4 Farm Tractors

This early design was later improved and became the basis for the famous "Big 4" tractor line, so named because of their massive 4-cylinder engines and overall size.

Transit Threshers

By 1906, Patrick Lyons had become interested in Hartsough's tractor design, and an agreement was reached to build the tractor at a factory in Minneapolis. Originally, the new company was named the Transit Thresher Company, which reflected the notion of Lyons to eliminate bundle wagons by moving the tractor and threshing machine around the field to the grain shocks. The "transit thresher" concept proved to be unpopular, and therefore the company was reorganized in 1908 as the Gas Traction Company, to manufacture just tractors.

The Gas Traction Co. remained an independent entity until 1912, when it was purchased by the Emerson-Brantingham Implement Company of Rockford, Illinois. Emerson-Brantingham continued to build the venerable "Big 4" line of tractors, eventually expanding it to include several power sizes.

The Last of the Big 4 Farm Tractors

Throughout the teens, Emerson-Brantingham was devoted to the task of heavily promoting the "Big 4" line at various fairs and exhibitions in the United States and Canada. By 1920, however, the massive "Big 4" tractors had lost favor among farmers and were rapidly being replaced by lighter and more maneuverable models. Therefore, the decision was made by Emerson-Brantingham executives to discontinue the revered "Big 4" tractor line. While the name may have disappeared, no one should forget the role that "Big 4" tractors and others like it played in breaking the vast open prairies.

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