history

In 1908 Winnipeg Trials marked the beginning of tractor demonstrations and tests that have continued up to the present time. One exhibit in those early tests was the Transit tractor built by Transit Thresher Company. D. M. and Ralph Hartsough, along with P. J. Lyons, had formed the company in 1906 with the idea of building an outfit that could pull a thresher through the fields and thresh the grain right from the shock. The idea proved to be impractical, but the resulting tractor showed enough promise to warrant the establishment of a stock company. Accordingly, the articles of incorporation were filed in 1907, showing a capitalization of $300,000. The first tractors were built by Diamond Iron Works at Minneapolis and were designed chiefly for plowing, threshing, and other heavy work. Fred Glover of Glover, North Dakota bought a Transit tractor. Subsequently, Glover made a deal with the Transit people to reorganize the company and in 1908, the Gas Traction Company was formed. Four years later, Emerson-Brantingham Company in Rockford, Illinois, bought out Gas Traction Company. Hartsough and Lyons were identified with several other prominent tractor companies in the following years.