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Pioneer 30-60 HP Tractor
By Collections Curator Ruth Bitner
August 2006
Severson Brothers Pioneer tractor hauling fence posts for the
76 Ranch in southwest Saskatchewan, c. 1914
Pioneer Tractor Company, E.R. Potter files
WDM
George Shepherd Library
The Pioneer Tractor Company of Winona, Minnesota was one of
dozens of tractor companies that flourished for a few years,
then disappeared from the scene altogether. Pioneer started
building tractors in 1910 and by 1911, two models were offered
for sale, the 15 and the 30. A year or so later, a larger
version, the 45 hit the market, but only a few were made. A
smaller version came out in the mid teens. The company lasted
until about 1927, but their tractors did not change much over
the years.
The 30 was a big tractor, weighing 23,000 pounds. The drive
wheels were 96 inches in diameter. It could pull an eight to ten
bottom plow through tough, prairie sod or power a 36 inch
cylinder threshing machine making it ideal for custom work.
Pioneer, like its competitors, aimed its sights on the western
market. A branch plant was apparently set up in Calgary and a
sales and service outlet in Regina but little is known about
this part of the business. Full page advertisements were placed
in farm magazines like The Canadian Thresherman and Farmer and
Gas Power Age. The March, 1912 issue of Gas Power Age extolled
the virtues of the Pioneer. The ad stated “The Mighty Pioneer 30
having by years of unprecedented, successful results in the
States conquered the American market, now invades the Canadian
field,” a rather exaggerated claim since its first tractors
debuted less than a year earlier. The ad goes on, “A great army
of Pioneer Gas Tractors in continuous and successful operation,
scattered throughout the Great West as far North as Saskatchewan
and as far South as the Gulf of Mexico, bear testimony to the
pre-eminence of our product.”
The Pioneer boasted “Six Exclusive Superiorities:”
- “Our motor is absolutely vibrationless...
- All gears, including the big drive gears, are entirely enclosed in dust-proof cases and run in oil-baths...
- All working parts, including the motor, are entirely covered and protected from flying dirt...
- We have three forward speeds, like an automobile...
- The power is taken directly at the side of the motor fly-wheel between two long bearings and is transmitted to the drive wheels in a straight line...
- An operator’s cab which can be entirely closed is provided away from the heat of the motor, with a comfortable upholstered seat, back and arm rest...the Pioneer is operated with the same ease and comfort as the automobile.”
The addition of an enclosed cab for the operator was new in the
tractor business. It would be nearly 30 years before
Minneapolis-Moline came out with a cab on its UDLX Comfortractor.
The Pioneer also advertised a speed of six miles per hour, compared
to two or three by other tractor builders.
Evidently, Pioneer found buyers in Saskatchewan. The company’s
full-page advertisement in the June, 1912 edition of The Canadian
Thresherman and Farmer included testimonials from five Saskatchewan
farmers: Weitzen Land Company, Rosetown; R.J. Boyd, Regina; C.H.
Hendrickson, Milestone; A.H. Chipman, Elbow; and Speltz Brothers of
Brock. According to the ad, the Speltz Brothers “...find it cheaper
to operate the Pioneer 30, the ultimate tractor.”
The Severson Brothers of Waldville, near Climax, Saskatchewan also
bought a Pioneer for custom plowing and threshing, paying for it out
of their first season’s profits. Henry Severson’s letter to Pioneer
Tractor in Calgary was printed in an ad in a 1913 Grain Growers’
Guide. “We have all other kinds of machines in our neighbourhood but
none have done as well as our Pioneer 30 and we heartily recommend
it as we believe it the best machine on the market and know it to be
a great money maker.”
Another Pioneer went to a Borden, Saskatchewan area farmer. He
bought it at the Regina dealership for $4500 in 1916. According to
information in Western Development Museum files, this tractor was
then sold to William Rowse, a farmer in the Hanley district. A
couple of years later, George Argue, also from the Hanley area,
bought it and used it until about 1928. Argue worked for three years
as a “trouble man” for Pioneer in Regina, but it is not known if
this was before or after he bought the tractor. Argue’s Pioneer 30
then sat idle for years. In 1944, W.M. Conboy bought but never used
it. Four years later, Conboy sold it to the Western Development
Museum where it has remained to this day.
You may see the Mighty Pioneer at the Saskatoon branch of the
Western Development Museum where it stands silently in the tractor
line-up along with other dinosaurs of the tractor industry. While at
the WDM, be sure to experience the new agricultural exhibit, Winning
the Prairie Gamble: Farm Life in Saskatchewan. A warm welcome
awaits.
Sources:
Canadian Thresherman and Farmer, June, 1912, p. 37
Gas Power Age, Winnipeg, March, 1912, p. 3
Grain Growers’ Guide, Winnipeg, March 5, 1913
Wendel, C.H. Encyclopedia of American Farm Tractors, Crestline
Publishing, Sarasota FL, 1979
Western Development Museum artifact file WDM-1973-S-332
WDM Pioneer tractor west of Hanley, Saskatchewan, 1938
Pioneer Tractor Company, E.R. Potter files
WDM
George Shepherd Library
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