Russell’s H

This past weekend when we were at the farm Rob got out Russell’s old McCormick Farmall H. When Lee saw him pull it out of the shed he exclaimed, “New tractor!” because he had never seen it before. Amber had to correct him and say, “No, very old tractor!”

This tractor belongs to Russell Krichau, Lee’s great-grandfather.  Russell still tells the story of how he acquired this tractor. During World War II machinery was hard to come by due to government imposed price fixing, but Russell said that if you were willing to pay a little more there were people who could find it for you. He said that when this tractor came in it was immediately shuttled to a farm east of Blue Hill where he had to later pick it up under the guise of darkness. Russell and his father, Maurice, farmed over 500 acres with a pair of Farmall H’s using two-row equipment. Needless to say they spent a lot of hours in the seats of those H’s.