Ford 8N farming on top

In the late 1940s and 1950s areas rich in peat were drained in Columbia County Wisconsin to feed a nation with local grown vegetables and mint. Tractors had issues so a local muck farmer (no, we do not raise muck, we farm on top of its rich organic soil) started converting the 8N Fords to dual wheeled tractors to help in the harvesting and tilling.

By the early 1990s, these tractors started vanishing from the scenes, left abandoned by the dozens in gully’s, ditches, overgrown fields along with woods. While there still might be some out there most of them have been picked up by local collectors and small farmers, looking to once again utilize the historic Ford 8N.

This one sat quietly with trees growing in it and around it in a ditch. One day while pheasant hunting I asked the owner if I could have it. He said, if you can cut the trees out and get it on a trailer without getting buried in my muck farm, you can have it. So when winter came in 1993 it came home and is still running today in Columbia County. A clear testament to the Ford motor company engineering.

Michael Murphy
Wisconsin

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