After steam - Somerset Steam and Gas Association Pasture Party

Steam tractors, large, difficult to operate and expensive, were never practical for the small farmer. In 1892, John Froelich pieced together the first gasoline powered farm tractor, but the first commercial tractor sales did not come until 1902.

One of the problems early gas tractors shared with their steam powered ancestors was the inability to cultivate row crops. Farmer still needed horses for cultivating. When the Farmall tractor was introduced in 1924, it was capable of plowing and cultivating, and the future of the gasoline farm tractor on the small farms of America was assured.

Even the earliest gasoline powered tractors were dramatically smaller than the steam tractors they replaced.

The internal combustion gasoline engine made possible the automobile, which became perhaps the defining technological change of the 20th Century. The car would reshape the cultural landscape of this country.

This 1947 Dodge pick-up and I have something in common: we both came off the assembly line in the same year. The truck is better preserved, I'm afraid.