Minneapolis-Moline Model BG 1 Row

Minneapolis - Moline was the product of a 1929 merger of the Moline Implement Co. , the Minneapolis Threshing Machine Co. and the Minneapolis Steel and Machinery Co.  All of these were established businesses, the Moline Implement Co. dated back to 1870. Minneapolis Steel manufactured the popular Twin City tractor brand. The newly formed company soon established itself as an innovative leader of the industry. All things considered, there ought to be a ton of info online about M-M products. Right?  Wrong!

Information about the Model BG tractors is especially hard to find. This may be due to the limited number of this model produced. Tractordata.com ( which supplied most of the material I could find ) places total production at 1200 tractors made between 1953 and 1955. Steiner’s parts catalog has a list of serial numbers that runs from 1953 up to the first serial number of 1956 that adds up to 937 units. Not very many either way. How many of these have survived to the present day is anybody’s guess.

Those numbers make the fact that two of these tractors made an appearance at the Richland Creek Antique Fall Festival in Saluda, SC. last November pretty remarkable.

Davis Cromer brought his 1953 model.  Steiner’s serial numbers indicate that 1953 was the model’s best year with 600 tractors produced. 

This 1954 edition is owned by Ben Merchant and is one of only 168 units that were manufactured during the second year of production.  Why the steep drop in production? Of course the dealerships could have still been sitting on an inventory of unsold 53 model tractors. 

A four cylinder 133 cubic inch Hercules 1X3SL gasoline engine turning at 1800 rpm powered the BG. Belt horsepower was claimed to be 27 hp. 

The transmission provided four forward gears plus reverse. 

The wheelbase on the BG measured 75”.  Ground clearance was 20.5”. The tractor’s weight is listed as 2880 pounds.

Russell Jr. Road Grader

When I saw the Russell name cast into the gears on this pull grader I assumed it was another product of the C. M. Russell Company of Massillon, Ohio, makers of steam engines, among other things. As it turns out however, the only thing the Russell Grader Manufacturing Company of Minneapolis, Minnesota had in common was the name Russell.

In 1903 Richard Russell and C. K. Stockland formed a company specifically to build a horse drawn road grader in Stephen, Minnesota. They soon relocated their factory to Minneapolis, Minn. and expanded their line of road grading equipment but as far as I have been able to determine road graders were the only product they manufactured.

During the twenty-five years of its existence the company produced a range of graders to meet a variety of needs. The Russell JR. fell somewhere in the middle of the product line between the Mogul with a twelve foot blade and intended for use with a 25 HP tractor and the Russell Gem, equipped with a five foot blade operated by one man and pulled by two horses. 

In an advertisement in the North Carolina Highway Bulletin Vol. 2 , The state distributor for Russell graders , E. F. Craven of Greensboro, NC. “ The Road Machinery Man” wrote: “ For those who are willing to put four horses and two men on the grader, the Russell JR will do maintaining work more effectively than any other grader. This machine has a 6 foot blade and may be used for light road construction as well as maintenance work.”   

Russell catalogs and sales brochures from the period also included : the Russell Reliance with a 10 ft. blade, intended for use with a 20 hp. Tractor, the Russell Special an 8 foot machine paired with a 15 hp tractor, the Russell Standard with a 7 ft. 3” blade for use with eight horses or an 8 to 15 hp. Tractor, the Russell Hi-Way Patrol a 6’ machine for 2 horses and one man operation,and  the Russell Kid, another 2 horse machine. 

1920 saw the introduction of a self propelled grader they called the Motor Patrol. This machine consisted of an Allis-Chalmers tractor with a grader frame built around it. In 1926 Russell built a crawler version of the Motor Patrol that used a Caterpillar tractor as the power source.

In 1928 Caterpillar Tractor Co. acquired Russell Manufacturing and incorporated it into a Road Machinery Division that built road grading equipment. 1931 saw the introduction of the Auto Patrol  model, described as being the first of the modern graders. 

The grader shown in these pictures is on display at the Polk County Museum at 60 Walker St. in Columbus, NC. just a few blocks down Hwy. 108 from Interstate 26. For more information about the museum visit: www.polknchistory.org 

Resources:

Catalog and brochure illustrations of Russell graders can be found at several websites:

www.chriscomachinery.com 

https://olddesignshop.com 

Books.google.com list an ad that appeared in  the North Carolina Highway Bulletin Vol. 2

An ad for Russell road machinery that ran in The American City in 1914 on sale at www.ebay.com 

Info. about Russell Grader Manufacturing Co. at  www.caterpillar.com