1915 Big Four 30-60 Tractor

 This tractor (serial #1560) was made by the Emerson-Brantingham Company at its Big Four Tractor Works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Emerson-Brantingham, based in Rockford, Illinois, had acquired the Big Four plant from the Gas Engine Company in 1912. Stuhr Museum's Big Four tractor was reportedly owned by E. R. Brien and used by him and John Brien for threshing grain, filling silos, shelling corn, and moving houses near Athol, Kansas, about 100 miles south-southwest of Grand Island.
 First built in 1906 by what was called the Transit Thresher Company, the Big Four tractor was originally developed by one of the early pioneers of tractor engineering, D. M. Hartsough. One of the earliest 4-cylinder tractors on the market, the Big Four quickly became a big success. In 1908, Hartsough and Patrick Lyons, the financier of the company, decided to change the company's name to the Gas Traction Company because they felt it had a wider appeal. Building on its early success, the company even began manufacturing the Big Four in a second factory in Winnipeg around 1910, producing the tractors for the burgeoning Canadian market.
 In 1912, however, Lyons and Hartsough decided to sell the company to Emerson-Brantingham. After the sale, Lyons and Hartsough would found the Bull Tractor Company, manufacturer of the Bull tractor found here in Stuhr Museum's exhibit. Lyons would also found the Toro Motor Company to build engines for the Bull tractors. Emerson-Brantingham, the maker of another tractor as well as a thresher here at Stuhr Museum, closed the Winnipeg plant after acquiring the Gas Traction Company but continued production of the Big Four tractor until about 1920. In 1928, Emerson-Brantingham was acquired by the J. I. Case Company.
 You can see an original 1910 bill of sale for a Big Four tractor, as well as other information on Big Four tractors, on the Manitoba Agricultural Museum's website.