The Allis Connection

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

 by Mike Anderson

Presidents letter,

It’s been a busy summer for Bonnie and I going from too much rain to not enough rain; many people thought we were close to a drought. Crops seem to be doing really well with such a difficult spring. There are beans behind our house that were planted in mid-April; it seemed that they just laid there until May when it started warming. By the Hutchinson show they were waist high and as of mid-September they are turning and look heavy with pods. By the Farm Progress Show Bonnie and I saw semi-trailers heading down the interstate loaded with seed corn. The really large farm operations are picking field corn as of mid-September; do not know yields or moisture, many area fields look to be ripened and trying to dry. 

The Allis Connection was at the Upper Midwest’s Orange Spectacular in Hutchinson, MN in July. It was as always, a wonderful show and a great get together of folks that we have gotten to know over the years and an opportunity to meet new people with a love for Persian Orange. Ron and Theresa Sexton brought two of their grandchildren with them, it was great to have their help. Weather threats played a part with showers and a threatening storm on the last day seemed to help reduce the attendance but I have not seen any official numbers, still it was well attended. When we started to tear down the tent and put things away, we had about fifteen people including a couple from New Zealand friends of Bill Deppe helping.

The Allis Connection was at the Farm Progress Show in Decatur, IL in August. They offer an area free of charge called Antique Row to several antique tractor groups, we thank them for the opportunity. Again, rain started the show with soft parking and wet fields, by the second day the mud had changed to dust. I’m sure the equipment is the same every year, but some of the equipment is really BIG.

The Allis Connection was at the Fall Harvest Days, Gathering of the Orange in Union Grove, WI. We got there Tuesday and on Wednesday spent the day touring the 1870’s Messer/Mayer Mill in Richfield WI with equipment from the Edward P. Allis Company and the early Allis-Chalmers Companies. It was very interesting and hard to believe that it survived well over one hundred years and restored by a devoted group of people from the area.  Later in the day we visited the Allen Dilg Allis-Chalmers collection and museum in Gurnee, IL and had a great lunch while there. The collection is outstanding and one you do not want to miss.  Thursday was another busy day meeting in West Allis, WI at the former Allis-Chalmers manufacturing facility for a thirty-one-mile tractor drive back to Union Grove past the Allis farm, now a golf course, the original test facility and on to the final proving grounds in use until the end of production. We had a great meal followed by a power point presentation of the proving grounds operation and methods by Larry Gruenberg. The GOTO opened Friday and ran through Sunday with a great group of tractors from all over the Midwest. I would like to compliment those people involved with supporting the Gathering of the Orange from the S.E. Wisconsin Antique Power Collectors Society for all the work that they did for everyone. I believe it was the best GOTO that Bonnie and I have attended.

We bought a different tractor this Spring in Nebraska, a 7000 Maroon belly original open station with original paint to be used primarily for tractor drives, I have put over 250 miles on that tractor this summer and can proudly say, no IH has run away from me.

Long Live the Family Farm.

Mike and Bonnie

P.S.

If you haven’t already found it be sure to look up the Allis Connection Facebook page and see the fun things Zach and Jessie Wilson have placed on the web for all of us to enjoy and introduce others to Allis-Chalmers and the Allis Connection. allisconnectionfacebook.com