Belt Pulley Magazine

Founded in 1986 by Kurt Aumann of Nokomis, Illinois, "Belt Pulley" magazine is the oldest magazine dedicated to antique farm tractors of all brands and makes. [ [http://beltpulley.com beltpulley.com] ] . Kurt Aumann was only sixteen years of age when he first started publishing the magazine. As early as 1987, Jane Waterman of Palmer, Illinois, came to work for the "Belt Pulley" magazine in the position of Assistant Editor. In 1989, Kurt and Jane were married and they continued to work together editing and publishing the "Belt Pulley". In 1998, Jane took over primary responsibility for the editing of the magazine as Kurt sought to build his auctioneering business called "Aumann Auctions". [ [http://www.aumannauctions.com aumannauctions.com] ] In January of 2003, Kurt and Jane sold their interests in "Belt Pulley" magazine to Chad and Katie Elmore of Jefferson, Wisconsin.

The Antique Tractor Restoration Hobby

Although there have been local threshing shows throughout the midwestern United States for many years, the hobby of collecting and restoring old farm machinery began to boom in the 1980s. Organizations of collectors were formed and began to host annual shows for the public. As a result, public inerest in old farm tractors and farm machinery grew phenomenally. One such organization that grew tremendously in the 1980s was the LeSueur County Pioneer Power Association of LeSueur, Minnesota. [ [http://www.pioneerpowershow.com pioneerpowershow.com] ] The interests of individual collectors naturally seemed to crystallize around particular makes of farm tractor, and clubs were formed by collectors of particular brands of tractor manufacturers. The Massey-Harris collectors, the John Deere collectors, and the International Harvester collectors each had their own national organization and newsletter. Accordingly, the magazine called "Wild Harvest" was dedicated to Massey-Harris tractors and farm machinery, "Green" magazine [ [http://www.greenmagane.com greenmagazine.com] ] and "Two Cylinder" [ [http://www.twocylinder.com twocylinder.com] ] magazine were dedicated to John Deere tractors and "Red Power" was dedicated to International Harvester farm machinery. Because of the need for sufficient members to sustain a viable organization, these antique farm equipment organizations and their respective magazines, were limited only to the products of those farm equipment companies which happened to make farm tractors and, indeed, were further limited to only the major farm tractor manufacturing companies. Overlooked in the literature of the antique farm equipment literature were all the machines made by the various "short line" companies like the New Holland Machine Company of Lancaster, Pennsylvania, the New Idea Spreader Company of Coldwater, Ohio, and the David Bradley Company of Kankakee, Illinois. No formal organizations existed even for those tractors manufactured by the many smaller companies. Into this environment was born the "Belt Pulley" magazine, with its professed goal, of being dedicated to "all brands of antique farm tractors." [ [http://www.beltpulley.com beltpulley.com] ]

The Reporters

In the first few issues of the "Belt Pulley" magazine, Kurt Aumann wrote nearly all the articles contained in each issue. If any inclination toward any one brand of tractor or any one antique farm collectors organization could be perceived in the new publication, it would be an inclination toward the products of the Oliver Farm Equipment Company. This was a reflection of the close relationship that Kurt Aumann had developed with individual members of the Hart-Parr/Oliver Collectors Association. Nonetheless, the magazine sought to cover the history and the technical data of all makes and brands of antique farm tractors and farm equipment. Toward this end, the magazine announced its intention of establishing a network of the reporters from around the nation to contribute articles. [See the September/October 1987 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 1, No. 6, p. 5.] Originally, the writers or contributors to "Belt Pulley" magazine were called "Reporters." [See the November/December 1987 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Volume 2 Number 1, p. 2.] An early list of Reporters for the "Belt Pulley" magazine included Ed Westen of Kewaunee, Wisconsin, Jerry Engstrom of Fargo, North Dakota; Richard LaRusso of New Milford, Connecticut; Robert Oliphant of Waterford, Virginia; David Grube of Ringold, Pennsylvania; and Loran Ellingson of Northwood, North Dakota. ["Ibid"] . In 1989, Kevin Talley of Vermillion, South Dakota and Sam Meeker of North Henderson, Illinois were added as reporters. [See the May/June 1989 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4, p. 2.] The reporters attended antique tractor shows across the nation and submitted "show reports" to the magazine on the shows they had attended.

Ed Westen

Ed Westen became a regular contributor of articles to the "Belt Pulley"magazine, such as an article on Pioneer Village in Minden, Nebraska, [See the March/April 1991 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 4, No. 2, p. 14.] a two-part series of articles on the restoration of his own "Huber" Model HK tractor, [See the July/August 1991 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol;. 4, No. 4, p. 19 and the September/October 1991 issue, Vol. 4, No. 5.] and an article on the "Minneapolis-Moline" Model D "Universal" tractor. [See the March/April 1992 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol 5, No. 2, p. 15.] In the May/June 1992 issue of Belt Pulley magazine, Ed Westen began the column called "The Good Ol' Days" with which Ed's name became most commonly identified. [See the May/June 1992 issue of "Belt Pulley" Vol 5, No. 3, p. 29.]

Dr. Walter "Chick" Bishop

Dr. Walter "Chick" Bishop is a retired educator living near Litchfield, Illinois. [ [http://www.hpj.com/archives/2005/sept5/sept26/cancerstatisticbringsrealit.cfm High Plains Journal hpj.com] ] Dr. Bishop has contributed a regularly to the "Belt Pulley" magazine and was credited as the magazine's first and only "staff writer." [See the May/June 1989 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 3, No. 4, p. 2.] In an article published in the November/December 1987 issue of "Belt Pulley" entitled "Why To Restore" Dr. Bishop attempted to answer the question posed in the title of the article. In the course of the article, he outlined a short history of the antique tractor collection and restoration hobby. [See the November/December 1987 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 1, No. 6. p. 6.] This article lead Dr. Bishop to an article on the settlers of the Corn Belt breaking the sod with the first steel plow made by John Deere. [See the July/August 1991 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 4, No. 4, p. 14.] This article, in turn, led Dr. Bishop into a series of articles on "Deere and Company" tractors and farm machinery, which included the "Waterloo Boy" tractor, [See the November/December 1991 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 4, No. 6., p. 24.] the "John Deere" Model D tractor, [See the March/April 1992 issue of "Belt Pulley"magazine, Vol. 5, No. 2, p. 32.] the "John Deere" Model A tractor, [See the July/August 1992 issue of "Belt Pulley"magazine, Vol. 5, No. 4, p. 27.] the "John Deere" Model B tractor, [See the September/October 1992 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 5, No. 5, p. 18.] the "John Deere" Model H and Model M tractors. [See the November/December 1992 issue of "Belt Pulley" magazine, Vol. 5, No. 6 p. 26.] Dr. Bishop closed out the series of articles on Deere and Company with an "Overview" of the company. [See the March/April 1993 issue of Belt Pulley magazine Vol. 6, No. 2, p. 33.]

Brian Wayne Wells

The longest serving and most prolific writer for the "Belt Pulley" magazine is Brian Wayne Wells, currently, of Winfield, West Virginia. Starting with the March/April 1994 issue of Belt Pulley, he has contributed an article to every issue of the magazine since that time and has continued to do so down to the present time. His first article carried in that March/April 1994 issue was actually a legal article on the Freedom of Information laws of the states of Iowa and Wisconsin. As a practicing attorney with membership in the bars of Mississippi, Minnesota and West Virginia, Brian was asked by Editor in Chief, Kurt Aumann to write this article, called "Researcher's Rights." The article is called "Researcher's Rights" and outlines the proposition that the materials held by various publicly funded archives and libraries is actually the property of the public at large and, thus, the property of the individual researcher. The article points out that restrictions of the use of the content and or copies of these public documents by librarians are not legal restrictions.

Since that first article, every other article that by Brian Wayne Wells has written has dealt farming subjects of the past. Generally, his articles fall into three different categories--1.) the history of a particular antique tractor(like the article on the 1938 F-20 owned by Robert Westfall); 2.) the history of a farm equipment company (like the articles on the history of the "New Idea Spreader Company" of Coldwater, Ohio, the article on the history of the "Algoma Foundary and Manufacturing Company" of Algoma, Wisconsin and the article on the David Bradley company of Kankakee, Illinois); and 3.) articles which describe the various type of farming conducted around the country (like the article on Sheep Herding in Wyoming," "Dry Land Farming in Wyoming," and "Navy Bean Faring in Huron County, Michigan.)