Fort Missoula, for nearly a century a military fort, is now a National Historic Place and park. In the park are a few of the pre 20th century buildings from the original 1877 fort and many buildings from the early 1900s. They have an eclectic collection of large artefacts, including machinery and tractors, a lookout tower, railroad engine and cars, a tipi burner, the old Drummond, MT RR station, an old school and an old mission, artillery and a historical museum. It's a great place to spend an afternoon or a whole day.
In a long pole shed toward the rear of the machinery area are a bunch of tractors, mostly tracked. This medium sized
Cat THIRTY is in the group. An unknown number of these were made by Caterpillar from 1925 to 1938. The Thirty was a continuation of the Best model Thirty, which had been in production since 1921. This Cat is the smallest one with a BIG engine, this one a 7.6 litre 4 cylinder gasoline engine that produced 34 HP at the belt and produced a pull of 6,120 lbs. at the drawbar. With only a two speed transmission, they would be a slow and steady affair.