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.
Outside, beside the long pole shed toward the rear of the machinery area are a couple of middle aged Cats. This medium sized
Cat D6 is one. From 1941 to 1947 Caterpillar made D6s as agricultural tractors. This one, however, was made in 1956 as an industrial Cat and spent its working life in the forest toiling in the logging industry. These came with an 8.6 litre diesel engine which produced around 100 HP. As were all of the larger D series of the time, it was started with a little gasoline pony engine. The transmission was equipped with five forward and four reverse speeds. Weight, without a blade, was about 17,300 lbs.