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.<
This Atlas engine is in the pole shed near the tipi burner which also houses the sawmill and Case steamer. Restored and painted a bright red, it's now a very pretty engine. Due to receivership, it is almost a certainty that it was made prior to 1912 and after 1878, due to reorganization. It appears to be of a size that would produce about 25 HP. This engine whiled away its time spinning the saws and planers in a sawmill.
The Atlas Co. was founded in 1872 or '73 as the
Indianapolis Car Works. It was reorganized twice more, once in 1874 as the Atlas Works, and again in 1878 as the Atlas Engine Works. It was a major manufacturer of stationary steam engines. The exact date that the company was founded is not known, but believed to be sometime in the early 1870's. Growth came swiftly for this new company, by 1878 they had nearly 600 employees working for them.
When the company began, they manufactured miscellaneous products, but in 1880, devoted their production "exclusively to the manufacture of steam engines and boilers of standard types and sizes." Beginning around 1897, they expanded their line into the gas engine business. By 1902, the company had grown to have approximately 1,500 employees.
While the company had grown swiftly during its first 30 years to become one of the largest makers of engines in the entire United States, things were about to change. For unknown reasons, Atlas went into receivership in 1907 and was never really able to recover. The gas engine business was sold in 1910 to Mr. Max Kueger who owned the San Antonio Machine and Supply Co. By 1912 the assets of the company, including all parts and patterns, had been relocated to San Antonio, TX, where a new company, Krueger-Atlas, continued to manufacture gas engines under their own name.
From Vintage Machinery