IHC Sickle Mower - Eureka, MT
Posted by: 
T0SHEA
N 48° 54.342 W 115° 04.984
11U E 640470 N 5418744
One of about a dozen sickle mowers here, this is one of only a couple of implements which still have any paint attached.
Waymark Code: WMV8E5
Location: Montana, United States
Date Posted: 03/13/2017
Views: 1
Someone had managed to gather together about 60 farm implements and wagons and has decided to put them on display. The vast majority of the farm implements are very old horse drawn machines. The collection includes plows, cultivators, harrows, discs, mowers, corn planters, farm wagons, potato diggers and planters, a hay loader, a manure spreader and two road graders. The display is immediately north of Highway 37 and 1.2 miles west of Highway 93 which runs through Eureka and north to the Canadian border. The site appears to be accessible 24/7/365, at no charge.
A "New Ideal Giant", this mower was a two or three horse rig with a 5-foot sickle bar and 36" wheels. First manufactured in 1905/06 by Deering, it merged with McCormick in 1905 to form International Harvester, yet both continued to produce machinery under their original names for several more years. So, even though this mower has the Deering name on it, it could have been manufactured several years after 1905. It is an older model of IHC, though, as can be seen by the exposed drive gears. Later, the drive gears were enclosed to prevent their being fouled by the crop. This was a serious problem with older mowers, being the cause of much blue air surrounding the mower as the farmer dug and pried away at the long grass/hay wrapped tightly around the gears.
The fact that this one still has paint might mean that it had been used for trimming the grass around the farm for many years after it was retired as a hay mower. Or maybe someone just painted it and used it as a lawn ornament.
