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 grader is one of two under the cover of the long pole barn at the west edge of the machinery display area. Somewhat of a rarity, this Western Wheeled Grader is also somewhat different in its design, which is actually difficult to explain. The trailing section I have yet to understand. The two operator design was obviously intended to be a horse drawn vehicle. This grader could have been built as early as the 1800s and as late as the 1930s. Pre 1910 is probably a safe bet.
What became Austin-Western started in 1877 in Mount Prospect, Iowa by Captain C.H. Smith and co founders Captain Beckwith and Dr. McClure. As the C.H. Smith & Co. contractor firm, they were veterans of railroad building, employing the tools of the day: pick, shovel and wheelbarrow, assisted by an early type of drag scraper. They founded a firm to manufacture a crude wheeled scraper, which had been devised to hold about three cubic feet.
This was the same strange looking machine which stood in front of Austin-Western general offices in Aurora, and was described as the world’s first road grader. It was this machine, along with ever-improved descendants, that made the modern highway of today possible. Meanwhile, back in Mount Prospect, Smith improved on the original scraper and his firm was contracted to build an Iowa section of the Burlington & Missouri River Railroad. In the process, his scraper manufacturing revolutionized construction methods. In 1883, Smith finished his last railroad contract in Indiana. He concentrated on manufacturing scrapers from then to his death in 1910. By 1891 he had outgrown Mount Prospect and, perhaps as a result of Burlington, moved operations to Aurora, changing the firm name to
Western Wheeled Scraper Company.
In 1904, the firm’s inventive genius emerged again in a perfected dump car with twelve cubic yard capacity, operated by air. Within a year, capacity had been increased by over 50%. These cars became the backbone of earth moving operations that enabled the Panama Canal to be constructed ahead of schedule and below budget.
Captain Smith remained in charge until his death in 1910. By then he had gained control of Austin Manufacturing, which dated from 1859 in Harvey, Illinois and had evolved along similar lines to Smith’s Western. In 1934 a full merger was agreed, which included the sales organization known as Austin-Western Road Machinery Company of Chicago.
In 1973, construction equipment operations including Austin-Western were bought by Clark Equipment. In 1978 Austin-Western Aurora operations closed. Production of cranes shifted to Lima Ohio and rough terrain graders to Texas. Both operations were discontinued as Clark was dissolved in 1980. Minnpar has provided some parts and other services on existing equipment since then, but without ties to Aurora.
From rodhandeland.com