1913 Bull Tractor Company 'Little Bull' - Yreka, CA
N 41° 43.395 W 122° 38.312
10T E 530065 N 4619112
A rare tractor located at the Siskiyou County Historical Society Outdoor Museum.
Waymark Code: WMV80H
Location: California, United States
Date Posted: 03/11/2017
Views: 2
I had no idea what I was looking at when I visited this outdoor museum. After doing some research online I discovered that this is one of the first tractors made by the Bull Tractor Company that was located in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A blog website has a nice historical
article on this tractor:
BULL TRACTOR COMPANY
Located in Minneapolis, Bull produced a light weight 3 wheeled tractor in 1913. At a price of $335 it became the bestselling tractor in the United States within a year. Power was provided by a twin cylinder 12 hp engine giving about 5 hp at the drawbar. This first model was known as the “Little Bull 5-12”. They built 3800 Little Bulls over 2 years but they didn’t prove to be very durable.
In 1915, a larger “7-20” model was introduced which became the “12-24” in 1917. This model is known as the “Big Bull”. Bull tractors utilized one large and one small rear wheel so that the tractor would ride level when plowing. Bull signed an agreement to provide tractors to Massey-Harris in Canada but subcontracted manufacture to another company who then decided to supply other firms instead.
Bull’s fate was sealed when Henry Ford entered into tractor manufacturing with the Fordson in 1917. By 1918, Bull was no longer building tractors and filed for bankruptcy in 1920.
Coincidentally, I noticed fellow waymarking couple, BK-Hunters, waymarked a similar tractor here.
I also found a really neat website that contains pictures of this 'Little Bull' fully restored. The tractor at the outdoor museum is missing some parts. Particularly, the arrow sitting on top of the front wheel, the radiator and housing shroud around the fan blades, and some parts of the engine block. I also know that this tractor is a 1913 model based off the front wheel design with circles and not the triangular holes in the later model.
Museum fees apply when visiting either the indoor or outdoor museum.