![]() The Reysens’ Model B, for instance, had only one original gear section on either drive wheel, and it needed to be replaced. Though the company promoted its tractors as being well built and reliable, actual use suggested something different. The line-drive feature was also available on the G and H models as a factory option. La Crosse produced six models: Model A, Model B, Model F (a redesign of the Model B), Model G (the first of the line to have four wheels), Model H (the last of the line, resembling the Model G), and Model M, a line-drive tractor (and the only line-drive tractor ever tested in the Nebraska Tractor Test program). “He knew how to sell, and a lot of these tractors were sold for export.” Happy Farmers have been found throughout the U.S., as well as in France, South America and Great Britain. “Hirshheimer knew his business,” Randy says. Based on preliminary research, he’s confident the Happy Farmer was more than a regional product. Blending interests in steel-wheeled tractors and history, he’s writing a book on the history of the La Crosse Tractor Co. Randy, though, has a different perspective. ![]() ![]() “A lot of people are skeptical about that number,” he says, “because the tractor is such an oddball.” According to Randy Reysen’s best guess, nearly 20,000 Happy Farmer tractors were built during a run from roughly 1916 to 1922 or ’23. ![]() Manufacture of tractors was one of several enterprises founded by La Crosse businessman Albert Hirshheimer. was incorporated in 1917 it merged with the Sta-Rite Engine Co. ![]()
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