I walked into Cal Russell's office at Boundary Tractor Co. yesterday and said, "Bet you have no idea who I am." I was figuring I'd win my wager since I've met Cal only once in my life, and that was several years ago. I've written about him in my second book because he was the guy my dad always talked about when he was making tractor deals in Bonners Ferry.
I believe my brief mention of Cal even included some incorrect information, namely the name of his business. I called it the Bonners Ferry Tractor Company. It was close but not quite correct, so I'm hoping this morning's acknowledgement of error will satisfy Cal. Cal's an easy guy to deal with, and he's got a good memory.
"Well, you're Marianne Love, " he said, not skipping a beat. I was impressed. I was also impressed this morning when I went to my book and read the reference about Cal. Turns out my folks had gone to his office ten years ago in July, 1996, to talk about purchasing an ATV. They had just visited a longtime family friend Jean Martin at her place near Priest River and had ridden the Martin's ATV's while looking over Jean's timber-thinning project.
They came back from Priest River impressed and ready to invest in their own. A 4-wheeler soon joined the tractor fleet at Tibbs Arabians, while one member of the tractor fleet helped pay for the new 4-wheeler. Bill purchased that 1956 Ford from my dad and brought it home, happy to be a tractor man himself, just like his father-in-law.
Well, the Ford came into yesterday's discussion as did ATV's and my dad, Harold. Cal has fond memories of Harold because he bought the first Kabota tractor ever sold in this area. Cal told us yesterday he's sold that same tractor five times now. And, Mother told me last night, after hearing about the tractor's many new homes, that she couldn't ever figure out why Harold ever sold it in the first place.
"There was nothing wrong with that tractor, " she still insists. Well, she really knew why he sold it. Harold was always interested in a new tractor deal. He may have been smiling from above yesterday as we pulled into Boundary Tractor and started looking at a Yamaha 4-wheeler with a rear-end dump box. Bill's actually been eyeing those for years, saying they'd be perfect for my mother because you don't have to straddle anything to ride them. He's also thought they'd be perfect for working around a farm.
Well, we'll soon be working on a bigger farm, so we had an excuse to get serious about an ATV of our own. And, what better place than Boundary Tractor and what better person than Cal to give us a deal. During our visit yesterday, we delighted in telling Cal that listening to all that tractor stuff during her childhood had even rubbed off on our daughter, Annie.
A few weeks ago Cal's Uncle Wally Adams, an owner of Coeur d'Alene Tractor Co. stayed at the Courtyard Marriott in Seattle. When my daughter registered him, she noticed his business card and asked if he'd ever heard of her grandfather because she knew he had bought a tractor or two in Coeur d'Alene too. Sure enough, the name sounded familiar to Wally.
As we started the second generation of equipment purchases from Boundary Tractor which Cal has proudly managed for 30 years, we found it fascinating to learn that he's a fourth generation tractor man. His great-grandfather started Adams Tractor Co. in Spokane after a stint of selling apples at the old Spokane train depot.
One day two men got off the train from the East and bought some of his apples. Their names were Edsel and Henry Ford. They were looking for folks to start Ford tractor businesses out West. So, Cal's great-grandfather accepted the challenge, and the rest is tractor history.
Speaking of tractor history, Bill was proud to inform Cal that our 50-year-old Ford still has the Adams Tractor metal identification tag wrapped around its steering column. While sealing the deal on the ATV, Cal promised to make arrangements for the old Ford to go up to his shop for a good tune-up.
In the meantime, that new Yamaha 4-wheeler will get some farm use on our new place, starting with a grand tour of the property for my mother. Moreover, a whole new era of family to family farm equipment association has begun to unfold.
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