Tracking down what this farm wagon was used for was an interesting project. It wasn’t a grain wagon, or a corn harvester, as I first surmised. Finally, through online research, I discovered it was a potato wagon.
Every spring the farmer would fill the wagon with potatoes that had sprouted little eyes and hitch it to a tractor. That’s how potatoes were planted. The metal bin and metal wheels were significant technological advances over the wooden carts that had been used for centuries.
The wagon was also used for general hauling purposes, but no matter what it carried, it was called the potato wagon.
“When tillage begins, other arts follow. The farmers, therefore, are the founders of human civilization. ~ DanielWebster
Location: Whitemouth, Manitoba
Date: Summer 1990
Source: Pentax ME Super with Fuji Black and White film
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