12-20 Flour City Junior (1918) Pictures

[Bruce Flatmoe]

Here are some pictures of our two cylinder Flour City Junior made in Minneapolis during 1918. It was the only year that Kinnard Haines made a 2 cyl upright engine. In 1919 the Flour City Junior had a 4 cyliner engine. To the best of our knowledge it is the only surviving Flour City Junior that we know of. Through research we have determined that this tractor was gathered up in Manitoba and from there was traded to the Reynolds Museum in Alberta. From there it was sold to Barnesville, MN and it was from there that I purchased it in 1997. As you can see in the following pictures the tractor was a wreck. We were told where a wreck site was in central North Dakota and from that site we found a block and a number of other parts. One wheel had to be rolled and rivited. I have made a good number of patterns and core boxes for this restoration. The toughest being the head with all the water passages and the manifold with a preheater chamber in it. The head and manifold were poured by Cattail in PA. The rest of the patterns were poured by foundrys in South Dakota and Minnesota. The crankshaft had about a half inch bend and Craig Anderson straightened it nicely! My goal is to have it running by late next summer and out of my garage! We will trailer it home to the farm in South Dakota once finished. It will be displayed at the Coal Springs Threshing Bee in Northwestern SoDak the last weekend in September.

[David Parfitt]

Bruce

There is apparently a 1904-5 small-model Flour City in Washington state in original condition, but I don't have much more info on it than that. The are several photos of it in Richard Robinson's book "A Century of Farm Tractors in New Zealand" beacause the Flour City was the first tractor imported into NZ (although the original is long gone).

Maybe someone else can fill in some more details?

David

P.S. You sure do take on some BIG projects!!

[Tanner Remillard]

Cant wait to see that one done, nice job so far. Looks like A LOT of work, but well worth it

[MoRo]

Just curious..........where in North Dakota was this wreck located?
~M~

[Bruce Flatmoe]

I am waiting for the rocker arm bracket and rocker arms to be machined to fit the head. Until that part of the project is complete I am at a bit of a standstill on the tractor. Once I get the head back, I still need to make push rods, plumb in the top water line and finish up a few other misc details.

The tractor was originally gathered up near Minnesdosa Manitoba and from there was part of a trade to the Reynold Museum. These are the only two sites that I am aware of that parts have turned up from.

There are company pictures of the 12-20 Flour City in the several of the original pieces of literature that I have. Recently I also purchased an original black and white photo of a 12-20 Flour City. Not much info exists on the tractor. When I first got the tractor I had NOTHING and couldn't find ANYTHING on it. My first break came while digging through the archives of the Minnesota Historical Society. A former librarian for them had done a lot of research on Minnesota built tractors and engines. He had zeroxed (old purple/green copies) of a 1918 Chiltons Tractor Journal. From there I found original copies of the Chiltons in the Detroit Library, Agricultural Division. That librarian was kind enough to make me lazer copies (much better than 1970s vintage zerox!!). That got me off and running. The rest has been hard work, patience and help from friends.

The wreck site in North Dakota was near Golden Valley. We have made about 4 trips there and have scoured the farm and junk pile cleam. As a result we have a modest pile of extra parts and a LOT of patterns hanging on the shop wall. At weak moments I get tempted to start another one but I guess it is nice having the only one of something.

[Bruce Flatmoe]

In September I completed the restoration of thw 12-20 Flour City Junior two cylinder tractor that I have spent the last 9 years restoring. The one picture is as it was leaving my garage for its trip to the farm in South Dakota. The other is at our show in Northwestern SD.

[Bruce Flatmoe]

Here is an additional rear view of the tractor.

[Lawrence Woolf]

What a brillant restoration. Many thanks for sharing the pictures.

[Eric Best]

That's got to be one of the neatest little "big" tractors I've seen. Thanks for posting.

Eric.

[Mike McKnight]

Bruce, beautiful job on a one-of-a-kind! Congratulations!
Mike M

[Eric Best]

Bruce - Not being familiar with the 2 cylinder Flour City, are the crank throws together or 180 degrees apart like a John Deere? Just trying to imagine how it sounds. I'm guessing it's just one half of the 4 cylinder crank since they were two pieces bolted together, anyway.

Eric.

[Bruce Flatmoe]

The crank throws are 180 degrees apart. And they were off about a half inch!!! I kind of think the tractor threw a rod and everything came to a very sudden stop. The lower half of the crankcase had a big gouge in it right across from where a rod would bolt up to the rod throw. The crankcase was busted off and it was a mess. The 12-20 Flour City has its own crankshaft. The flywheel bolts on ahead of the engine, not behind the engine like the rest of the Flour City tractors. The pistons were their own size as well as the head...nothing would cross over. Bruce

[20 Reeves Highwheeler]

Bruce,
Thanks so much for posting those photos of your little pride & joy! That is the neatest little tractor I've seen in a long time... Maybe forever! You can sure be proud of it. That's tantamount to marrying Miss Universe?
Gary Yaeger