Oliver Gang Has Plow Day
Collectors show off Oliver tractors and plows during annual event.
Don Voelker
January/February 2009
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David Hess, Buchanan, Michigan, puts a 1948 Oliver-built Cockshutt Model 99 through its paces.
Don Voelker
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The Oliver Gang Fun and Plow Day for 2008 is history. For a few hours, though, it was 1950 at the Marcell Cooreman farm near South Bend, Indiana. There were tractor engines at full throttle pulling their respective plows, a team of horses pulling a wagon through the field, and this all seemed to revive the past with sights and sounds.
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Trucks and trailers hauling the many sizes and types of Oliver tractors and plows started arriving early. Any tractor and plow could participate, but on this day only the Oliver green color was visible, with the only exception being a red Oliver-built Cockshutt.
The Oliver Gang is a chapter of the Hart-Parr Oliver Collectors Association. President Nelson LeCount says, “We have about 35 acres to plow here on the Marcell Cooreman farm. I hope it will be a fun day for everyone. The Oliver Gang has not been in this area for some time. This is where the Oliver family started, and that is the reason I think we should work here.”
LeCount brought part of his antique plow collection, those made at the South Bend, Indiana, Oliver Plow Works between 1915 and 1970.
Bob Schaeffer, Oliver Gang member, says, “This is our annual plow day, and it dates back to the late 1980s. We have it in different parts of this area, northern Indiana, Michigan and Ohio.”
Another member, Harry Deckler, says, “I did design work for White air planters, which were originally Oliver air planters. I worked in the South Bend, Indiana, plant for 14 years from 1972 until 1985 doing planter engineering.”
Rick and Laura Bladecki, of R & L Belgians, New Carlisle, Indiana, unloaded two of their horses and a wagon. “The horses names are Dixie and Velvet, they are 7 years old and both are going to have colts in the spring,” the Bladeckis say. “We show horses and give rides at fairs and for the parks department. We’ve been doing this for about six-and-a-half years.” Today, they are going to take onlookers about a half mile back in the field to watch the plowing, and then bring them back to the parking lot.