Very neat historical photo

I found this picture while reading about some old farm tractor history online.

It’s a Farmall A with a mail can, and presumably used as the mail vehicle in that small area. The photo is from 1941, taken in Coon Rapids, Iowa. The tractor was owned and operator by Frances Shirbroun.

Neat!!. I like it.

That has got to be one very very long mail route. I would guess it
would go through snow and mud a little better but they can also get
stuck a whole lot gooder too. Through the years back then they tried
all kinds of stuff. Now just thinking for a moment. What do we do
today that fifty or a hundred years from now folks will think we were
a little crazy??

That?s a really cool looking ?A? with the cab mounted on it.

(quoted from post at 18:26:41 01/04/19) What do we do today that fifty or a hundred years from now folks will think we were a little crazy??

Click to expand...

Actually "drive" a vehicle. *lol*

That's a great photo! Nice, clear image. Thank you.

That is a neat picture . A 2wd tractor will go places a
4wd truck won?t even think of going so I?d imagine in
those days that little mail tractor sure beat walking

As you can see in the background Coon Rapids is in some fairly hilly country that can have less than ideal roads after a rain. Marilyn’s granddad was born and raised in that area and so was her dad. My guess is this tractor was intended more for going through mud than snow though it would see some use in snow too. Another guess is this tractor was the bad weather means of transportation only. A car might have been used during dry times. The county or township probably didn’t gravel and maintain roads as well during the war years so that made the mud situation worse especially in those hills. The cab kept the mail and the driver dry. Back in those days the volume of mail per household was much less but on the other side of the coin every mile had two or three or more mailboxes. Coon rapids is on the southern end of a very large German Catholic area so the population was high for a rural area. I’m sure there was more than one hoghouse housing a still in that area during prohibition. It would be interesting to know how many miles that tractor covered every day. With a large rural population I wonder how many mail routes came out of Coon Rapids, a town of less than 1000 people I’m guessing.

Great photo, thanks for posting.

i might be a little fuzzy on this but after looking at that cab again I think it was made by a local company in that area. Maybe in Carroll?