The Cockshutt Plow company advertisement “Taking Water on the Run” came to the Manitoba Agricultural Museum courtesy of Bill Cockshutt and shows the 1912 version of high speed farming. Today the machinery companies are looking at ways to reduce the time loading seed and fertilizer into the large carts supplying modern airdrills. In 1912 a similar problem existed, how to replenish a steam engines water supply without losing time when plowing. Someone realized just drive the water wagon alongside the engine and pump water into the engines water tanks while the engine continued plowing. An example of this practice is shown in this ad. The teamster is standing on the tank manually pumping water with one hand with the reins in the other hand. An engineman is leaning from the cab of what appears to be an Avery Undermount steam engine which is pulling a Cockshutt engine plow. An engine such as this when working would require an ongoing supply of water which often a problem to find in the pioneer era. Nearby sloughs were often a water source however this water could be quite hard which shortened the life of boilers. A manual piston pump was mounted on the water wagon and used to pump water on to the wagon, then used to pump the water to the engines water tanks.
While there is no fireman visible in the ad, there were usually two men on an engine when plowing, one to steer and one to tend the boiler. Another man was needed to haul water and a man was needed on the plow to work the levers. Fuel could be a problem depending on how far they had to go for coal. One can see then why kerosene tractors were so appealing. One man could operate these tractors while steering it and water was less of an issue. Many early tractors used hopper type cooling systems open to the air which could lose large amounts of water.
Avery sold Cockshutt plows in the US and Avery engines appear in many Cockshutt ads. An Avery Undermount engine featured a heavy fabricated steel frame on which the axles, drive train, steering mechanism and engine were mounted with the boiler over the top of this frame. On most other engines the boiler itself formed the frame. While cheaper to build, this method resulted in additional stresses being thrown on the boiler. While Avery Undermounts were found in Manitoba during the steam era, currently there are no known Undermounts in the province.
