Pictured here in the mid-1940s is an International TD 18 crawler tractor hauling over twenty sleighs of pulp wood for the Great Northern Pulp & Paper Company. Based in Millinocket, Maine—an hour west of the New Brunswick border, the company had been in operation since the early 1900s. Once the largest paper mill in North America, it had constructed its own hydro-generation and power distribution system early on. By the 1940s, Great Northern had amassed close to 1 million hectares of timber holdings. Interestingly, a prisoner of war camp supplied workers for the mill during WW II. A succession of owners, including a Canadian company, attempted to keep the mill in operation until 2013 when it permanently closed. Multiple similar-sized Canadian mills also closed around this period due to the print media downturn. �The TD 18 pictured here was equipped with a Bucyrus-style blade attachment with front-mounted hydraulic pump. Ice grousers and a custom wooden cab were a must when handling the local winters. As winter operations wound down, the bulldozer turned to construction and maintenance of the Great Northern Co. logging roads. The International TD 18 model was produced for a decade from 1939-on. Several updated versions, including the TD 18A -182 Series, were built until 1958. Powered by a 6-cylinder I-H diesel engine, it was rated at 70 kW and was coupled to a 6-speed transmission. Later models featured steering-clutch hydraulic boosters for ease of operation. � At our annual events, there is always an excellent showing of International Harvester crawler tractors courtesy of club members and our HCEA Canada collection. Each model, from the T20 gas-powered crawler of the 1930s to the TD 25 dozer of the 1970's are in working condition. #constructionhistory #throwbackThursday #forestry #mills (fb)

Pictured here is a mid-1940s LeTourneau Model D4 Tournapull scraper that was developed by the U.S Military for use in the Second World War. Dubbed the ‘Flying Scraper’ this 2 cu.yd. (1.53 cu. meters) unit was powered by a 34 kW (45 hp) Continental gas four-cylinder engine coupled with an off-the-shelf Borg & Warner four-speed transmission. In the early years of the war the Military realized the need for a light weight, compact unit that could be air-lifted and deployed initially in runway construction overseas. Engineered to be transported by the U.S. C-47 D Dakota transport military aircraft over 600 units were produced by LeTourneau by war’s end. Steering an Airborne scraper was accomplished by the then popular ‘clutch and brake’ method which confounded many an army private turned ‘operator’. (Note that the unit pictured here the steering has been modified by use of hydraulic cylinders during restoration. This Airborne scraper and International TD 6 crawler ‘pusher’ were part of an HCEA Canada event during the 2010 International Plowing Match held near St. Thomas, Ontario.) Fortunately, long-time HCEA Canada members, Bob and Doug Davis, also have an Airborne scraper in excellent operating condition that they demonstrate during our event days held at the Simcoe County Museum. In fact, the Davis brothers have two LeTourneau D-Pull scrapers from the early 1950s that are powered by GM 4-71 diesel engines, manual transmissions and a generator to supply all scraper functions electrically, as was the steering. #constsructionhistory #ThrowbackThursday #scrapers #WorldWarII #earthmoving (fb)