Old Red: Farmers continue to haul grain with 1969 Chevy truck

RANSOM, Ill. — When Bill Ross started farming, the investment in machinery was a lot different than the requirements for a farmer today.

“His dad bought a 1948 International B, a two-row planter, a two-row cultivator and a seven-foot sickle mower, that’s what he started farming with,” said his son, Jim.

“That cost $890 and I farmed 240 acres,” said Bill, who is 90 years old. “I also bought a truck to start trucking and got in the fertilizer business with some friends and did that for 40 years.”

For about one and a half years, Bill hauled cattle and hogs to the Chicago Stockyards.

“We would park on Halstead Street about a quarter mile away, waiting to get into the stockyards, but you couldn’t do that today,” he said.

Bill owned several trucks for his fertilizer business, including 1952, 1955 and 1969 Chevrolets.

“My friend had International trucks,” he said.

“Dad spread fertilizer and hauled for FS for years,” Jim said. “There are not too many fields he hasn’t been in around here.”

Bill had a few challenges during the years he operated his fertilizer business.

“I never had anything real bad,” he said. “I had a wrecker a couple of times pull me out of the tile hole or from a grass waterway where you don’t see the holes.”

“He was spreading near the river and got stuck, so his buddy came beside him with his truck and then scooped the fertilizer over on his truck,” Jim said.

“A barge came down the river and saw us,” Bill recalled. “He shined his light on us while we finished shoveling.”

The farmers continue to use the 1969 Chevy truck on the La Salle County farm today.

“We hauled grain with the spreader box for a long time and then we bought a grain box,” Jim said. “We’d take the fertilizer box off and put the grain box on, and as soon as we were done harvesting, we put the spreader box on and dad was gone spreading.”

Now the truck only hauls grain, since they sold the spreader box about 10 years ago.

“I wish I hadn’t sold that box,” Bill said.

All the members of the Ross family have driven the ‘69 Chevy at some point in time, including Bill’s wife, Lois.

“We call it Old Red, but dad doesn’t,” Jim said. “It has a 5 plus 2, hi-low speed transmission.”

“It was made for spreading fertilizer,” Bill said.

The truck has over 200,000 miles on it. However, it doesn’t appear to have much wear and tear.

“Dad always kept it washed up and oiled the frame to keep it from rusting from the fertilizer,” Jim said. “It wouldn’t be like it is if he wouldn’t have done that.”

Bill remembers the day he and his friend, Jack, were spreading rock phosphate on 160 acres near Marseilles.

“We were spreading after the oats were harvested and it was so hot that we had to crack the hoods on the trucks to keep them cool,” he said.

On the way back to Streator, they stopped for lunch and the menu featured turtle that day.

“We both got plates of turtle, dressing and mashed potatoes and I played around with the turtle, but didn’t eat hardly any,” Bill said. “So, I got some beef, and when she went to pick up my plate, Jack grabbed it and said I’ll eat it.”

Bill still doesn’t know how Jack was able to eat all that food.

“Boy, Jack liked that turtle,” he said. “I’ll never forget that. I’ve never seen a guy eat so much turtle.”

Together with his business partners, Bill spread fertilizer for FS for 12 years.

“They hired a retired Army colonel to manage the fertilizer plant in Streator where we were hauling from,” he said. “The colonel told us that we couldn’t leave the plant until 8 in the morning and any orders that I wrote, I had to send to Ottawa and he would tell me when to spread them.”

“My buddy got fired on the spot, and before the day was over, I got it, too,” Bill said. “So, the three of us went into business for ourselves for many years after that.”

Bill and Lois recently celebrated their 68th wedding anniversary.

“We met at Indian Acres which was a dance hall by Streator,” Lois said. “I’m from Blackstone, so we lived close together, but we didn’t know each other.”

“There was a stone archway, and when you turned in there on a night when the air was calm, you could hear the band playing,” Bill said. “It sounded like the man playing the horn was out on the road.”