Ok, ok, you're sitting there saying it's all well and good that I claim to know when these tractors and things were made and so on, but can I prove it. The answer is ….probably.

To understand why I say that, you need to know a couple things. One is that I'm a cautious person. I am very hesitant about making absolute statements. Second is that my data pool is very large for this sort of thing, and I have analyzed it VERY carefully in the process of writing a book on these companies and machines. A few of my data pool elements:

 Original advertising on ALL machines built by the company, and not one or two pieces, but rather over 100 pieces of literature have been scrutinized for hours.

 Nearly 1000 serial numbers and associated machine data from all types of syndicate machines. I have personally seen and examined over 150 syndicate machines of nearly all the known manufactured types.

 Original owners manuals

 Historical documents, most from the Minnesota Historical Society in Minneapolis/St. Paul.

 Trade publications from the times in which these machines were built and sold.

After a while, it seemed as though I knew the men who ran these companies very well. For example, I think I know that Harold L. Downing was a risk taker, a bold businessman, very frugal, and was concerned about the quality of his products.

Anyway, if you would like to more about why I think I know about these tractors and companies, please feel free to write. I have an open mind, and have done this research because I could not get an accurate answer anywhere else.