Let me introduce myself and provide a little back story before I go into the thank you that is the basis for this story. My name is John Cavanna and my father and I own a 250 acre apple farm in Glastonbury Connecticut. The farm was purchased by my great grandfather in 1903. When my family migrated from Piacenza Italy in 1893 two items came with them and I have them both today. The large dinner bell that would be rung to call the men in from the vineyard and the cast iron polenta cooking pot. Im proud to say we still have both. My family would ride the electric trolley from New York City to Glastonbury, there they would load the trolley with peaches and the kids in the family would sell them from push carts upon return to the city. While in Glastonbury my great grandfather admired the land because it looked just like home with the rolling hills, and as a result saved the money to purchase land there.


I’ve always loved mechanical things and when I was little my favorite thing to ride on with my dad was the Caterpillar Twenty Two my grandfather bought new in Poughkeepsie New York in 1937. He hauled it home on an ac chain drive Mack. In the spring time the water coming of the granite ledge on the top of the farm makes the orchard impassible with a rubber tired tractor. As a young boy I marveled at how that cat when pulling a 500 gallon fmc sprayer that had sunk to its frame and was simply being dragged would straighten itself , go under load and just continue to pull and pull. The tractor would be used every other year perhaps every two years washed, fuel drained and then stored until her pulling power was needed again. Ironically enough that same cat almost killed me when I was little. After getting it started one day by myself I went for a ride and not realizing a gang harrow was parked in some tall grass drove over the telephone pole chained to the harrow to smooth the earth. I still have the burn scar on my arm because the exhaust pipe was the only thing to keep me from going off the hood and onto a track.

The different barns at the farm have had some amazing things in them over the years, a model r ford pickup, a Stutz bearcat, a two man, accord front wheel chain drive sprint car, several miller sprint cars (my grandfather raced open wheel sprint cars in the 30’s and 40’s) an autogyro , a mini submarine and of course other cat crawlers. My dad has always told me stories of this one caterpillar R2 his father had and how nice it was to drive being a 5 speed with electric start. As with many things the world turned and the different tractors came and went. The only one that stayed was that Twenty Two he bought new. That didn’t stop me from wanting that R2. All I know is that it was sold to a logger in Maine in the late 70’s.

I grew up working on the farm at a very young age and to this day continue to love the solitude and reflection farm work brings. I’m a fulltime policeman with more than ten years under my belt and work the midnight (1045-0645) shift for the City of Hartford CT. Needless to say work can be a wild 8 hours and when I get off in the morning I cant wait to get home and start my day with my old man.

Today I have a love affair with cat crawlers that is difficult to put into words. I have close to forty of them including several R2’s but did not have one that reminded me of the one that I had formed an idea of in my mind that escaped the farm.

This all changed on Thursday the 26th, I took delivery of another R2 to the cat stable and this one fit the mold I had in my mind perfectly. When my father saw it he said “jeez that looks like the one my dad sold”

I have one man to thank for this tractor and his name is Chad Enyeart. Chad knew I was on the hunt for a nice R2 and he found one. Chad then immediately went to work splitting the tractor fixing the clutch, radiator and numerous other items and adding an electric starter, ring gear and generator. Chad’s expertise saved me the one thing im always lacking… time. I implore anybody that needs cat work done to get a hold of him. His work is spot on, professional and completed extremely fast. On top of that his prices were extremely fair and he kept me in the loop with any major decision that had to be made. I asked Chad for a ‘turn key” tractor and hats off to him boys, he delivered exactly that.

My collection of cats has led people around town to give me a friendly ribbing for the amount of tractors I have and that I don’t use them for anything. Because of this three years ago I built a sugar house and began maple syruping. The recent R2 is fantastic and am proud to say I have been using it to break a trail trough the 4 feet of snow we have been hammered with this winter season. She pulls great and I cant help but think my grandfather would approve of it.

Fantastic story there great looking little machine I dont under stand this four foot of snow brrrrrrrrrrrrr sounds cold thanks for sharing the story and picture
Whats maple syruping I have heard of it eaten it sweat as does it come from a maple tree ?

Paul

That is a great story, and with 40 Cats in your collection you are doing a great job saving a lot of American history, well done. People often ask me why I keep dragging old Cats home, some more than 2,000 miles, as most the smart folks have happily sent them to China few the few bucks in scrap, but to me there is something fundamentally right about saving our history and for me, and obviously you, old Cats are the real challenge we enjoy daily, of bringing a dead tractor back to life, and there is nothing better to me than hearing my kids laugh, but a close second is hearing a long dead Cat engine cough and splutter back to life after maybe not running for 50 years, and that first beer afterwards while listening to that engine settle down is the best tasting beer you can drink.
Regards
Mike

John--when out in Utah this year I saw the quality of the work Chad has done along with his father and two sons--absolutely great!!

Would one of your R2's be 6J-102?? I bought it 53 years ago when i was 16 and used it for around 15 years and then sold it for $600. I would love to find it again as now I know the historic value of these great old Cats. My friend and I installed a rear hyd. pump and custom built blade on it and I cleared land, dug foundation holes and a lot of grading which was difficult for me as it was nose heavy.

"Neil" wrote:

Paul, sugaring is a lot of fun. Wait until the temps are below 20 at night, and above 40 during the day (typically Feb/Mar), bore a 3/8 hole into a maple tree, pull a spile in there (spout), hook on a bucket. When it's full, pour the sap into a broad, flat pan and reduce it until just before it turns to caramel. Maple syrup - delicious.
Great excuse to sit in a shack out the back having a few beers with mates, however.... the more beer drunk, the more likely the sugaring turns to caramel or worse... : )
I'm planning to make a few ounces this year - maybe 8-12 which all our family seems to use. It's a 40:1 reduction so it takes a lot of sap. Of course, there is everything from a single bucket and Mother's stovetop through to big commercial outfits with the trees permanently plumbed into a mainline going back to the shack (factory).
Many varieties of maple produce sap suitable for syrup but the sugar maple produces the most with the "best" flavor. Other trees can be used such as birches (heard of birch beer?)

Mate the princess and I are amazed we are sugar cane farmers but both of us had no idea about where maple syrup came from had heard of a maple tree never heard of birch bear but have heard of a birch tree the things I learn from this forum is amazing I guess I better go to the naughty corner for taking it off topic but it was worth it thanks everyone

Paul

I think we all have a hot exhaust pipe story we could tell

So nice picking up an antique in turn key condition and driving it up on your trailer.

John,

Great story, maybe you could write an article for the ACMOC Magazine on some of your other Cats. I'm looking forward to some sugaring here in Michigan this spring, if it ever warms up. Thanks.

Bryan

It would be my pleasure and I would be happy to do so!