LeRoy Berg Sr.
In the small farming community of Fairmount, North Dakota, located in the extreme southeast corner of the state, lived an incredibly talented man named LeRoy Berg Sr. LeRoy was one of those unique individuals that possessed no more than an eighth-grade education but was an extremely gifted welder, mechanic and self taught engineer. LeRoy loved all things mechanical and was always trying to find new ways to ease the burden of daily farm chores. He had built or modified many different farm machines throughout the years, such as converting horse drawn grain binders into tractor drawn swathers, converting a stationary belt driven feed grinder into a portable PTO powered unit, building a self propelled field sprayer, and even building his own version of a skid steer loader. In 1960, Melroe Manufacturing introduced its first true skid steer, with four equal size wheels. Mr. Berg thought he could build a similar machine and did so by utilizing the four-cylinder engine from a pull-type combine, some old car axles, and a hand built frame equipped with a hydraulic loader.
After milking cows and tending to all of the other daily farm chores, LeRoy enjoyed spending his free time in a small workshop on his farm. The shop's woodstove provided a comfortable place to work during the cold and seemingly endless North Dakota winters. It was in this small cinderblock shop that in 1964, LeRoy began building his own four-wheel-drive tractor...
This story has been published in Heritage Iron Magazine, issue #85. To get the rest of LeRoy Berg's incredible story grab a copy of issue #85
Photo Gallery
LeRoy Berg's Tractor built in 1964
