If tractors were dinosaurs, the Kidman farm in Beaver Dam, Utah, would be Jurrasic Park. Dozens of old farm machines line the lane like a brontosaurus graveyard; other ancient models putter about - beasts brought back to life by Garth Kidman's touch.
And Veda Kidman loves them like pets."I thought about collecting thimbles," she says, "but I had a hard time finding any. But we now have about 85 tractors here."
This is a joint operation, with Veda showing the same driving interest in the enterprise as her husband.
How big will her "Tractor Patch" grow?
"We'll have to see," she says. "We have 80 acres to use."
"Even somebody who knows zilch about tractors gets caught up in the enthusiasm," Sarah Yates wrote in the Box Elder News and Journal. ". . . Each tour is a personal event. No certain order. No memorized speech. No blacktop pathways."
And the tours have begun to pick up. Each year more and more people drop by to make sure American "farm history" is alive and well and getting around.
"On good days we get two or three people," says Garth. "But groups have been showing up, too. We had some people from Germany not long ago, and a few people from Japan came by. We never charge. You hate to charge people to look at your old junk."
The Kidmans have been collecting tractors for 10 years now. The "turning point" was literally a turning point for them. While driving through Montana they passed a place that had 18 tractors standing in a row. Garth wheeled around, headed back, and made an offer on all 18 that the farmer couldn't refuse. Then, one by one, he trucked them down to his Beaver Dam home.
That was the first crop for the Tractor Patch. Other seeds were sown later. Lately, however, the pickings have been getting slimmer. Not long ago Garth found a tractor buried up to its gas cap and made an offer on it.
To help track down new specimens, the Kidmans rely on an old friend, "Trigger Jim" Decker, an 85-year-old resident of St. George. Decker just may be the only soul in America who loves old tractors more than Garth and Veda Kid-man.
The three of them keep an eye out for "doubles" - duplicate tractors they can use for parts or trade for machines they don't have - the way kids deal baseball cards.
Garth's favorite among the menagerie?
"The steam engines, of course" he says. "They were used in so many ways - as thrashers and in lumber yards. You could run belts off them and do a dozen different things. By checking their gears you can tell exactly what kind of work they did."
Veda opts for the "Power Horse," a small, putt-putt that was invented in Clinton, Utah. There were 12 original prototypes of the tractor. The LDS Church purchased them for its farms. The Eimco Company bought the patent after the tractor was featured in National Geographic.
What made the machine unique was it not only worked like a horse, you worked it like a horse. It was a tractor with reins. Farmers sat on their plows and guided it like a mule. You pulled back on the reins to stop it, tugged the right strap to go right, etc. It was the missing link between the horse-drawn carriage and the horseless carriage. And it gave farmers a comfort zone between tradition and the new technology.
"But they were tough to drive," Garth says. "I drove one in a parade not long ago and the thing got away from me. I couldn't rein it in."
Just like a horse - except yelling "Whoa!" won't help.
"I've sold a few Power Horses," says Garth, though his wistful tone shows he wonders if that was a good idea.
Right now the Kidmans have a string of old tractors by the lane in a "bone pile" that's been picked over for spare parts. The idea is to find as many parts as possible. Machining new ones is expensive and time consuming.
As for vandalism, there hasn't been any.
"At least I don't think there has," says Garth. "If people have taken things, I don't know they're gone."
For now, the Kidmans are going one step at a time. They're in contact with other collectors around America. And there are some mighty fine old farm machines in England they'd like to see.
The Tractor Patch will grow. As Veda told The News & Journal, "There's a guy up in Montpelier who says Garth has the worst case of rusty iron fever he's ever seen."
That's the thing about collections. Pretty soon the collection takes over a cupboard, then a room, then the house - then the five square miles surrounding your home.
The Tractor Patch is at 16410 Beaver Dam Road, Collinston, UT 84306. If you know of an old tractor, call 458-3892.