• Thank you for visiting HeavyEquipmentForums.com! Our objective is to provide industry professionals a place to gather to exchange questions, answers and ideas. We welcome you to register using the "Register" icon at the top of the page. We'd appreciate any help you can offer in spreading the word of our new site. The more members that join, the bigger resource for all to enjoy. Thank you!

More rusties around Klamath Falls

Diane Marie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2015
Messages
54
Location
United States
Occupation
Retired counselor, now running around taking photo
Greetings, gentlemen! :waving It's been ages, but I'm still finding old rusty stuff. Here are three on a farm near Tulelake, CA. A very nice Chevy and an International, but the treasure, for me, is the early 1940s Studebaker US-6 in front. That one has some serious skeletons in its closet. Thousands of them were shipped to the USSR during WWII as part of our Lend-Lease agreement with them. Many of them were put to use by Stalin to help transport his millions of "enemies of the people" from prisoner trains to the sites of Gulag camps throughout the USSR. Once there, prisoners starved, froze or were worked to death within months. (Enough survived to tell the tale and to write books about their experience in Hell.) The worst of the Gulags were in the Russian Far East, location of gold and uranium mines. A few of these US-6s stayed behind in the US, and the one below was probably bought at a military surplus auction.

Three on a farm.jpg

Over the last couple of years I've read several books on the history of the USSR, the Gulags and the Lend-Lease program. When I saw this, my first thought was, "military." It wasn't until a photography friend ID'd it that I learned what these trucks had been up to. There are still lots of them in use in the hinterlands of Russia. In fact, I recently saw one on Google Street View, parked behind someone's shanty in a small town in eastern Russia. It really did give me a chill. So...that's my Studebaker US-6 story.

Studebaker US-6 and the Lend-Lease Act: http://www.militaryfactory.com/armor/detail.asp?armor_id=703
 
Last edited:

old-iron-habit

Senior Member
Joined
Nov 22, 2012
Messages
4,233
Location
Moose Lake, MN
Occupation
Retired Cons't. Supt./Hospitals
Wow, I don't find them rusty. I think they are well preserved. I find more rust on my 2008 Chevy here. Glad to see your back Diane Marie. Thanks for the explanation on the Studebaker.
 

RZucker

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
4,077
Location
Wherever I end up
Occupation
Mechanic/welder
Back in the 70s I worked for a girlfriends father (dryland wheat farmer) that had 2 of those Studebakers still in OD paint, purchased by his father as milsurp at the time. They were 4x4 not 6x6 with 16 foot grain boxes, slow, hot, and heavy steering.We used them and a couple other trucks (like a '41 Ford ) to haul to the 3 miles to the nearest grain elevator til it was full. then the big semis came out to run to the Snake river. One was a '56 KW cabover and the other was a '58 Peterbilt, both had the old 220 Cummins and twin sticks... those were the good old days. I bet those old trucks are still sitting in the weeds.
 

Diane Marie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2015
Messages
54
Location
United States
Occupation
Retired counselor, now running around taking photo
Thanks very much, Steve, Mitch, old-iron and RZucker! RZ, I enjoyed your personal story!
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
Hi Diane! I've read some books about the Gulag.
Henry Ford sent quite a few Engineers etc to build the first automobiles made in Russia (think it was the Model T)
They produced Fourty some cars and wanted to have a Parade in Moscow.
They couldn't find 40 people that knew how to drive (stick LoL)
Then the purges started which made Hitler look like a choir boy.
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
So the Model T, The motorized biplane (airplane ) and Even the Bicycle were Kinda invented around the same time.
After the railroad was invented. No bikes because there were no roads (or assembly lines )
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
So the Autocar and Aeroplane were manufactured Around the same. ...time.
People there' Justifiably assumed that....
If you could drive a car. ...You we're a Mechanic (of Course! )
An Aeroplane has a MOTOR ...... They assumed he was a Pilot.
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
In other words people there assumed that if you could drive a car you can fly a plane.
And if it had a Motor you were a MECHANIC. ... (pilot )
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
......so don't hide your Light under a basket effo......tell us what happened
 

Diane Marie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2015
Messages
54
Location
United States
Occupation
Retired counselor, now running around taking photo
Hi Diane! I've read some books about the Gulag.
Henry Ford sent quite a few Engineers etc to build the first automobiles made in Russia (think it was the Model T)
They produced Fourty some cars and wanted to have a Parade in Moscow.
They couldn't find 40 people that knew how to drive (stick LoL)
Then the purges started which made Hitler look like a choir boy.

Yes, and some of those industrial engineers and a few thousand other Americans ended up in the Gulag system. The Forsaken, by Tim Tzouliadis, tells about that relatively unknown part of the purge.
 

fixou812

Senior Member
Joined
Dec 17, 2013
Messages
677
Location
Buffalo NY
Occupation
Millwright Equipment Mechanic Welder
Thanks Dianne and thanks for visiting us!♡
While reading that particular story of one Engineer, an American
I could not help but wonder if Henery Ford's personel
were left over there (sold out ) by Henery?
 

RZucker

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
4,077
Location
Wherever I end up
Occupation
Mechanic/welder
Diane, I was just reading about your avatar... When I was a kid (a million years ago) my family had relatives in North Idaho and I remember seeing many a "teepee" sawdust burner glowing red in the night. Had a friend that worked at a mill and he said they got carried away one night and collapsed theirs from overheating it... OOPS.
 

Diane Marie

Well-Known Member
Joined
Feb 4, 2015
Messages
54
Location
United States
Occupation
Retired counselor, now running around taking photo
Thanks fixou812, RZucker and Truck Shop, sorry I didn't see your comments until now! Can anyone ID this one, it's giving me a lot of trouble:

BeFunky Collage.jpg

For scale...
DSCF9762x.jpg

On a ranch, Newell, California (near Tulelake). I'm guessing early-mid '40s. Someone suggested Peterbilt, which looks close except for details like the style of louvers on the side of the hood. I wouldn't be surprised if it was former military converted to farming, because this is next to the huge Japanese internment site, Camp Tule Lake. Any clues would be appreciated. I've just about worn out my image search ideas. :beatsme
 
Last edited:

lantraxco

Senior Member
Joined
Jan 1, 2009
Messages
7,704
Location
Elsewhen
Gonna guess late forties, early fifties Federal, may be ex military or not. The front bumper kinda looks military, but probably is not original, who knows? Interesting find!

Hey, one of those pictures is transposed the exhaust stack is on the wrong side! LOL
 

RZucker

Senior Member
Joined
Jul 7, 2013
Messages
4,077
Location
Wherever I end up
Occupation
Mechanic/welder
I'm thinking WW2 vintage Diamond T built for the military. But the way the military contracts were awarded, it could be a Federal, or a Sterling, or ... ? A lot of those trucks were made by various manufacturers to the same specs dictated by the DOD.
 

jim-in-so-ore

Active Member
Joined
Aug 8, 2007
Messages
29
Location
Central Point, Oregon
Diane Marie, I was out deer hunting in October and found another old mill with a still intact wigwam burner, it was on a side road off of hiway 226 between Trail and Tiller Oregon, again just over the hill from you. It looked like most of the old mill buildings were still in use for storage, but that was just an impression from driving by.
Jim
 
Top