Country Life Wednesday, December 9, 2020 • lyndentribune.com • ferndalerecord.com
Gardening • B2 Dairy • B3
From Germany to Lynden and back Stihl tractor produced in 1948 will soon reside at firm’s Canada headquarters in Toronto By Brent Lindquist brent@lyndentribune.com
LYNDEN — A piece of tractor history will soon be rolling out of Lynden. Stihl is best known for manufacturing chainsaws and other handheld equipment, but for a short time after World War II the company tried its hand at making tractors. One of those models produced is owned by Lynden’s Jim Hale. Hale spent 44 years with Washington Tractor — known as North Washington Implement across much of its Lynden history — before the company was acquired Oct. 1 by Papé Machinery. Hale retired with the sale to Papé, and with his retirement the tractor needs a new home.
That new showcase spot will be at Stihl’s Canadian headquarters. “(Stihl in) Germany’s buying it, but they’re sending it to Toronto,” Hale said. Hale first learned of the German company’s foray into tractor making in the 1990s while on a tour of the brand’s home factory. “They have a small reception area there like a museum with old chainsaws, and there was a tractor in there,” Hale said. “I remarked about that tractor.” Hale said that until then he had no idea Stihl had ever built a tractor. A little history Hale was sent a copy of “Stihl: From an Idea to a Brand” by Waldemar Schafer detailing the history of the company. The book provides a detailed look at Stihl’s early years, including its effort in tractor making. Andreas Stihl AG & Co. was founded in 1926 by Andreas Stihl in Stuttgart., Germany, Stihl worked as a mechanical engineer and often visited sawmills in his work as a dealer of wood
Jim Hale keeps framed photos of an original Stihl diesel tractor (above) and a group of camouflagecolored tractors outside the company’s Neustadt, Germany, office building (below left). processing machines. As made it difficult for Stihl’s since 1933 and since 1935 ing, meaning Stihl prodhe visited mills, he got an factories to continue oper- an honorary captain in the ucts weren’t in demand as idea that would be the ating, and several bomb- SS. The French arrested much. basis of the first portable ings in the war further af- Stihl and turned him over chainsaw. The idea was fected output. In 1941 the to the Americans. The com- To Lynden and back simple: bringing the saw to company turned to foreign pany was put under the During his time in Germany, Hale spoke with the tree instead of the other workers, including those control of a trustee. way around. His first prod- imprisoned by the Nazis, Soon after Stihl was an engineer about the uct was a two-man electric although it then came un- released from prison in company history and spesaw, with the first gasoline- der scrutiny by the local March 1948, the company cifically the entry into the powered saw coming out in authorities for the care tak- set to work creating a new tractor business. en to ensure the health and product: farm tractors. The “I kind of grew up in a 1929. However, when World safety of its foreign workers. chainsaw business wasn’t time just after the war was War II broke out in the late When the Nazis sur- doing very well, as the war over,” Hale said. “We used 1930s, the company was rendered in 1945, Stihl was ended up taking its toll to hear a lot about the war. I forced to produce saws imprisoned by the victori- on the Stihl brand. Other asked this guy, whose solely for the Nazi army. ous Allies for his involve- companies stole and used The conscription of Ger- ment with the Nazi Party. Stihl’s designs in their own manufacturman men into the army He had been a member chainsaw See Stihl on B3
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