Northern Star 21 July 1984
It came to the Richmond River district in 1909 after having been manufactured in Buffalo, New York.
The steam tractor was brought to Lismore on the trading boat Ulmara at a time when bullocks and horses did most of the road transportation work.
The tractor was ordered by George and William Eaton, who are pictured with the timber wagons and their horse Secret.
After the tractor was landed on the wharf at Lismore, George and William used the wood from the tractor’s crate to stoke the boilers. They then drove the machine to Greenridge.
When they arrived at Greenridge they discovered that the tractor was too heavy for the ferry to take it to the south side where they had their property.
The Eatons after all their enterprise in securing the new wonder machine had a problem.
There was no way they could get the tractor across the river and it remained forever on the north side.
But it was not a lost cause.
The Yeager family who lived at Oakland bought it and George Eaton continued to drive it.
There is little doubt that this was the first tractor to come to the Richmond River district and became the start of the mechanical age. Sadly, Eaton’s tractor was sold to a Lismore dealer for scrap in 1942.