[Roger Byrne]

I've been lurking and reading on this Web site for some time and decided I should try a post. This is the greatest original photo that I own. I first saw it about 25 years ago when helping to prepare for the centennial of our town. I tried to buy it from the original owner but he would not sell. Later on, after he passed away, his widow called me and gave me the photo saying her husband wanted me to have it because I'd take good care of the photo and the history surrounding it. I was lucky enough to have known three of the men in the photo. The picture quality/detail is almost unbelievable and it's too bad I can't post a larger version of the picture.

This photo was taken in the fall of 1923 at the gravel pit near Racine, Minnesota. The company that owned the steam shovel and a couple of the trucks was Link Construction. Most of the TT trucks were owned by locals that hired out to haul gravel that fall. The bottom dump boxes on the trucks were built by the guys that owned them. The man with glasses on top of the new truck in the photo (second one in the center), is Jens Petersen who I was lucky enough to know and was a great old guy. He was a Ford dealer in Stewartville, Minnesota for many years until that fall. During 1922 and 1923, Henry Ford set out to get rid of some of his dealers. In the early years Ford would give a dealership to just about anyone that applied. Some towns had several dealers. He then changed and required his dealers to have more inventory of both cars and parts, better shop equipment, and sell a minimum number of cars per year. Added to that was the fact he kept lowering the advertised price every few months and dealers sometimes ended up having to sell the T's at less than they paid for them. Jens' said he'd had enough and shut down his business after he ordered a car and truck for himself. You will also notice that the cabs on these TTs are all a little different. Ford did not build cabs for his trucks until 1924. Before that you built it yourself or bought it from a truck cab vender. There are 14 trucks in the full version of this picture: 12 are TT's - 1 is a International shovel nose - 1 is unknown.