Steiger: The Barn-Built Tractor Company That Survived on $4,914

The full history of Steiger Tractor: two Minnesota brothers built a four-wheel-drive tractor in a dairy barn in 1957, nearly went broke in Fargo, were rescued by International Harvester, and won an antitrust case brought by the U.S. government. Heartland Iron tells the full stories of the giant machines that built America. Previous episode: the Big Bud 747. Chapters 0:00 Why the government sued a tractor company 1:01 Building Steiger No. 1 in a dairy barn 3:29 The barn-built Steigers (1958-1969) 5:21 Moving to Fargo 6:20 $4,914 in the bank: Steiger nearly goes broke 8:50 The secret International Harvester deal 10:44 United States v. Steiger: the antitrust case 12:00 The lime green boom years 13:59 The 1980s farm crisis 15:13 Case IH buys Steiger 16:05 The Steiger name returns: Quadtrac and the South Pole 17:04 What happened to Barney? 17:40 The Steiger legacy Sources United States v. International Harvester Co. and Steiger Tractor, Inc., 564 F.2d 769 (7th Cir. 1977) UPI, 'Judge dismisses Steiger Tractor Chapter 11 case' (Dec 8, 1986) Lee Klancher / Octane Press, Steiger history articles and 'Steiger Tractors' (2026) Association of Equipment Manufacturers Hall of Fame: John, Maurice and Douglass Steiger (2018) Agweek; Grand Forks Herald (Eugene Dahl obituary); Farm Show; Toy Tractor Times; TractorData Wikipedia: Steiger Tractor, Case IH, 1980s farm crisis Photos from Wikimedia Commons, used under their licenses (cropped and animated; each photo is credited on screen) CC BY 2.0: AC Transit; Bill McChesney; Dave Ellis; Joost J. Bakker; Mark Holloway; Paul King; a200/a77Wells; danzil raines CC BY 3.0: Kowloonese; Loco Steve; Scoty6776; Shahnoor Habib Munmun; Szodorai Imre; Tas50 CC BY 4.0: George Chernilevsky; Quintin Soloviev CC BY-SA 2.0: David Martin; Fargo-Moorhead CVB; Los Paseos; Myron Reynard; Phil Williams; Tony Webster; formulanone CC BY-SA 2.5: Tim Kiser CC BY-SA 3.0: Bidgee; BulldozerD11; David J Laporte; KenWalker; Spars; Visitor7 CC BY-SA 4.0: Calreyn88; Chitrapa; MarcelX42; Publichall; Rwslivka; Schipper84 CC0: Hans van Dijk for Anefo; Rkehler3 Public domain: Marion Post Wolcott (FSA); National Museum of the U.S. Navy; The Antarctic Sun / U.S. Antarctic Program; U.S. Air Force; USDA / NRCS; Zoltan Kluger Maps, charts and graphics: Heartland Iron. Narration is AI-generated. #Steiger #TractorHistory #FarmHistory