On the Kokes family farm near Wagner, South Dakota, John Deere’s iconic greenand-yellow equipment dominates the farmyard. In contrast to the family’s mammoth modern tractors, the 1950s-era John Deere MC crawler tucked away in an equipment shed may not seem impressive. However, its value comes from this machine’s connection to the Kokes family – and the crawler’s role in John Deere history.
“This crawler was originally sold at the Wagner John Deere dealership to a family named Cuka,” Jay Kokes says. “My grandfather, Bly Kloucek, bought it from the Cukas and used it to work in a gravel pit and to put up silage. The gravel pit was on my Uncle Kenny Kloucek’s farm, about half a mile from Grandpa’s farm. I was pretty young when they were using the crawler at the gravel pit, but I remember seeing them push gravel with it.”
Jay, who spent significant time with
