March 1, 2021
This is the Equipment Roundup
Every week we collect the top construction equipment headlines you need to know about in one spot. Impossible Quest Brings Home Family’s Century-Old Holt Caterpillar 10-Ton Tractor
For Scott Vouk, there s nothing like the sound of old equipment. But one specific vintage tractor a Holt Caterpillar 10-ton purchased by Scott s family in 1938 was the apple of his eye.
The tractor was auctioned away by his family when Scott was only 6. After years of searching, he finally tracked it down and brought it home.
You don t want to miss this story. Check it out by clicking here.
The Holt Caterpillar 10-Ton back on the Vouk property in St. Stephen, Minnesota.
Scott Vouk was 6 years old in 2001 when the Holt Caterpillar 10-Ton tractor was auctioned off.
It was sold along with all the other
equipment at the Vouk family’s antique steam show after his great uncle passed away.
Now at age 25, Scott has managed what many of his relatives didn’t believe possible – bringing the century-old tractor home.
“I ve been after Dad for quite a while to try and get this machine back,” he says.
The Holt was purchased in 1938 by Scott’s great uncle William Vouk Sr. for the family threshing and sawmill business that Scott s great-grandfather ran until he died in 1931. The early-1920s model tractor had already seen about 15 years of hard work before that. A construction company used it for plowing snow off roads in the St. Stephen, Minnesota, area where the Vouk family put down roots over 100 years ago.
Wed February 10, 2021 - National Edition #4
Robby Chackler â CEG SENIOR EDITOR
(L-R): Peter J Holt, president/CEO of HOLT CAT; Scott Vouk, and his wife, Kerri Vouk; Tom Vouk; Nancy Vouk; Bonnie Vouk; and Tom the haul driver all pose in front of the Holt 10-ton tractor as it makes its journey home.
The temptation to recoup a nearly century-old family relic was too much to resist for Scott Vouk and the opportunity to actually put it back to work on job sites? Well, that temptation was simply irresistible.
This relic, a
Holt 10-ton tractor was the original piece of machinery and a vital part of the Vouk family threshing and lumber sawing business, starting with Vouk s great grandfather, Frank, and great uncle, Bill, in the 1930s. The tractor was first produced in 1919.