The “Minnie” came to Floyde’s attention in 2002. It was sitting in Wagon Mound, New Mexico where JD Schmidt had owned it for many years. It was always a popular attraction leading the annual “Bean Fiesta” parade in Wagon Mound, but Mr Schmidt was getting older and figured he should sell it to someone who would take care of it properly. Floyde’s very good friend Norm Ruebush brought it to his attention and after a little haggling Floyde and JD made a deal. They became natural and fast friends having much more in common than just an old steam tractor. Good family friend Bud Deerman lent Floyde a very heavy duty trailer and the group consisting of Floyde, Connie, Bill and his kids all made the trip north to get the beast.

After bringing it home and doing some initial restoration work, Floyde proudly displayed it at the Southern NM State Fair for the first time in September of 2003. Floyde’s good friends and steam experts Dan Cook and Bob Barron looked things over and it was discovered that the boiler had some issues that made it unsafe to continue to steam up. Floyde made the difficult decision to red-flag the tractor himself.

After much research, he located a boiler maker in Colorado who agreed to construct a new boiler for the Minnie. It would cost $25,000 and take up to a year to complete. Floyde and Bill took the Minnie completely apart and transported the old boiler to Colorado to use as a template. Difficulties mounted and eventually after eight long years of waiting the new boiler returned home in the Minnie.

The Minnie was first owned by the Ottoway brothers and used to work and in demonstrations in Kansas before JD Schmidt bought it and brought it to New Mexico.