Son preserved circa 1950 ad of father operating oilfield Caterpillar Tractor.
Preserving personal stories is important. Oil & Gas Families complements the extensive work of community museums staff and volunteers finding new ways to preserve photographic, written, and oral histories of “oil patch” families.
While working as a foreman in the oilfield service industry in Pennsylvania and New York, Charles Gerringer’s father operated an innovative diesel-fueled tractor. The family kept a circa 1950 trade magazine ad featuring Harold Gerringer working at a well using the promoted “Caterpillar” D4.
“My Dad worked for N.V.V. Franchot and was a foreman in the oil and gas fields around Allegany, New York,” Charles Gerringer noted about his father Harold in 2019. “I have an advertisement of him using one of the first modern Caterpillar tractors to pull a well.”
Thanks to his son Charles, this image of Allegany lease tractor operator Harold Gerringer (at right) in a Caterpillar advertisement has been preserved. This partially restored image of a well workover is from the ad, which appeared in Producers Monthly magazine.
The trade magazine advertisement featured Harold Gerringer with a “Caterpillar” D4 at a workover site (replacing production equipment to extend the life of a well). The promotion came from an prominent machine company in the region that sold the “Caterpiller” D4, whose virtue was its low diesel fuel consumption.
Franchot Oil Lease
“Never was there a cheaper power on a lease,” the ad proclaimed. Originally designed for farm use, the 41-horsepower tractor proved popular in oilfields. Its ads appeared in Producers Monthly, published by the Bradford District of the Pennsylvania Oil Producers Association from 1936 to 1969.
The “Caterpiller” D4 ad began with a simple description of the oilfield photo. “Four men and a tractor are putting new economy into their work on the N.V.V. Franchot lease at Four Mile, New York, lease pictured above,” the ad noted, adding, “Credit is due to the N.V.V. F. Munson, the general superintendent, Lawrence Gallets, the foreman, Harold Gerringer the tractor operator, and Norbert Karl, the able helper.”
“For more than three months now this ‘Caterpillar’ Diesel D4 Tractor has been operating at the amazingly low fuel consumption of only four gallons of Diesel fuel in an eight-hour day,” the ad continued.
The Four Mile oilfield location also has historical significance, according to the Pioneer Oil Museum of New York in Bolivar. An oil strike in 1877 southwest of Olean at Four Mile Valley, “made Rock City Mountain the hub of New York’s first major oilfield.”
Promoting the Allegheny region’s supplier, Beckwith Machine Company, the Gerringer family’s Caterpillar ad proclaimed, “Never was there a cheaper power on a lease, never so much work for so little fuel cost, and never greater satisfaction for the owner built into a Tractor.”
Beckwith Machine provided contact information for sales at field offices in Pittsburgh, Bradford, Wilkes-Barre, and Harrisburg. Bradford today is home to the Penn-Brad Oil Museum.
Chuck Gerringer hope this sharing of a small part of his father’s oilfield history will help preserve it. Learn about other families’ petroleum-related careers and efforts to preserve their heritage in Oil & Gas Families.
More about New York’s lengthy petroleum history can be found in the classic, Empire Oil: The Story of Oil in New York State, by John P Herrick. “If you are doing business in the oil and gas industry in New York State this is a must read. The level of historical research is excellent,” noted one reviewer in 2014 after reading Herrick’s 474-page oil history book.
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Recommended Reading: Empire Oil: The Story of Oil in New York State (1949); Greater Gotham: A History of New York City from 1898 to 1919
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The American Oil & Gas Historical Society (AOGHS) preserves U.S. petroleum history. Support this energy education website, subscribe to our monthly email newsletter, and help expand historical research. Contact bawells@aoghs.org. Copyright © 2026 Bruce A. Wells.
Citation Information – Article Title: “Saving a Workover Well Tractor Ad.” Authors: B.A. Wells and K.L. Wells. Website Name: American Oil & Gas Historical Society. URL: https://aoghs.org/Saving a Workover Well Tractor Ad. Last Updated: June 13, 2026. Original Published Date: June 14, 2020.
