90 HP Charter

O. B. Malay
June/July 1989
90 HP Charter
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Melvin Kropt and I. Very first time for us to see it run.
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7308 Ladybug Austin, Texas 78744

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I was at an engine show in Hillsboro, Texas when Mr. Jamison came by and told me about an old drag line with a large one cylinder engine. It was owned by a Mr. Joe B. Fortson of Corsicana, Texas. After talking to Mr. Fortson, I got discouraged because he wanted too much money for it. Later, I was talking to my good friend Jim Withers about it and he encouraged me to go have a look at it anyway. As you might guess, I was hooked after I saw it! It was a 90 HP Charter with 7'4' eight spoke flywheels. In a week or two, I was able to get Mr. Fortson to come off his price a bit and made the purchase.

Now came the job of getting it home. The engine was both the powerplant for the dragline and the counterbalance for its seventy-foot boom. We were fortunate in that a big pecan tree growing through the opening in the bucket, or shovel, was also supporting the boom. Otherwise, the whole thing would have toppled over when the engine was removed.

Since the Charter had a short base, we had to jack it up 21 inches to slide 20 inch I-beams under it. I guess I should go back and tell about our help. We had two welders, Jody Thomas and Hugh Ferguson, Hugh's son William and Jody's father Sammy and one fellow from Mexico. All good help, I might add. After 10 hours of hard work and some fifteen ton railroad jacks, we got it loaded on a truck which was about the same level of the platform in the dragline.

After that long day, it was my job to drive home 150 miles to Austin with the engine. Early the next morning, I got up and took it to my good friend Melvin Kropt's shop where he had a dock to unload it on for rebuilding.

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