100 Years of Trucking! Birthday Party Set for 1922 Walter Snow Fighter

WALCOTT, IOWA — Iowa 80 Trucking Museum will host a 100th Birthday party for its 1922 Walter Snow Fighter on Friday, July 15th at 2:30 pm. The event will coincide with this year’s Walcott Truckers Jamboree, July 14-16.  The public is welcome to attend the celebration.

The Walter Auto Truck Manufacturing Company began with automobiles and racing cars. However, they eventually became well-known for their four-wheel drive trucks. Remarkably, the company made candy production equipment before entering the truck manufacturing business. The company built its first four-wheel drive truck in 1911 and Walter had found their ideal market.

According to museum curator Dave Meier, this 1922 Walter Snow Fighter, assigned unit number 29, is presumed to have been in operation for the Fifth Avenue Coach Lines of New York City to move snow along the routes run by their double-decker passenger buses.

The truck required at least three people to perform plowing duty. One driver, one to operate the wheel that controlled the passenger side plow and a third to raise and lower the mid mount blade by turning the wheel behind the cab.  This truck is currently on display in the lobby of the Iowa 80 Trucking Museum.