Building a Dream

Four days later Sam began the long arduous trip to Moline. He carried copies of his patent letter, copies of his machinery designs and testimonial letters from several local farmers who had seen his machinery work and operate against horse drawn machines of similar nature.

Sam was not pleased with the outcome of the meeting between Mr. Deere and himself. Mr. Deere did not seem impressed with any of the items Sam had designed. One of his complaints was the cost of the machinery. He took great exception to the cost of the tractor and pointed out it cost as much as four or five teams of high quality draft horses. He also pointed out the sale price of the machinery for the tractor would be almost twice what they sold comparable horse drawn machinery for.

Sam agreed then countered with the explanation that you did not have to feed or rest the tractor and that it worked between two and three times as fast as a horse team would. He also pointed out it did not get tired and have to stop frequently. Finally Mr. Deere said, "Well, I don't think you have anything here we are interested in. We have just brought a great new plow to market and it is selling like hotcakes. Our Sulkey Plow is already outselling our other older style designs and I see no reason to make something else."

Sam sat and thought for a moment then said, "From what I have heard your Sulkey plow is an innovative design and does an exceptional job for what it is. I am willing to bet even before I see it in operation that my machinery can and will do at least twice as much work in an hour as your plow and a team of horses will though. If I can prove that would we be able to make a deal for you to license the technology?"

Charles Deere sat and looked at Sam a moment. He looked over at the rest of the men who sat in on the meeting. Finally he said, "No Sir. We're just not interested in something as strange as your mechanical horse or tractor as you call it."

Sam looked at him for a moment then stood to leave. As he was walking toward the door he said, "Well, you had your chance. I AM going to bring this to market and it IS going to revolutionize farming. I had hopes that a company as innovative as yours with a reputation for high quality equipment would be the one to manufacture these items. I will hate to see you slide into obscurity when someone else drives you from business because they are manufacturing and selling my machines."

Sam opened the door to leave the room when an older man sitting in the back row stood and said, "Just a moment please Mr. Pritchard. You are right. This company DOES pride itself on its reputation for quality and innovation. Would you please come back and discuss this further with us? I have an idea that might work for both of us."

When Sam returned he was introduced to Mr. John Deere himself. Charles looked disgusted that his father had stepped into the discussion but he acquiesced rapidly to his involvement. By the end of a very long day Deere & Company had agreed to license Sam's patents. They did not give Sam the payment he hoped for but he was pleased with the agreement anyway. They agreed to manufacture, sell and ship the equipment under the John Deere nameplate. For doing that they agreed to pay Sam ten percent of the wholesale sales price as royalty. If the sales reached certain levels over the course of a year they would grant Sam stock in the company up to a total of 25% ownership cumulative.

At the time Sam became a 25% owner in the company they would continue licensing his patents but would then pay him a cash bonus for sales over the agreed upon limits. They also paid a flat fee for right of first refusal on any other farm machines Sam designed. They agreed they would build prototype machinery and ship it to Sam for testing. He and his descendants were to receive free of charge any and all Deere equipment needed for their farming operation in perpetuity.

CHAPTER 7

Sam and his wives rapidly became the most prosperous landowners in eastern Texas. His farm continued to expand and he continued to hire more and more people to work with them. The royalties from his inventions and the dividends his Deere stock paid allowed them to build a huge house for themselves and their children. Sam also provided large single family homes for his key employees. Sam and Jane continued their respective careers and provided many innovative inventions for their new timeline. One of the first things they worked out after the machinery went into production was electric generators then refrigeration units for food storage and home cooling.

Over the course of their lives Sam and his wives collected employees who believed in multiple spouses. Many of their employees were men with numerous wives but they had several women with more than one husband also. They were tolerant of that practice but never totally understood it. They asked several of the women why they wanted more than one husband. Almost all of them told their questioner that they needed the extra men to totally satisfy them in bed. They all maintained one woman could fuck two or three men under the table when she was in the right mood.

Dove, Janey and Virginia agreed with that statement in principle but they also maintained they could not even think of finding another man who they felt even half as much love for as they did Sam. None of them felt strange about the three of them loving and sharing Sam and intellectually they admitted that was a similar concept as multiple men for one woman but for them their marriage worked better.

Tolerance was the watchword for Sam's little settlement however. To the horror of some of the righteous churchgoers in Nacogdoches Sam even had one Homosexual couple and three Lesbian couples living and working for his family. All were welcome if they were willing to give a fair days work for their pay and abide by the rules of tolerance in the community.

Because of this philosophy Sam's little community prospered. Sam and Jane shared their success with their fellow wives and employees. A job in their business became a commodity highly sought after. Educated people from miles around came to offer their services. The high level of pay and living comfort drew people. Also tolerance of their beliefs, especially their sexual beliefs drew the educated and skilled workers.

By the time Sam and Jane Pritchard passed on they had came to believe their forced residence downtime from their birth time was the best thing that had happened to them. Their legacy continued to grow after their death. They had set up a community and endowed it with three fourths of their net worth with the remainder being given to their 22 children. Oh, Jane didn't have all 22 of the children but they felt as if they were all theirs equally. Only 6 of the 22 were Jane's. Virginia had 8 and Dove had 8 also. Sam's children continued to work and live in the area. Many taught at the large University that grew up in Nacogdoches funded by Jane and Sam. It became as well known as some of the best Universities in their original timeline. All the young from Sam's community received a full ride scholarship to the University if they wanted. To this day a statue of Sam, Jane, Virginia and Dove stands in the courtyard of their settlement and in the commons area of the University they founded and later taught at in Nacogdoches.