From the Archives:
In the original tractor lab

April 24, 2009

By Patrick Hayes, U of S Archives

This issue’s image is one of five photos purchased for the University Archives by the Engineering Trust Fund in 2008. Students and instructors of a gas engine class pose for the camera on bleachers in the original Engineering Tractor Laboratory in January 1924.

In the foreground sits a McLaughlin gasoline automobile, stripped down to its frame and mechanics. In the background, you can see the tail end of a Fokker Albatross D VII (D 7) suspended from the ceiling. The aircraft was one of 22 that came to Canada in 1919 as part of the terms of the Armistice requiring Germany to surrender all the Fokker D VIIs to the Allies. Five of the biplanes were given to Canadian universities.

It is thought that it was in this general area of the Engineering Tractor Lab where a fire started resulting in the destruction of the original Engineering Building in March of 1925. Only the ceramics addition remained standing, owing to the fire door that was intended to protect the rest of the building from its kilns.