Benjamin Holt of the Holt Manufacturing Company of Stockton, California started applying Richard Hornsby's caterpillar tracks to tractors in 1904 to keep them from getting stuck in northern California's soft soil. He bought the patent for the caterpillar track from Hornsby in 1914. The Holt Manufacturing Company merged with the C. L. Best Gas Traction Company of San Leandro, California in 1925 to form the Caterpillar Tractor Company, known today as Caterpillar, Inc. The Holt family today owns one of the largest Caterpillar dealers in the world: HOLT CAT.
1917 Holt 75 Gas Tractor on August 1, 2009
This 1917 Holt 75 Gas Tractor is powered by a 4-cycle, 4-cylinder engine with 7.5-inch bore and 8-inch stroke rated at 75 brake horsepower though the tractor was only rated at 50 horsepower at the drawbar. The Holt 75 was available with a two-speed transmission with optional gearing for 2-1/8 & 3 mph or 2-1/8 & 1-1/2 mph, both with 2-1/8 mph reverse. This Holt 75 weighs 23, 600 pounds.
In 1916, General Pershing was sent to Mexico to attempt to capture Pancho Villa after Villa's murderous raid on Columbia, New Mexico. During the expedition, Pershing used Holt 75 tractors to haul his ordnance and the hay for his horses, and was impressed with them. When Pershing was put in command of the World War I American Expeditionary Force in Europe in 1917, he went to Holt and ordered as many Holt 75 tractors that they could build. The tractors were used to deliver ordnance and supplies through the mud to the American front lines. The U.S. Army has remained a Caterpillar customer ever since.
1918 Best 40-Horsepower Tractor on August 1, 2009
This 1918 Best 40-horsepower tractor represents the other half of the merger that created the Caterpillar Tractor Company.
1918 Best 40-Horsepower Tractor on August 1, 2009
When Caterpillar Tractor Company was created by the merger of Holt Manufacturing Company and C. L. Best Tractor Company on May 14, 1925, Holt was already manufacturing 2-Ton, 5-Ton and 10-Ton Caterpillar tractors and these became some of the first products of the Caterpillar Tractor Company. The tractors shown below were made after the merger and were some of the last produced.
Caterpillar 2-Ton Tractor on August 1, 2009
Caterpillar 5-Ton Tractor on August 1, 2009
Caterpillar 10-Ton Tractor on August 1, 2009
Continue to Early Gas Caterpillars…
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