Heidrick Ag History Center Museum Video

Video compliments of Jose Roberto Ciola.

Haven’t made it to the Heidrick Ag History Center lately?Visit us Wednesday through Sunday from 11am to 4pm.  

Get the most out of your visit to the Heidrick Ag History Center and book a guided tour today!  Contact our event coordinator at 530.666.9700 or events@aghistory.org to learn more about guided tours of the museum.  

The new website is user-friendly, and features information about visiting the museum, volunteer opportunities, event center rentals, photographs from our collection, and easily connects you to our blog!

Make sure you bookmark www.aghistory.org so you don’t miss out on any of the exciting happenings at the Heidrick Ag History Center!

Did someone check their drivers licenses? Three Golden Retrievers pose behind the wheel of one of our many antique trucks at the Hays Antique Truck Museum, a part of the Heidrick Ag History Center.

Guests were greeted by friendly Goldens while they sipped premium wines and brews and tasted samples from some of the area’s outstanding restaurants and caterers.

Heidrick Ag History Center staff member Rocio cooks up tacos on the museum's unique tractor grill!

Live bands performed both inside the museum and in our beautiful courtyard patio while guests perused silent auction offerings, took chances on terrific raffle items, snapped photos with friendly Goldens, and got the opportunity to see our unique museum collection. 

The fundraiser helped to support the mission of Homeward Bound, which is to rescue and heal displaced, abandoned, and homeless Golden Retrievers and Golden/Labrador mixes throughout Northern California, no matter their age or health.  During 2011, Homeward Bound has already rescued 539 Golden Retrievers.

The Heidrick Ag History center is avaible for events and meetings of all shapes and sizes!  For more information about using the Heidrick Ag History Center for your upcoming event, please contact Event Coordinator Liz Steiner at liz@aghistory.org. 

Photos by Rob Nabity.

Dan Best (front), Ed Claessen, and Sue Claessen sign a copy of Making Tracks

Books and Beer here at the Heidrick Ag History Center on September 23 gave attendees the chance to meet Ed & Sue Claessen, authors of Making Tracks: C.L. Best and the Caterpillar Tractor Co, and Dan G. Best II, grandson of former Caterpillar Chairman of the Board C.L. Best.

Ed, Sue, and Dan gave attendees a look at the painstaking research that went into discovering who C.L. Best was, his innovative ideas, and the formation of the Caterpillar Tractor Co.  The research for the book really began in 1973, when Ed Claessen purchased a Caterpillar Sixty Tractor with bonds he received from the State of Minnesota for serving in Viet Nam.  Since that time, Ed has been dedicated to researching and restoring tractors.  He convinced his wife Sue to assist him with doing research, they formed a friendship with Dan G. Best II to learn more about the Best family, and their research has finally culminated in a book that tells a comprehensive story about C.L. Best, Best tractors, and the genious that continued the development of tracks suitable to work California terrain.

Here is a short excerpt from Making Tracks that really makes you want to find the answer to “Who was C.L. Best?”

Every company can trace its beginning to an idea, a concept, a dream. In the ensuing years of growth and prosperity, the early story of who, what, where, and when sometimes gets misplaced. When you’re dealing with men who are secure with who they are and with what they can do, the need for personal recognition pales. They are satisfied to let their achievements speak through the years. But should they have been? When a man has patent designs that continue to be used in products for nearly one hundred years and are now considered the industry standard, shouldn’t he deserve recognition? When the company he was instrumental in founding in 1925 has $48 billion in sales in 2008 and employs over one hundred thousand people worldwide, shouldn’t his name and the names of his inner circle of advisors be known? And what if this company is an international giant with products recognized around the globe? Shouldn’t the early journey leading to that success be acknowledged?

Ask people what they know about Caterpillar Inc., and most will think of huge yellow machines moving and sculpting the earth. Depending on where they live, some will think of machines preparing the soil and planting crops; some will picture forests being harvested; some will recall huge trucks moving vast amounts of ore from open-pit mines; some will think of the engines that power the trucks that move a nation’s goods; some will think of the power units that keep the hospitals functioning when the power grid fails; and a few will even think of the Caterpillar name on clothing and boots. Ask about the beginnings of the Caterpillar Tractor Co., and a few will have heard about Benjamin Holt and perhaps Daniel Best. But who was C. L. Best? What could this man have accomplished that he should be remembered and revered for?

Learn the answers to these questions and more in Making Tracks, available in the museum gift shop at the Heidrick Ag History Center.  The book is also available through from Beaver’s Pond Books.  Thank you to Ed & Sue Claessen, Dan Best, Sudwerk Brewery, Heidrick Ag History Center volunteers and staff, and all of those who came out to support Making Tracks.

On October 2 from noon to 3, the Heidrick Ag History Center in Woodland will be the center of  tractor rides, crafts, and a good dose of fun for the whole family.

The Heidrick  is the world’s largest and most unique collection of one-of-a-kind antique agricultural equipment. The Center will host crafts, face painting, tractor and truck rides, and much more, in addition to showing the normal museum collection.  Listen to stories about California farming, take your picture on an old-fashioned fire truck, and see what it’s like to ride an antique tractor.  It’s a great time to bring the family to the museum and have fun while learning about California agriculture.

Admission to the museum is $8 for adults, $7 for seniors, $5 for kids 5-12, and free for kids 5 and under.  The event is also free to current Heidrick Ag History Center members.  Tractor and truck rides are included in admission.

For more info, contact the Heidrick Ag History Center at 530 666 9700 or aghistory@aghistory.org

Making Tracks by Ed and Sue Claessen is now available from Beaver’s Pond Press!

Making Tracks: C.L. Best and the Caterpillar Tractor Co. is now available from Beaver’s Pond Press!

Making Tracks follows the story of C.L. Best, the California man who helped to forever change tractor designs.  C.L. Best went from designing equipment powered by horses to imagining equipment powered by the sun. His improvements to the track-type tractor concept allowed the Caterpillar Tractor Co. to become the world’s road builder and so much more.  The book follows his life from working for his father as a young man through starting and operating his own company and finally to being chairman of the board for the Caterpillar Tractor Co. for twenty-six years.

Come see some of C.L. Best’s tractor designs at the Heidrick Ag History Center and meet authors Ed and Sue Claessen at BOOKS AND BEER on Friday, September 23 at 5:30pm.  Complimentary Sudwerk brews will be available for attendees 21 and over.  The event is free to Heidrick Ag History Center members and those purchasing books at the event; $5 for all others.  Contact the Heidrick Ag History Center at aghistory@aghistory.org or 530 666 9700 to RSVP!

Caterpillar Model Expo 20; Caterpillar Tractor Co., 1927; 7000lbs. Heidrick Ag History Center.

The Caterpillar Twenty tractor has the distinction of being the first tractor designed by the Caterpillar Tractor Co.  It is easily recognizable as an early Caterpillar because of its grey color. (Many people today associate Caterpillars with their yellow color, but in the first few years after the 1925 merger between the C.L. Best Tractor Co. and the Holt Manufacturing Company, Caterpillar tractors were actually grey.  In 1932, the company offered either grey or yellow, and in 1933 the standard color became yellow).  This little tractor might be not be yellow, but it does hold an important place in Caterpillar history as a machine that combined the expertise of both Best and Holt.

Caterpillar Twenty Tractor Manual, Capterpillar Tractor Co., San Leandro, CA: 1927. Heidrick Ag History Center Archives.

Design on the new Caterpillar Twenty began in 1926.  The design was supposed to introduce a smaller, more affordable tractor, and was meant to replace the “2 Ton Caterpillar” previously produced by Holt.  Advertisements about the Caterpillar Twenty lauded the tractor as being “new in size, new in rating, new in price, [and] new in that it embodies the latest accumulation of the many years of “Caterpillar” experience.”  But how did Caterpillar use the accumulated knowledge of both the Best Tractor Co. and the Holt Manufacturing Company to create such a “new” tractor?

By letting a teenager try to run it into the ground, of course.  In 1927, two experimental Caterpillar Twenty tractors were produced with the sole purpose of testing them for flaws. One of these experimental Twenty tractors was given to Caterpillar Chairman C.L. Best’s teenage son, Dan. Fifteen year old Dan was told to drive the tractor anywhere and everywhere on the grounds of Caterpillar’s San Leandro factory.  After stressing the machine as best he could, Dan reported back the faults that he noticed.  Production on the Caterpillar 20 began in 1927, and was successfully produced until 1933.

Caterpillar Model Expo 20: Caterpillar Tractor Co., 1927, 7000 lbs. Heidrick Ag History Center.

Although the Model Twenty had flaws and was not ready for production, the experimental tractor was used for a few years at C.L. Best’s Diamond B ranch in Livingston, California. The tractor was later saved from the scrap piles and given to C.L.’s grandson, Dan Best II, to be used on his Woodland farm.  After being parked on the Woodland farm for some time, the one-of-a-kind Caterpillar Model Twenty found its home at the Heidrick Ag History Center.

Read more about the Bests and the formation of the Caterpillar Tractor Co. in Ed and Sue Claessen’s new book, Making Tracks: C.L. Best and the Caterpillar Tractor Co.  Both authors will be at the Heidrick Ag History Center on Friday, September 23 for a book signing; RSVP to the event by emailing aghistory@aghistory.org or by calling Rocio at 530 666 9700.

The Fageol 9-12 “Walking” Tractor, 3500lbs, 1919. Heidrick Ag History Center.

Our collection here at the Heidrick Ag History Center includes this little tractor.  Nestled in a line of other comparably sized tractors, you might first notice its because of its brown color.  But what really makes this tractor distinctive are its back wheels.  These back wheels are oddly shaped with grousers that look like spikes, and differ from the wheels of any other tractor that we have in our collection.

Notice the spiked or wedged legs on the Fageol Walking Tractor. These kept the wheel rims from touching the ground, and made the tractor seem like it was "walking" on it. Heidrick Ag History Center Archives.

When farmers began working the fields in California, they quickly realized that the tractors they had been using on the East coast and in the mid-West were not suited for the soft California soil.  The rims of the wheels of many of these tractors sunk into the ground, and were difficult to get out once stuck.  First manufactured by the Fageol Motor Company in 1917, the Fageol 9-12 was an early attempt at trying to prevent tractors from sinking into the soft California soil.  The spiked grousers, or legs, prevented the tractor from sinking into the soil, and in fact made it seem like the tractor almost floated above the soil.  The wedged grousers ensured that the wheel rims never even touched the ground.  The way that the tractor moved above the ground made some people think that the tractor was actually “walking” on the soil, thus earning the Fageol 9-12 the nickname as the “walking tractor.”

Fageol Walking Tractor in use at a home orchard. No date. Heidrick Ag History Center Archives.

The Fageol 9-12 “Walking” Tractor design was unique not only because of its “walking” wheels, but it was also small enough to navigate small orchards and vineyards.  Advertisements for the tractor celebrated its “Tom Thumb” size, and marveled that at 3500 pounds it weighed only as much as a few horses.  The wheel design and size worked well on California’s orchards and vineyards, but its price tag of $1575 was too expensive for small farmers for the tractor to really catch on.  Even though the “walking” tractor design was discontinued by 1938, this unusual tractor is a great piece of California’s agricultural history!

Come learn more and see a Fageol 9-12 Walking Tractor in person at the Heidrick Ag History Center!

Woodland’s Heidrick Ag History Center gets a minor makeover – Daily Democrat Online.

The event center at the Heidrick Ag History Center recently got a makeover, as its carpet was replaced with concrete flooring and walls were repainted. (Matthew Henderson/Democrat)