A History of RG Letourneau's Earliest Scrapers
A History of R.G. LeTourneau’s Earliest Scrapers: Culminating in the 1922 Mountain Mover 1 John H. Niemelä, Ph.D. Research Assistant: Dale Hardy Commemorating the November 29, 2004, Designation by the A.S.M.E. of R.G. LeTourneau’s Mountain Mover at LeTourneau University, Longview, TX as a Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark November 29, 2004 Version 1.1B (October 31, 2007) © All Rights Reserved 1 This is the most recent revision of a paper submitted to the American Society of Mechanical Engineers: “Nomination of R.G. LeTourneau’s Mountain Mover for ASME Historic Mechanical Engineering Landmark.” Four minor revisions have preceded this one: 1.01, 1.02, 1.03, and 1.04. The first major revision was 1.1A. This is a minor revision. The next minor one would be 1.1C. The next major revision would be 1.2A. * signifies that reference materials cited within a footnote contain pertinent pictures. A PERSONAL INTRODUCTION The present author’s interest in R.G. LeTourneau is long-standing. My father, George Niemelä, Sr., was a mechanic, welder, heavy-equipment operator, and businessman in northern California. When the author was a boy, Dad worked for R.G.’s brothers-in-law (Howard and Buster Peterson) at Peterson Tractor, a Caterpillar dealership based in San Leandro, CA. He was a machinist/welder in the first crew of Peterson’s Roller Exchange Shop. 2 In 1961 Dad opened an equipment rental yard in Stockton, CA (Bee Wise Tool and Equipment Rental). His business was two blocks from a Montgomery-Ward warehouse that once was R.G.’s second Stockton factory (built in 1930, expanded in 1934).
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