a history of r.stronggstrong. letourneau’s earliest scrapers culminating.pdf

A History of R.G. LeTourneau’s Earliest Scrapers: Culminating in the 1922 Mountain Mover1 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 © All Rights Reserved 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. 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. A Montgomery-Ward warehouse two blocks away once was R.G.’s second factory (built in 1930, expanded in 1934). Dad heard R.G. speak at San Francisco’s Cow Palace and met him. A few months later Dad believed Christ’s free offer of eternal life to him. Dad and I enjoyed all aspects of heavy equipment together: operating, repairing, designing, improving, and considering the history of construction equipment. Despite knowing LeTourneau’s contribution to equipment, “religious” books like Mover of Men and Mountains were at the bottom of my list. Finally, in the summer of 1972 I read it and reread it. The autobiography convinced me that R.G. enjoyed life—not in spite of being a Christian—