The story of earthmoving equipment in the United States is a story of invention, ambition, and consolidation.
From the first tracked tractors to massive electric mining shovels, American companies created machines that shaped continents and defined the global construction industry.
1. Caterpillar Inc.
Born in 1925 from the merger of Holt Manufacturing and C.L. Best, Caterpillar quickly became the benchmark for durability and performance. Its signature yellow machines reshaped infrastructure worldwide, from highways to dams and mines.
Today: Caterpillar is still the global leader in construction and mining equipment, with operations in over 190 countries and a reputation built on nearly a century of innovation.
2. Holt Manufacturing Company
Founded in California, Benjamin Holt’s firm developed the world’s first practical track-type tractor in 1904. The invention solved the problem of tractors sinking into soft soil and introduced the “Caterpillar” name. Holt’s machines helped the Allies haul artillery during World War I.
Today: Holt merged with C.L. Best to form Caterpillar, but the Holt family legacy survives through HOLT CAT, one of Caterpillar’s largest dealerships in the United States.
3. C.L. Best Tractor Company
Clarence Leo Best, an engineer and innovator, left Holt to start his own company in 1910. His gas-powered “Tracklayer” tractors were known for advanced metallurgy, smooth balance, and long life.
Today: C.L. Best’s engineering expertise became the foundation of Caterpillar’s product design and manufacturing culture.
4. Bucyrus-Erie Company
Founded in 1880, Bucyrus built the giant steam shovels that excavated the Panama Canal and later designed enormous walking draglines for open-pit mining. It became a symbol of American heavy industry at its peak.
Today: Acquired by Caterpillar in 2011, Bucyrus lives on inside Cat’s mining division—its heritage visible in the largest electric shovels operating today.
5. Marion Power Shovel Company
Bucyrus’s lifelong rival, Marion Power Shovel, supplied earthmoving giants for the Hoover Dam, the Holland Tunnel, and even NASA’s Apollo rocket crawlers.
Today: Bought by Bucyrus in 1997, its designs and patents were absorbed into Caterpillar. The name is gone, but its influence remains in every large mining shovel built since.
6. P&H (Harnischfeger Corporation)
Based in Milwaukee, P&H became synonymous with electric mining shovels and cranes. Known for reliability, its machines could last decades with minimal downtime—some units built in the 1960s are still working today.
Today: The P&H brand is maintained by Komatsu Mining Corp., which continues to build high-capacity shovels and draglines under the historic name.
7. LeTourneau Technologies
R.G. LeTourneau was one of the great American inventors of heavy machinery. His company produced electric dozers, massive scrapers, and earthmovers so advanced that many concepts are still used today. He also built self-propelled platforms for the oil and mining industries.
Today: LeTourneau’s mining line became part of Komatsu Mining (via Joy Global). Although the brand disappeared, its technical innovations remain part of Komatsu’s large wheel loaders and surface mining range.
8. International Harvester (Construction Equipment Division)
Created in 1902 by merging McCormick and Deering, IH extended its agricultural expertise into construction. Its PayLoader, PayScraper, and PayHauler series became trusted tools on job sites across America.
Today: The company was dissolved in the 1980s. Its construction machines passed to Dresser (later Komatsu), its agricultural division became Case IH, and its truck business survives as Navistar International.
9. Terex Corporation
The Terex story began when General Motors, forced by antitrust rulings to sell the Euclid name, rebranded its earthmoving line as Terex—Latin for earth king. Through acquisitions and reorganizations, Terex evolved from a mining equipment maker to a diversified global group.
Today: Terex remains active, manufacturing aerial platforms, cranes, and material-processing machinery, while its early mining heritage paved the way for modern modular designs.
10. Bobcat Company
Founded in North Dakota in the late 1950s, Bobcat transformed the industry by creating the world’s first skid-steer loader — a compact, agile machine that could turn within its own length. Originally developed by the Keller brothers and marketed by the Melroe Manufacturing Company, the “Bobcat” name quickly became synonymous with small but powerful earthmoving equipment.
The company later expanded into mini-excavators and other compact machines widely used in construction, agriculture, and landscaping. Bobcat’s focus on versatility and ease of maintenance made it a global reference in compact equipment.
Today: Bobcat operates under Doosan Bobcat, with production sites in the United States, Czech Republic, and South Korea. It remains one of the most recognizable names in light construction machinery, representing the American tradition of innovation in a smaller format.
11. Euclid Road Machinery Company
Euclid, founded in 1931, pioneered the off-highway dump truck and set the benchmark for productivity in mining and construction hauling. The name “Euc” became a generic term for rigid dumpers on job sites.
Today: Euclid’s operations passed through GM, Daimler-Benz, and Hitachi before the brand was finally retired in 2004. Its DNA endures in Hitachi’s rigid dump truck line.
12. Hough (Frank G. Hough Company)
Frank G. Hough revolutionized loading equipment with the first modern rubber-tired wheel loader, the “PayLoader,” in the 1930s. This compact yet powerful concept spread worldwide and became a construction standard.
Today: Acquired by International Harvester in 1952, Hough’s technology continued through Dresser and now lives on in Komatsu’s wheel loader line.
13. Case Corporation (J.I. Case)
Established in 1842, Case was already a leader in agricultural machinery before entering the construction market. The launch of the Case 320 in 1957—the first integrated tractor-loader-backhoe—redefined job-site versatility and remains an icon of American engineering.
Today: Case Construction Equipment, part of CNH Industrial, continues to produce backhoes, wheel loaders, and dozers worldwide.
14. Koehring Company
Starting as a concrete mixer maker in Milwaukee, Koehring grew into a major manufacturer of hydraulic excavators and cranes. Its 1960s 505 backhoe represented the transition from cable to hydraulic technology.
Today: Acquired by Terex in 1987, the Koehring brand is gone but its mechanical lineage helped shape modern hydraulic excavator design.
15. WABCO (Earthmoving Division)
Known originally for railway brakes, WABCO entered the earthmoving business in the 1950s, producing scrapers, graders, and off-highway trucks with advanced air-brake systems. Its equipment was common on large construction and mining projects through the 1970s.
Today: The construction division was sold to Dresser and then merged into Komatsu. The WABCO name survives in vehicle braking systems—far from the dusty quarries it once served.
Other American Equipment Manufacturers
Beyond the companies that dominated the heavy earthmoving market, several other U.S. manufacturers contributed to shaping related sectors of construction machinery.
Other American brands also played important roles in specific niches: Grove Manufacturing in hydraulic cranes, JLG Industries in aerial work platforms, Ditch Witch in compact trenchers, Vermeer in trenchless technology and horizontal drilling, National Crane in truck-mounted lifting equipment, and Allis-Chalmers through its Fiat-Allis joint venture in construction machinery.
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