Digging Up the Past

On-the-job Character Building

Howard Peterson worked for RG LeTourneau

until 1936 when he founded his own

heavy equipment dealership

In 1935, Howard Peterson was sent to East Peoria to set up the new LeTourneau factory across the river from Caterpillar.* "It was in the middle of winter and we were building scrapers right out in the snow because the new building wasn't finished yet," recalls Howard. "One of the building trades went out on strike just before they finished. All they had left to do was put the doors and windows in. So I decided to move in and at least get a roof over our heads. Right after we got all moved in, the union business agent shows up and tells us to get out of the building. 'It isn't finished yet and you can't occupy it until it's done.'

'What do you mean?' I said. 'We're making payments on it. It's our building and we're not getting out.' So they left but warned me they would be sending out a "committee" to wait on me. Actually, I've told people through the years that I told them to kiss my @#%! but they got it wrong and kicked it instead," laughs Howard.

"The next day 75 guys show up, all carrying two-by-fours and pieces of reinforcing iron. I walked up to their leader and told them to: GET THE THUNDER OUT OF HERE. All of a sudden, something hit me alongside of the head and knocked me out cold. Next thing I know, someone's pulling me to my feet and shaking me, saying: That's just a sample of what you're going to get if you don't get out of here. At that point, I was alone because all my guys had fled after seeing what was happening. But I was so mad I told them again: GET OUT OF HERE! Finally, they left, but this time they told me they were going to blow up my house.

They actually did show up at the house later that day but left when Howard called the police. "The police were there in nothing flat. They escorted us to a hotel to stay until things settled down. About midnight the hotel phone rang. 'There's been a big blast down at your plant and we're coming over to get you', says the police. The whole rear end of the scraper we'd been building was blown away and there was a hole five feet deep in the ground. They must have left my house and gone straight to the plant and used the dynamite on it instead," relates Howard. Finally, the builder's strike ended and everything went back to normal."

* LeTourneau made many of the attachments that went on Caterpillar's tractors until CAT started building their own in 1944.