Buster Peterson testing DW10 & pull scraper in SL yard ...              and inspecting his custom designed 28-ton ripper

What is the cheapest way to move 8.5 million cu yds of earth 8,000 feet? Back in 1956, contractor Ferry & Crowe determined it was by using a fleet of tandem LeTourneau RU scrapers pulled by Caterpillar DW20s. They won the low bid at 25.6¢ per cu yd. on the Carquinez Project – aka “The Big Cut” on I-80 between Rodeo and Crockett. Back then, scrapers came in two pieces – the rubber-tired power unit, and the pull-scraper.

One of Buster Peterson’s early custom fab pieces was used on the McCammon-Wunderlich contract just south of the Big Cut (4 contracts in all). Buster’s Special Services crew was famous for adapting machinery to fit the unique needs of its customers. McCammon-Wunderlich bought a giant 28-ton ripper to help rip up the hardpan for their 5.3 million cu yd, 5-mile portion of freeway. “The ripper is an adaptation of a 17-ton ripper originally developed in 1953 by Peterson Tractor & Equipment Co. of San Leandro, California, for deep penetration in de-watering borrow pits,” states Western Construction’s Oct 1956 issue. “It can accommodate 3 teeth, the center one penetrating to 60 in. and the two outside teeth to 48 in. On this job, a single tooth is used, positioned for a 38 in. depth, with a D9 pulling and another D9 pushing it.”

The massive Carquinez Project was written up with eloquence in the June 1957 Time’s article – March of the Monsters. “… Directly before the machines looms a 500-ft. hill that stood in the way of the inland-bound gold seekers of the 1840s, forced the Southern Pacific RR and later a highway to slink humbly around its base. But it does not deter the road builders of 1957. Their rugged powerful machines are slashing through the hill, cutting a 360-ft.-deep, 2,200-ft-long scar … the biggest man-made road gash since the Panama Canal. All told, the machines will move 8,500,000 cu. yd of earth, enough to cover Manhattan Island with a 4.5-inch layer.”

The Big Cut, and the interstate system it is a part of, has changed the face of California over the past 50-plus years. Peterson customers have been an integral part of it all – and Peterson, by association.

Related Links: 

Giant custom towable rippers

History of California Interstate Hwy System