Page 437 - Peterson 85 Years and Going Strong
P. 437

 27
THE CAT RD4 PETERSON’S FIRST CAT TRACTOR RETURNS
When a young Howard Peterson sold his first Caterpillar tractor back in 1936, he probably never considered that it would come back home years later. But it did. Sometime in the mid-1990s, that first tractor—a Caterpillar RD4, Serial No. 4G2828—came back home courtesy of the original owner’s family. Today, it sits proudly in the lobby of Peterson’s headquarters in San Leandro.
Peterson’s first Cat was built in Peoria in October 1936 and sold to Hazen A. Dennis Sr. of Mt. Eden (Hay- ward), California on December 8, 1936—just three weeks after Howard Peterson launched his business. At the time, Peterson was operating out of a leased building on Howard Street in San Francisco.
According to Peterson’s Journal Voucher ledger for 1936–1940, Dennis’ RD4 is one of four items listed that first full month of business. At $2,000, it was the largest purchase on the books. The brand new 1936 model retailed for $2,715. Two years later, Dennis bought a Killefer beet lifter for $337. By that time, Peterson had moved its headquarters to a brand-new facility on Watkins Street in Hayward.
In the 1990s, his son, Hazen A. Dennis Jr., recognized the historic significance of his father’s old RD4 and decided to give it back to Peterson. Through the years, his father had often mentioned that it was the very first tractor Peterson ever sold. His pride of ownership was apparent. So Hazen Jr. contacted Peterson and offered it back. That was 1994.
The machine sat at the Redding store for several years and was finally shipped to Peterson’s Willows branch with instructions to get it running again in their spare time. “When we got it, both the big engine and the starter engine were frozen up,” recalls Gerry Peters, who retired in 2013. “And everything was full of water. So we drained it and broke everything loose, then reconditioned the cylinder head on the big engine. We rebuilt
  435
 


























































































   435   436   437   438   439