Inventors from San Joaquin County developed earthmoving equipment that had worldwide impact. Stockton was known as the “Earthmoving Capital of the World,” which fostered many important innovations in agriculture and road building. The historic equipment in this building illustrates the development of earthmoving equipment from the small horse-drawn scrapers, such as the Fresno Scraper, to the large tracked tractors—the local roots of Caterpillar Company—and to the ever-improving scrapers of R.G. LeTourneau, whose company built 70% of the earthmoving machines used by the Allies in World War II.
Photo by James Johnston