CATERPILLAR History 1950's - 1960's

1950's

 

1950-1954 - Canada Caterpillar machines help construct the Quebec North Shore and Labrador Railway.
Contractors on this project desired to use nothing but Caterpillar equipment on the construction of this railway. By the end of 1951, 136 Caterpillar machines were in use on the project.

1950 - Winnipeg, Canada Caterpillar diesel engines, tractors and scrapers play a role in recovery efforts following a disastrous flood.

1951-1952 - Greenland Caterpillar machines and engines help construct and operate the U.S. Air Force Base at Thule.
More than 300 Caterpillar track-type tractors, motor graders, and wheel tractors along with over 100 Caterpillar diesel electric sets were in use at the Thule base.

1951-1953 - Venezuela Caterpillar machines help construct the 10.5-mile-long Autopista superhighway through the Andes Mountains.

1952 - Ceylon More than 100 Caterpillar machines work on the Gal Oya Valley Irrigation and Power Project.
Sixty-seven D8 Tractors were among the Caterpillar machines used to clear 300,000 acres and construct a dam.

1953 - England and Holland Caterpillar machines help clear debris and reconstruct roads and seawalls after flood waters damage areas of England and Holland.

1953 - India Government officials purchase 93 new Caterpillar machines for a road development project in India.

1953-1954 - Sweden Contractors use only Caterpillar tractors and motor graders during construction of the Autostradan highway.
Sweden's Prince Bertil autographed a Cat D7 at the Autostradan's dedication ceremony.

1954-1959 - U.S. and Canada Caterpillar machines help construct the St. Lawrence Seaway.
In a joint five-year effort, the U.S. and Canada constructed a 2,343-mile water route from the Atlantic Ocean to Duluth, Minnesota. Caterpillar built 75 percent of the crawler tractors and 80 percent of the motor graders used on the project. In addition, project contractors used many Caterpillar engines for various tasks around the job.

1954 - Uganda Caterpillar machines help build the major dam and hydroelectric project at Owens Falls on the Victoria Nile.

1955-1956 - Antarctica Caterpillar supplies specially designed equipment to the military for Operation Deep Freeze I.
Operation Deep Freeze (ODF) was the codename for a series of U.S. missions to Antarctica beginning in 1955. The reason behind the first mission was a scientific collaboration between 40 nations to carry out studies of the earth's environment. The ODF missions set up the American research stations in Antarctica and kept the stations supplied.
 

For ODF I, Caterpillar supplied 24 track-type tractors and 16 diesel electric sets specially built to survive constant temperatures of 65 degrees below zero. In fact, Caterpillar engineers specifically developed Low-Ground-Pressure (LGP) tractors for use in Antarctica. Most of these machines and engines were in use 24 hours a day.
 

For the first several years, Caterpillar track-type tractors were the only crawlers in Antarctica, and Caterpillar products are still supporting the stations today.

1955-1961 - France Caterpillar machines help construct the Serre-Poncon Dam on the Durance River.

1955 - U.S. Caterpillar machines aid recovery efforts on the East Coast following Hurricane Diane.
Caterpillar machines helped to restore communications, clean up debris, rebuild washed-out highways and railroads, and divert streams back into their original channels.

1955-1957 - California Thirty-seven Caterpillar machines help construct the Dublin Canyon Freeway.

1956 - Melbourne, Australia Caterpillar machines prepare sites for the 1956 Olympic Games.

1956-1957 - California Caterpillar machines help build the Monticello Dam and Reservoir.
In preparation for the dam, Caterpillar machines cleared the 17,300 acres where the dam's reservoir was to form. The entire town of Monticello (including its cemetery) had to be relocated.

1956-1959 - Rhodesia Caterpillar machines help construct the Kariba Gorge Hydroelectric Project.
All of the contractors on this project were extensive Caterpillar product users.

1956 - British Columbia, Canada Caterpillar machines help construct the Trans-Canada Highway in Yoho National Park.

1956-1957 - Antarctica Caterpillar supplies additional equipment to the military for Operation Deep Freeze II.
Caterpillar machines helped construct roads and bases, hauled supplies, maintained airstrips and trails, dozed snow, and carried snow to melting units in order to produce drinking water. Caterpillar electric sets provided all of the power for heat and lights, communication systems, kitchens, radar and ground control approach systems, and the snow melting system for drinking water.
 

Because of the importance of Caterpillar's efforts on behalf of this project, Rear Admiral George J. Dufek, Commander of ODF, came to Peoria to inspect part of the shipment of Cat equipment and participated in several special events organized for the occasion. The City of Peoria organized a special display of Caterpillar equipment built for the project. A C-124 Globemaster cargo plane came to Peoria to pick up a shipment bound for Antarctica and a special ceremony was held at the Peoria airport to christen the plane as "The City of Peoria." Contest essays written by local school children and other Peoria-related items were placed in time capsule made from a Caterpillar D8 cylinder. This time capsule was buried at the South Pole with the instruction that it was to be opened in the year 2000. Attempts to locate the time capsule in 2000 were thwarted by the ice cap, which shifted and blanketed the area with more than ten feet of ice.

1956 - Canada Caterpillar machines help construct the Trans-Canada Pipeline.
The 2,250-mile Trans-Canada Pipeline extended from Alberta to Montreal. Reportedly, Caterpillar built all of the new machines ordered for the project. One order in 1957 was for 51 Caterpillar tractors and 23 Caterpillar diesel engines.

1956-1972 - USA Contractors use Caterpillar machines to build the Federal Interstate Highway System.
In 1956, the Federal-Aid Highway Act authorized the biggest public works project in world history, the U.S. interstate highway system. It started as a 41,000-mile project but expanded to 42,800 miles. Total cost has been approximately $130 billion. By conservative estimates, the interstate system has returned six dollars in economic productivity for every one dollar it cost to build.

1957-1961 - Sudan, Africa Caterpillar machines help construct the Managil Irrigation Project.
Eighty-eight Caterpillar machines and three Caterpillar engines helped construct a 160-mile canal from the Blue Nile in an effort to turn 300,000 acres of desert land into fertile fields.

1957 - Hawaii A Caterpillar D6 Tractor pulls the first undersea telephone cable between the U.S. and Hawaii ashore in the Hawaiian Islands.

1957-1958 - Antarctica Caterpillar supplies additional equipment to the military for Operation Deep Freeze III.

1957 - Germany Caterpillar machines help construct a section of the new Autobahn running between Frankfort and Nurnberg.

1957-1959 - Montana Caterpillar machines help construct the Noxon Rapids Hydroelectric Project.

1958 - Brussels, Belgium Caterpillar machines help build the World's Fair at Brussels.
Caterpillar equipment worked around the clock to prepare the 500-acre site and approaching highways for the World's Fair. According to the Cat dealer in Belgium, the construction of the fairgrounds required the greatest concentration of earthmoving equipment in the history of Europe (to that point in time).

1958 - Greenland A Caterpillar D8 Tractor tows a C-47 cargo plane, wrecked in a crash landing, 200 miles over the Greenland Ice Cap.

1958 - Antarctica Two Caterpillar D9 Tractors helped the U.S. Navy complete the first permanent airstrip on the Antarctica continent.

1958-1971 - Oregon Caterpillar machines help construct the John Day Dam.
In 1963 alone, 475 Caterpillar machines (out of 500 total) worked at the dam.

1959-1965 - Surinam, South America Twenty-five Caterpillar machines build access roads for the construction of the Brokopondo Development hydroelectric project.

1959 - Africa Caterpillar machines help construct a railroad through an African jungle to open up mining opportunities in the region.
Fifty-six new Caterpillar machines - including D8s, D9s, DW20s Wheel Tractors with No. 456 Scrapers, No. 12 Motor Graders and No. 463 Scrapers - joined a fleet of older Caterpillar machines on a 180-mile railway construction project through a jungle in the province of Middle Congo. Many of these machines were used later to mine manganese in the region.

1959 - Montana Caterpillar machines aid in emergency rescue and recovery efforts following an earthquake.

1959-1960 - Antarctica Caterpillar machines continue to support Operation Deep Freeze.
A total of 143 Caterpillar machines and engines were in use at the various bases on Antarctica by 1960. Military officials visited Caterpillar to inspect additional equipment ready for shipment, as well as to discuss future needs for the Operation Deep Freeze.

1959-1968 - Canada Caterpillar machines help construct the South Saskatchewan Dam.

Source : caterpillar.com