i don't write a column that comes from the left or the right. "qsunday night, on c-span's her bookeen dowd on "the year of voting dangerously." maureen dowd: what do you do not like about the clintons -- and donald, too -- when they get in trouble, they try to blame somebody else. bill gets in trouble with monica, and the white house aides say, well, with jefferson -- dead presidents they are dragging in, right? n"q&a."n's c-span cities tour is in pe

oria, illinois. inside we will meet lee forburgh, who will give us a tour of the caterpillar visitor center. you are in the caterpillar visitor's center. caterpillar has been in illinois for almost 90 years. it has employed people. there have been generations of people who have worked at cap. it has been pretty significant within the community. byerpillar was really formed two families in northern california. what you are looking at is an exhibit. c.l. best.

he is compared to henry ford. one of the stories we like to tell, he was an apprentice for his father, and we have some of those things on exhibit that kind of tell that story. one of my favorite things i like to tell people -- this was a drill press that was actually owned by daniel best. he had a little -- he would say shed behind the family house or he would come up with ideas and invent things, and this drill was actually used in that. the other thing on the bottom is a drawing of a steam tractor. this was pre-gasoline and tractors were powered by steam. best started working for his dad by the age of nine. towould go on sales trips

california. he started designing his own tractors. this was the first of a lot of early machinery, and people wanted to capture that. now you would e-mail a picture to someone. back then, you would buy a postcard. , in the statetors of california, mainly in the agricultural industry, although some also worked in the forest forestry history -- industry. this is when he broke away and quit working for his father. if you think about it in these terms -- he was president of the something, he was the head of design for the tractors, the head of manufacturing. he kind of did it all. and were around from 1910 really kind of struggled until they hit their home run with the

machine called the best 60. people have argued it is the forerunner of the modern tractor up today. it was one of the first used not projects.gricultural it worked on dams, projects such as hoover dam. this looks like a traditional agricultural seat. this is probably from 1914, 1915, and at that time, best was making combine harvesters, mainly in the western states, california. there is a little day timer which is interesting. the merger happened in the back half of 1925 -- that was probably the same year.

the name caterpillar came from tested hisin holt prototype tractor. the tracks were moving up and down and the press was shooting the event and one of the "that machine, looks like a caterpillar moving across the field." holt was so successful with this machine, everyone started calling these machines caterpillars. they were the largest producer of tracked by tractors. they invented it. a in 1909. to peori was three times larger than best. the best was three times more profitable. holt and best merged in 1925 to form caterpillar. these are actually greased palms from a best 60 type tractor.

best's colors were black and red. you see this is a representation probably grease pump, 1920 four, but after the merger, that same tractor was sold on the new caterpillar product line, and it reflects the great colors that caterpillar had of the time. a lot of people think our iconic yellow started immediately. it didn't. that was 1929. the reason, our machines were by the roadside and helping build and safety became a huge part of that industry. so, they made the tractors yellow for a safety feature. best had his

most important innovations, making improvements to the track design. point ofwhat is the that? our machines are still powered by the track. one thing i think that makes this exhibit unique from any other exhibits that have been done on best is we worked with the best family, specifically grandson, daniel best, to make this all happen. you are looking at artifacts from the best family, and they ranchers in northern california. they loved doing events such as hiking and horseback riding. this was a saddle used by c.l. best.

he was a prolific fisherman. one of the things they would do, they would ride through national parks. such is used in mitty. they would pack it in. they would bring horses. they would film these events. -- such as yosemite. tells -- not only about best, but even caterpillar, they were very generational. we will end by two families, and peoria, a kind of lets you in on that experience. be game changer. best's- this was c.l. game changer. this allow them to be on the same footing as holt. they never would have been able

to do the merger. thean from 1919 up until 30's. it was replaced by the soul machines. our first diesel machine was built on a tractor. this is a patent book. very prolific. this is a patent for a track shoe. our track shoes are very much the best ever invented. showsther marketing piece it is to represent these tractors were sold across the world. after the merger of cold and best, -- holt and best, c.l. first chairman.

probably one of the most rare things we have in this exhibit, and the most meaningful to caterpillar, is you will see his which wasrvice pin, donated to us by his grandson dan. he was the first person to have 50 years of service a caterpillar. we still have this tradition today. anew years ago we had employee who actually had 65 years of service. this shows you all of the projects or representations of the projects cap products have worked on, starting with the -- the panama canal. some of my favorites, teddy roosevelt was at the panama canal. he was there and operated some of the products. the golden gate bridge being built. our products, we like to tell people, have been on every continent. know thateople do not

our products worked on antarctica in the 1950's. they still work on antarctica. a lot of things you do not see on the wall -- the holt manufacturing company, their projects are sold in chicago. the words on the hollywood sign. and it's really exciting to know that you are part of these big projects and making changes like this across the world. bestntributions of c.l. really lead into today -- when you see tractors on the side of the road, the design of those tractors and how they work really go back to his innovation which was a hundred years ago.

to me, if there is not staying power -- there is that. >> this weekend, we are featuring the history of peoria, illinois, together with our comcast cable partners. c-span.org/citie stour. you're watching american history tv. all weekend, every weekend on c-span 3. >> up next on american history tv, former first lady laura bush joins first lady michelle obama onstage at the national archives to discuss the u.s. military and veterans. both women served in the white house during wartime and reflect on how they help the military community and why their work is important. woodruffod