Snow Removal with Caterpillar Tractors (circa 1926)

Caterpillar Tractor Company film demonstrating how diesel tractors can be used to plow roads and sidewalks across the United States and Canada in rural landscapes and residential areas. Silent with title cards.
original: 16mm., B&W, Silent, circa 1926, found in Chicago Film Archives' Charles E. Krosse Collection (www.chicagofilmarchives.org/co...)
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[@davidgroff3355]

Cool tough machines and built without computers just smart people

[@MasDouc]

Smart people built computers and smarter people have iterated them to make our lives easier to build tough things more efficiently

[@fourbyfourer]

Awesome old video of better times.

[@rawbacon]

Those trailers are pretty cool.

[@Smittyschannel]

Really cool how the 'modern day' pioneers & engineers built all these great mechanical beasts- would not be where we are today without them

[@mothman-jz8ug]

Old farts like me remember a blizzard that hit in January 1978. Here in Ohio, the snow was deep enough to leave cars buried completely from sight on roadways, etc. At the time, there was still considerable strip mining in Southern Ohio, and a friend of mine worked as a dozer operator for a mining company. Unable to do much mining under all the snow, some of the dozers were moved to Northwest Ohio when roads had been cleared enough, and the machines were used to clear streets in some smaller towns. My friend and one of his co-workers were plowing streets with Cat D9's. My friend was laughing like a hyena telling me about following the other dozer, plowing to the left while the lead dozer plowed right. He said "I could see that f***ing idiot was drifting further and further right" or something to that effect. At length, the lead dozed clipped off a fire hydrant. These were open station dozers - no cab, just a canopy. When the hydrant snapped off, it sent water skyward like a geyser only to come down on the man on the dozer. Temperatures were peaking well below freezing, the wind was blowing as it does in that flat country, and this poor dude caught a thousand gallons of water or what ever before he could get clear of it. After all these years, my friend still says it's one of the funniest thing he ever saw. I always admired his great sense of humor.

[@chrismixerjr7590]

What county do you live in if you don't mind me asking?

[@jimmychanbers2424]

I did quite a bit of dirt work with no cab. I always carried 2 pair of gloves. Kept one pair on the engine block and swapped them out every 5 minutes.

[@dennisneuman9380]

I remember my grandpa running the snowplow in our township in rural Wisconsin. It was an Oshkosh truck with a V-plow and wings off both sides. He would sometimes plow town roads for 10-12 hours at a time to get everybody cleared out. Ah the good old days?

[@joemclaughlin995]

One hundred years later we are basically using the same technology! Pioneers in more ways than one.

[@MasDouc]

True except now they're built with planned obsolescence woo!!

[@markstengel7680]

Special treat. 93 years ago wow, very COOL . Today's Cats make this look like a garden tractor. Thanks ! 👍

[@bladerunner6354]

That first rig pushes like mad!

[@bladerunner6354]

Cool video.!

[@tonyw2136]

all that work and a day later it drifts back in

[@roberttemplin527]

Those old Cats are a real workout to operate. I have a 1941 Caterpillar D8. It's a 2U model. Everything is manual by Armstrong. You need to eat your Wheaties before you even think about staring these old machines up. Very cool video, especially the Minneapolis clip.

[@pauliewalnuts7088]

Still ten times better than any state worker could do today

[@ojsefg]

Ha ha ha ha ha! Ain’t that the damn truth!!!

[@larrytwitchell445]

Ha ha ha. They were government employees! You’re so darned smart, why don’t you try it?

[@pauliewalnuts7088]

@@larrytwitchell445 most department of transportation wasn't even formed till the late 60s there ole buddy

[@richardwalters1803]

Magnificent

[@MultiCrusher2]

Heavy wet snow,V plow,double wingand a gas driven dozer.I am impressed.

[@lorenzotrevisani4421]

Great old documentry history file. Caterpillar never lets you down, if you know how to youse it propply. 👏👍

[@boblangill4676]

31 dislikes? How in the heck do you dislike a snowplow clearing a road..how?

[@bladerunner6354]

Just morons

[@albertmusco]

As a senior living in Montréal ,Québec. I spent hours every week clearing snow that drifts in the driveway . They are probably people who don't like the recreation of clearing snow , the cold weather , or six months of winter with hundreds of centimeters of snow and -25 temperatures . No global warming here !

[@mikelooby8362]

They may prefer to watch something else.

[@pauliewalnuts7088]

Because they are retarded

[@philippetays4263]

it was most likely the safety freaks who didnt like seeing the guys riding out on the snow wing adjusting them, they just forgot to put on thier two layers of bubble wrap

[@rushedandlost]

Damn plow. they plowed my driveway shut. Mildred , call the city. I'm gonna give em a piece of my mind!

[@DesertDigger1]

That was pretty neat, thanks for posting.

[@jerryhammack1318]

Seeing the clip of the dozer operator on Pikes Peak is amazing! Only true dedicated operators are hired for that job even today! When this was filmed the road was much narrower and steeper! Nerves of steel and great respect for these old time equipment operators who pioneered that road ! I am an operator and have run the old cable Cat 6 7 and D8 dozers! Tough generation of pioneer heavy equipment operators in extreme places! God bless them and may they never be forgotten for their sacrifices in the extreme cold blazing new roads is the alpine mountains we take for granted!

[@mikeschoeffter7420]

Great footage, really gets the vibe across of wut it was like back then, thanks for posting.

[@MrWillis5719]

I bet every little boy that seen that beast rolling down the street wanted to work on that

[@davescorneroftheworld1147]

This is an amazing file, THANK YOU for putting it on KZbin.

[@thomasmint1761]

This was the days of luxury. 20 years before that, we used to walk through this kind of snow to school, in our overalls.

[@galewinds7696]

Uphill....both ways.....12 months a year.....same snow.......it never melted.....

[@baronvonnembles]

@@galewinds7696 And highwaymen tried to kidnap us.

[@jamesfranks462]

And barefooted as well!!

[@FlyinRaptorJesus]

I really wish I could have been alive back then.

[@oldiron7208]

Great video! I have a Allis Chalmers L crawler with the snow V blade

[@RJ1999x]

You own the best

[@anoka114]

Remember this coming down our country road growling like crazy in some of our heavy snowfalls.

[@rpsimoes1382]

Awesome...Great video....Thanks for share....Congratulations from brasil.

[@sandorspalms]

Great video and great channel 👍😁🇨🇦

[@BobL84]

in the 20s we were already spoiled with machinery to clear snow, imagine what these people had to go through with the horse plows before this. some people had to dig streets out by hand until the horse teams showed up

[@miker8915]

awesome, thanks for sharing

[@garvinhooper]

those trailers that they are hauling snow away are mounting on what we always called bob-sleds, cross chains on the rear of the front runners to the front of the rear runners to steer them, type of sleds pulled by a team of horses were used to haul logs in the wood operations when I was young

[@sodbuster1982]

Awesome video! It seems it don't snow like that anymore. I remember my dad talking about the winters back in the 50's but its not like that today. I remember the blizzard in '78 in SW Ohio

[@justforever96]

Too true. They used to get snow for real; when they talk about "snow over your head", they weren't messing around. The 1800's was actually a "mini-ice age", and they had seriously cold winters and serious snow back then; by the early 1900s it was only just starting to warm up, so you still got a lot more snow than the later part of the century. Today global warming may or may not be a thing, but it's certainly warmer now than it was even 25 years ago. We hardly get any snow in New England at all the last few years, compared to what we got when I was a kid. In the 1920s they routinely got 6 feet every few months, and the snow would stay until the end of April...even to July in cool valleys in the woods. Now we're lucky to get snow by December (depending on how you look at it, of course). There is no doubt that that is a serious snowstorm there, although it's even more obvious because they didn't plow _during_ the storm back then, only after it was all over. They had sleighs if one really needed to travel, but mostly you just stayed home. Now you never see them plowing more than maybe a foot at a time, because they make multiple passes. This is like plowing a road down the middle of a field through an untouched blizzard.

[@timidater4803]

I remember 78 blizzard in northern Ohio, we had to crawl out the window to get out of the house!! Worst one we ever had

[@michaelklein3112]

sodbuster1982 41 anniversary today!

[@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb]

Famous last words. Buffalo might have something to say about that.

[@downeastermaineusa3794]

Those old Cats are tougher than a bag of hammers. I live in Maine now , and love going out and plowing snow.

[@dr7584]

Even with two wingmen they still have to nudge the utility pole! Hahaha.

[@jimmybritt9537]

Great vid thank's

[@shirleybalinski4535]

Wonder who thought this combo up, especially side planers!! My guess some guy who was a snow removal driver( not an engineer). Ya gotta love the wooden plow!!

[@johnwarren5406]

Hard to beat a Cat..We use a 35 tractor with a twelve foot reversible plow..A 65 with a sixteen foot box blade weighs in at 34000 lbs..And a 420 hoe with a 12 foot Arctic sectional .Phun in the snow !

[@ithacacomments4811]

The plow driver would plow my grandparents long driveway....he wasn't suppose to go off the roads...but he would say that he used their driveway as a "turnaround."

[@blainekopp8988]

my grand pa had a caterpiller 10 with blade, on hy 30 from pocky toamerican falls.

[@rickreid81]

Now that's clear in snow!

[@deweydodo6691]

Could not have been too warm on those machines

[@larrykluckoutdoors8227]

My dad used to talk about that

[@AStanton1966]

That one operator reminded me of myself--he hit the pole! lol

[@fastdadgarage-northsouthch4418]

Love the wing operator

[@choppers1370]

Kind of reminds me of the scene of "the cleaners" in the movie , The Labyrinth !

[@fourfortyroadrunner]

Man, young "My name ain't OSHA" came a bit close to that pole!!!

[@tenthdimension9836]

8:09 Awesome 😎

[@MagnetOnlyMotors]

1:08 True 6:16 like cutting through ice bergs!

[@tyrabut7099]

This is cool they had some blades made outta 2x4s, bet it was easier moving those than the current 300 lbs blades

[@g.noreau291]

J'adore!!!

[@mariflores4442]

Así comenzó toda la tecnología k ahora conocemos grandes hombres muy entelijentes

[@BrettWae]

Wow, they really did have to go up hill both ways..

[@davidroosa4561]

And this was filmed in July

[@dustyroads5811]

They did a better job then what they do today , sometimes u dont even see a plow truck on the trans canada

[@Andy1087]

Looks like the job as wingman is both cold and dangerous on those plows.

[@jrod6891]

I need this thing in Buffalo right now

[@spuzzlightyeartoo]

Hmmm, I wonder how the snow removers at Pike's Peak could figure where the road turned etc

[@mathman1923]

where is the go pro footage and the drone work?? :) awesome video

[@thegreenerthemeaner]

These were gas fired Caterpillars. Making Diesel engines small enough for this application was under way but not there yet.

[@patrickcasey1600]

thegreenerthemeaner N

[@johnbravo2301]

Man...This looks like fun,,,You couldn't get me outta the seat until the snow melted... I used to hog the riding lawn mower and wouldn't let Dad cut the grass,,he liked it also..

[@justforever96]

Hah! I bet you don't live where they actually have winter weather, do you? This is not like cutting grass; this is a COLD job. I greatly doubt if that truck has a heater, and if it does, it's a piss poor one. The guys sitting outside have nothing. You aren't working, you're just sitting there, and that's the worst, sitting still on a moving vehicle in 15deg F weather (or colder, in all likelihood), with air blowing past you, wind sometimes, and all you can do is huddle closer and stamp your toes which have stopped stinging and are now just getting numb, while you can hardly close your hands any more. Your eyes water, and the tears sting and freeze on your cheeks, and ice all over your scarf. So does the constant liquid running out of your nose. Your ears feel like someone is burning them with a lighter, while you shiver violently. No joke either. I'm dead serious. This can't be much different from the older job of "snow rolling", where a man (or two, in case one passed out from hypothermia) would ride around on a little seat on a big wooden roller, packing the snow down for the sleighs and sleds, pulled by a team of horses. If you were lucky it was a fancy one with a little shed on top to protect you on three or four sides, but mostly it was just an open seat. And men sometimes died, or got hypothermia. IT was a prerequisite of the job that the roller could stop at every house he came to and come into the kitchen and sit by the fire for a few minutes and warm up, or he might well die. Traditionally every family would give him a little brandy to warm him up, and as you might expect, he often ended the rounds quite wasted (luckily the horses drive themselves pretty well; incidentally, that reminds me of a story my father used to tell. Apparently the old tradition of stopping by houses along the way to get a drink and warm up had outlived the snow roller, and into the early years of the plow truck, and so the man who plowed their roads would drive up into everyone's yard and stop and get a drink. Unfortunately it's a lot harder to operate a plow truck under these circumstances than a snow roller, and he remembers when he was a boy watching the man in the plow truck on leaving plow down a hundred feet of fence in front of their house without realizing it. End story). In any case, I guarantee these men are freezing their asses off, and probably getting paid miserably by modern standards, but almost certainly have been well-fortified with alcohol during and before the job to help make it more bearable (nothing could make it pleasant; I've lived though winters enough without trying to ride around in a wool coat on a moving vehicle. Modern snowmachiners have modern clothes and self-heating gloves, and driving the machine is a bit of a workout, and adrenaline rush....I still don't know how they bear it).

[@justforever96]

Makes me sad to see these scenes of life from the past. These people are all dead and gone now. I don't know why but that always makes me nostalgic, if that's the word for it. Seems like such a loss somehow. I bet they were well-fueled with brandy before taking on this job. That was considered a common-sense precaution to very cold work back then, not an safety issue (although if you OVERLY prepared and took down a lamp or telephone pole, they would be unhappy). It was traditional from back in the days of road-rollers, that the men driving it (and it's a damn cold job!) would be supplied with brandy to keep them warm. In rural areas, they would stop at every house they came to and come in and warm up, and it was good form to keep some brandy to give him or them, even if you didn't drink yourself. I know this was still done in some areas right up until the 1960s, when they were giving a dram of brandy and hot cider to the plow truck driver. Shortly after this they decided it was better to wrap that tradition up. Anyway, I'm sure these men were well-fueled. And you'd have to be; I doubt those cabs are any too warm, even if they were supplied with heaters, which is questionable. The men outside got nothing.

[@quentinkirk3870]

justforever96 Fifty Years From Now People Will Be Saying That About Us 😄

[@theotherwalt]

I often think about the people in old pictures and films as well.

[@tombowman2154]

I don't think I'd want to be the wingman on that outfit.

[@leelew3114]

No heated cabs

[@YPO6]

Snow is the lard of the earth.

[@richardrice8076]

8:15 I bet that guy in the background is still shoveling snow today.

[@sugargooslin6473]

I worked 20 years for the county road dept.but them guys really worked

[@petebachelder1131]

Those old machines got about 4 gpm. (Gallons Per Mile)

[@user-ee9yv7so4i]

С новым годом

[@rolfekurtyka-realestateexa6078]

Three and four-man crews.

[@ambrosemackinnon8314]

thats how it was done in those days

[@bnmmef6225]

Caterpillar rd4 ياخويا ياخويا

[@70torinogt70]

wow and people complain about snow removal now .lol. makes yah wonder . cool video thanks for posting

[@NorthEastSaskFarmer]

Wonder what models they were

[@leisergeist]

those two guys hanging off the blades, OSHA would have a stroke LOL!

[@maddog2771]

LeiserGeist fuck osha

[@acapolcogold]

These guys are why we have OSHA now

[@justforever96]

No, you have OSHA now because now companies are liable to pay for your ass when you fuck up and get hurt on the job. Before that they didn't mind how stupid you were, because it was your problem. Where would you suggest they ride that is somehow safer yet still allows them to see the snowbank ahead clearly and access the winches to raise the plow when they come to an obstruction?

[@barnfly6945]

That's called thinning the herd back in the day.

[@ASPCOT]

OSHA should have a stroke. A fatal one.

[@garvinhooper]

loved to plow in my younger days 60s and 70s with a cat 12 motor grader with a wing and front Vplow when I worked in the woods we had many miles of logging roads to plow and would take about 30 hours of dead ahead plowing to keep them open,drank a lot of coffee and would stop into the logging camps off and on to stay awake,back in the days in northern Maine when we had some big snows and 20-30 below temps all winter

[@class8garage308]

And now days they wine if they got to plow all nite in a heated cab with better luxury than most homes back then. I remember plowing in 54 willys jeep with vacuum wipers every time hit snow bank door would fly open wooden cab, gas fumes no heat and manual plow angle then reach across to use plow lift good ole Braun snow plow, kids today will never know what plowing was like.

[@holokyttaja5476]

Imagine gatekeeping snow plowing

[@jameslindley924]

Timber Plough !!!!!!!!!! lol

[@thomasburke8948]

Love my cat

[@Lukey-Dukey-AUS]

👍

[@TheAjanaz]

Умные однако ж

[@coloradostrong]

I am only getting sound out of my right side.

[@steveducell2158]

dozers are great...............until you hit a big patch of ice

[@Mescalinoff]

Пришёл по рекомендации с канала Сергея Савелькина. Всем привет.

[@willbillingham8027]

At the 4 min mark the plow is made from planks

[@justforever96]

I think it's funny you all seem to think that's so strange. Why shouldn't they make it out of wood? Wood would still be a perfectly feasible thing to use, if they weren't mostly plowing slush from all the salt and car tires. It's snow, it's dry. You ever seen a railroad plow car? They are big 14' V-plows made out of tongue-and-groove boards. They lasted many decades in most cases, until they were left to fall apart in the yards when they were replaced or abandoned. And what did for them then was the fact that they sat without ever getting any paint, out in the sun. UV radiation is far worse for wood than getting rained on once in a while. THe UV breaks up the wood, and water gets into the cracks and sits, and that starts rot. But if it's kept after and not allowed to sit, it can last decades. That is how they made wooden ships. In this case, they are just planks, so even if they rot away for some reason, so what? They are like the planks they put on the edges of a dump truck bed, to absorb the bashing of the loaders bucket: they are to be used and abused. If and when they aren't up for the job, you unbolt them and replace them with another plank. Job over.

[@jamesb.9155]

3:42 See the guy sitting on a bench out in the cold.

[@jamesb.9155]

@Mike B Dude, they're all dead.

[@gribovod1]

Прикольно))).Пра пра пра дедушка катерпиллера))).

[@art-134]

!!!!!!!

[@SOPHIETHIBERT]

Contant snow blower

[@user-hj8by5jz4d]

Наша 74 образца 1960.....а у них в 25

[@bluegrallis]

CAT didn't have anything that ran on diesel in 1926!

[@emdman1959]

Snow plowing back when Men were Men and sheep were scared.

[@ox6942]

That quote was founded here next to where I live: Hicktown: where men are men, the women are too, and the sheep run scared. Know why it's called the toothbrush and not the teethbrush? It was invented in Hicktown. That's all I've got. Cheers!

[@marshallman1au]

ROFL!!!

[@justforever96]

Hah, hah. Because that is totally original, and actually makes complete sense. I mean, didn't you know, historical men are notorious for committing bestiality. It's in all the history books! Look, those guys are wearing funny clothes and they don't have smartphones! They actually work hard for little pay: everyone mock them!

[@justforever96]

Horseshit. That quote is old as fuck, and we used to say it about people from the nearby town of Hardwick 30 years ago. It wasn't "founded" anywhere except on Vaudeville, and it's perpetuated by elitest pricks who like to pick on people who they feel superior too because they don't live as "urban" and "sophisticated" as you try to: read, they don't watch the movies and closely copy every fashion and trend from California and New York like you do, because that's what "sophisticated" people do. Basically, they are smart enough to be proud of who they are and not embarrassed because assholes from the coast look down on them. You just think you can suck up and get into the "cool" group by selling out your neighbors and mocking them, while making sure you dress and talk and act like those precious Hollywood hypocrites. Got to "get with the times" you know, listen to the _right_ kind of music, wear the _right_ kind of clothes; God forbid someone mistake you for some kind of rural type person! What could possibly be more shameful than to be seen by some sophisticated urban type wearing country-style clothes, or listening to music with a fiddle in it! How embarrassing; the next thing they'll be mistaking you for some kind of blue-collar worker! You'd never live past that! I felt that way once. When I was like 15. Then I grew up.

@@justforever96 Truer words sir, have never been spoken!!

[@jimmychambers3836]

those two out on the side freezing their asses off

[@robertrhodes9123]

great vid for then. cats are boss! can you imagine the pain in the ass people today putting up with that today. where I use to work they b itched about a little square of ice or snow left behind. they were to stupid to walk around it.

[@patlundy1310]

9

[@user-yj8gh1xg5h]

Звука не хватает только

[@Eremeeva07]

А где деревья?

[@user-bn3kx9li1d]

И это было в 1926 году... В то время когда союз только учился выпускать трактора

[@user-hf7en3lt3o]

когда у союза война на войне революция на революции ))отличное сравнение

[@user-my7ew9xx5c]

У нас такое в 2020!

[@user-bn3kx9li1d]

@@user-hf7en3lt3o та я тоже так подумал. Почему-то не помню что бы США было в руинах. Ток они "несут" демократию

[@shamandezu8975]

Sorry but... Diesel Caterpillar tractor in 1926 ? Sound strange because first diesel engine in Caterpillar was made in 1931...

[@AuH2O]

Nobody said they were diesels, you dumb fuck.

[@rustyranch501]

wooden blades. man wouldnt those start to rot after a while?

[@ox6942]

They oiled them with used (burnt) motor oil. Kept them slick and rot proof. If they ever went bad or broke, more wood grows in the woods every day. I use this trick for softwoods in ground contact. Works wonders for many years. Works as a deck and siding stain too. Just keep quiet about it - the tree huggers and bunny humpers would have a shit fit. They could have been using rot resistant woods like locust, white oak, redwood and cedar. I put my money on white oak or black locust in this film. I made some raised bed garden beds out of black locust. They'll still be doing their job 100 years from now! :-)

[@rustyranch501]

Ox oh thanks

[@justforever96]

Why would they? It's snow, it's not wet. There's no salt. It will only get wet if and when they bring it inside and it thaws, or when spring comes. Then it will dry out. Wood only rots if you get it wet and keep it wet for a long time. Even without sealing it. They used to build manure wagons, dump wagons out of wood. Dump truck beds were originally wood. Even if you don't oil it, and even if you don't use rot-resistant wood, it will last a long time. And then, because it's wood, you take all the wood pieces apart from all the steel/iron fixings, use the old pieces as patterns to cut new wooden pieces, fix it all back together again, and you're good to go, almost like new. They used to know how to do things like that back then; there was going to be someone who could work wood (at least one person), and someone who could fix or make metal parts. If you cracked a cylinder on a car engine in 1920, you were expected to weld it, not buy a new one. Anyway, they made due with wooden farm implements, wooden ships, wooden wagons, wooden car bodies, wooden houses (still popular), and many of these things are still done or could be done. So why would wooden plow blades be especially likely to rot? Especially since like I said, snow is rarely wet. Unless the blade is warmer than the snow and melts it, it's perfectly dry. And getting wood wet for a few hours isn't going to hurt it, or your floor would rot from mopping it. And wooden ships would be in trouble.

[@justforever96]

And now that I've mentioned them to the other fellow, they made wooden road-rollers out of unfinished boards. Hundreds of those survived to the modern day. Again, they don't get wet in the snow. If and when they did rot, it was from sitting outside in the sun and rain during the _summers_ after they were abandoned. If they weren't pulled apart and burned after being replaced with plows, after cars took over. Wood + snow + cold = can last about forever. Wood + warm + wet = rot.

[@ericl2969]

@@justforever96 Plenty of the snow in this clip looked wet to me, but one thing about rot is that it's caused by fungi or perhaps sometimes by bacteria, neither of which are active when it's cold. So, wood rot is not a winter problem anyway. It's a warm-weather problem. Anyway, they made all sorts of things out of wood in the old days, including the cabs of trucks and car bodies (not many years earlier than this clip was made), and for whatever reason, the fact that these items would not last forever was not considered a deal-breaker.

[@LinnTractorNut]

Not diesel powered yet.

[@billthompson5644]

Great video, but you can DEFINITELY tell this one's old, they didn't have a bunch of LAZYASS UNION SLACKERS standing around doing absolutely nothing like nowadays.