Clarence Leo Best (April 21, 1878 – September 22, 1951,

San Francisco, California San Francisco (; Spanish for " Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the fourth most populous in California and 17th ...

), usually known as C. L. Best, was an American manufacturing executive. C. L. Best founded the C. L. Best Gas Traction Company in 1910 (later the C. L. Best Tractor Company) then merged his company with

Holt Manufacturing Company The Holt Manufacturing Company began with the 1883 founding of Stockton Wheel Service in Stockton, California, United States. Benjamin Holt, later credited with patenting the first workable crawler ("caterpillar") tractor design, incorporated ...

to form Caterpillar Tractor Company in 1925. C. L. Best was chairman of the board of Caterpillar Tractor Company from its founding until his death in 1951.

Biography

C. L. Best started out working for

Best Manufacturing Company The Best Manufacturing Company (sometimes known as the ''Daniel Best Company'') of San Leandro, California was a manufacturer of farm machinery, known for its steam tractors. History The company was formed in 1871 by Daniel Best. The company' ...

, owned by his father,

Daniel Best Daniel Best (March 20, 1838 – August 22, 1923) was an American adventurer, businessman, farmer, and inventor known for pioneering agriculture machinery and heavy machinery. Early years In 1839, Best's father, John, moved the family to Missour ...

, and eventually became manager of Best Manufacturing Company's Stockton, California plant. Best Manufacturing Company was acquired by

in 1908. In 1910, C. L. Best left Holt Manufacturing Company and formed his own company, C. L. Best Gas Traction Company, to continue his father's work. Originally operating out of a plant in Elmhurst, California, the C. L. Best Traction Company became large enough to purchase Daniel Best's former San Leandro, California plant in mid-1916. In 1920, the C. L. Best Traction Company was restructured and renamed the C. L. Best Tractor Company. The most successful tractor produced was the C. L. Best 60 Tracklayer, later produced as the

Caterpillar Sixty The Caterpillar Sixty is a crawler tractor manufactured by the Caterpillar Tractor Company from 1925 until 1931. The Sixty was the largest tractor in Caterpillar's product line at that time. The Caterpillar Sixty was originally introduced for s ...

. In the mid-1920s, Holt encountered financial trouble. Best's financial backers approached Holt executives to discuss a merger. On April 15, 1925 C. L. Best Tractor Company and Holt Manufacturing Company merged to form Caterpillar Tractor Company (later

Caterpillar Inc. Caterpillar Inc. (stock symbol CAT) is an American ''Fortune'' 500 corporation and the world's largest construction-equipment manufacturer. In 2018, Caterpillar was ranked number 65 on the ''Fortune'' 500 list and number 238 on the Global ''Fo ...

). C. L. Best remained chairman of the board of Caterpillar until his death in 1951. He was interred at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland, CA.

References

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Best, C. L. 1878 births 1951 deaths Burials at Evergreen Cemetery (Oakland, California) Businesspeople from California Caterpillar Inc. people People from Stockton, California San Leandro, California