A Peak Experience: 1919 Best 25

Rare 1919 Best 25 airlifted out of southern California strip mine site.

By Matt Veerkamp
Updated on July 9, 2021
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The 1919 Best 25 Tracklayer was partially disassembled for transport. C.L. Best Mfg. Co. built the Model 25 for just two years, 1918-’19. Roughly 300 were built.

It all started Dec. 11, 2013. I was getting ready for work when I got an urgent phone call from Kim Kestler in Nevada. “You better get online and check the Antique Caterpillar Machinery Owners Club (ACMOC) website,” she said.

I quickly got to the computer and there it was: A 1919 Best 25 Tracklayer, screaming my name. A Cat spotter had been hiking in the hills and posted pictures of an abandoned strip mine on a remote hiking trail in the Simi Valley hills of southern California. On the edge of a heart attack, I began reading the ensuing posts (did anyone else feel the same?!?). But nobody reading the post knew the exact location of the tractor.

That day, while working at my real job, I researched anything that resembled rusty iron in the Simi Valley hills. When I got home that night, I told my wife about the abandoned tractor and showed her the pictures that had been posted. She went to work on Google Earth and in about 15 minutes had found the exact location of the tractor.

My wife took the picture that had been posted and lined it up with the background hills and, through the process of elimination, was able to zero in on the exact site. We were so excited to know where it sat – until the next day, when another ACMOC member posted the exact coordinates online. There went my advantage!

Making the right connections

Emotions were racing so fast that the raw thought of just taking the tractor crossed my mind. After all, after decades of neglect, who would miss it? That thought was quickly dismissed, as I knew that the most logical and ethical way of getting the tractor was to find the property owner and negotiate a fair and honest deal.

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