Dirt and Iron
The Industrial Revolution in the Delta
The Industrial Revolution
The industrial revolution, where societies transitioned from using hand-powered methods of producing goods to using machines powered by water, steam, or fuel began in the 1700s in Europe, and reached the United States in the early 1800s. Despite this, by the end of the Civil War, the vast majority of people in the United States lived on farms. Between the 1870s and 1920s, millions of people across the US would move to cities to work in factories and warehouses in a process known to historians as the Second Industrial Revolution.
The Second Industrial Revolution was characterized by increasing technological advances due to advances in electricity, gasoline-powered engines, and the mass production of consumer goods. Many products that we use today were first created during this period, including the telephone, the gasoline-powered car, and the electric light-bulb.
The Second Industrial Revolution was a process that took place across the United States. One of the places that produced the most significant innovations in manufacturing was San Joaquin County. Between the late 1880s and the 1920s, local mechanics, engineers, and farmers invented a wide variety of machines that would dramatically change industries across the world.
To many people in San Joaquin County, people such as Benjamin Holt, George Shima, and Robert G. LeTourneau are just names on street signs, but during the Second Industrial Revolution, these three local residents, along with many others, were responsible for major innovations in local agricultural and earth-moving industries.
In this exhibit, you will learn how immigration, the geography of the California Delta and San Joaquin County, and San Joaquin County’s historic investments in engineering and mechanical education, led to the inventions of the tractor, several types of harvesters, and the bulldozer.
