Peterman of Morton founded Peterbilt Truck Co.

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Many Lewis County residents have heard of the Peterbilt Truck Co. But some may not know that the man who started that company actually lived in Morton from September of 1934 until leaving town in about 1940 to buy the failing Fageol Motors Co. of Oakland, Calif. which had, for 16 years, produced rugged, heavy-duty trucks and luxury buses.

T.A. "Al" Peterman, a logger and plywood manufacturer, purchased the nearly bankrupt Fageol Motors Co. that had been operated from 1932 until 1938 by the Waukesha Motor Co. and the Central Bank of Oakland. Before purchasing the company, Peterman had been rebuilding surplus Army trucks and modifying old logging trucks for use in his businesses in Tacoma and Morton.

According to www.peterbilt.com, by 1938, Peterman's lumber operations had expanded beyond the capabilities of his fleet. So he purchased the Fageol assets in order to build custom chain drive logging trucks.

"While Henry Ford was cranking out hundreds of trucks a day, Peterman set his sights on building 100 trucks a year, concentrating on quality, not quantity. Factory records state that 14 trucks were shipped that partial first year, and 1940 production was 82 units. The incredible speed with which the Peterbilt truck gained acceptance in the trucking industry was a tribute to product quality."

ACCORDING TO a 1999 article in the Lewis County Historian (a quarterly newsletter of the Lewis County Historical Society & Museum), and condensed by Wayne Galvin, we learn from LaVonne Sparkman's book "Before It's Gone Old-Timers Tales" about Peterman's years in Morton.

"He must have seemed like a white knight when he came to Morton in September 1934 to do a little logging. The Great Depression was taking its toll on the town of 750 people when suddenly a tall, rangy stranger named T.A. 'Al' Peterman rode into town in his Cadillac.

"Peterman needed logs for his plywood and lumber mills in Tacoma. Morton had some of the best timber around, especially on a place then called Cottler Rock, but which has since been known as Peterman Hill. It wasn't long before the hill was alive with the sound of logging, a pleasant tune that led to the none-too-familiar jingle of money in Mortonites pockets."

According to Sparkman, Peterman left town in 1940, as quickly as he had arrived. During his stay, she said, he had employed more than 100 men, and the resulting payroll helped the town through some troubled times. He left behind a reputation as one of the nicest guys a person could ever meet, and as a sort of renaissance man in the logging world.

"PETERBILT TRUCKS are his material legacy to that world," she wrote.

"Mike Sanders came to Morton in 1935 to work as a mechanic for Peterman in an eight-man shop built by Peterman near what is now (in 1977) Backstrom Park. The 74 year old Sanders is about as tough and hard as the machinery he spent so many years with, but he has a soft spot in his heart when it comes to Al Peterman. 'He used to come up here in a Cadillac,' said Sanders, 'but if you were laying in the mud looking under a truck, he'd join you.'



"Sanders credits Peterman with making many advances in logging truck and logging road technology which first brought the industry into the 20th century. He said Peterman first started modifying old logging trucks at his mill in Tacoma, which he 'built from scratch.' Later modifications became so extensive that he bought a factory near Oakland, California for the Peterbilt brand of trucks.

"One of the men who helped Peterman with the improvements was Ed Valentine, who worked with Peterman in Morton during his years there. Valentine was as much an inventor as a mechanic. He said Peterman used the Morton operation to try out different ideas. Among those ideas was a Valentine-developed brake drum cooled by specially designed ribs instead of water."

SPARKMAN CONTINUED, "Valentine said that Tom Coston of Morton drove the first rig which could 'come off Peterman Hill with a full load and not use water on the drums.' Eliminating the water made the brakes hold better.

"Another major innovation Valentine cites was the addition of rollers on the truck trailer to allow the logs to give a little when the truck rounded a corner. The road off Peterman Hill had a tight curve at the Morton Cemetery and it wasn't unusual for a load to get 'bunk bound' which would drag the whole truck off the road. Rollers eliminated the problem.

"These and other Peterman changes in logging trucks enabled truckers to travel down logging roads at higher speeds, confident the brakes would work and the load would stay on. One of the men who drove truck for Peterman was Dick Coston.

"Coston said the roads Peterman built were 'as smooth as could be' and drivers could make as many as eight trips a day from the hill to the unloading area where the railroad tracks used to be at Backstrom Park.

"The first truck with air brakes he (Coston) ever drove was during his time with Peterman and he said they were quite an improvement over hydraulic brakes. 'The hydraulics got so hot they'd burn out the wheel cylinders and you'd run away,' said Coston, who had that happen to him 'a lot of times.'

"He said when the brakes went out the driver would either 'ride it out or hit the ditch,' depending on the circumstances. Coston said despite the frequency of brake failure no driver was ever hurt during the years between 1934 and 1940 when Peterman was in Morton."

Sparkman said Peterman died in about 1945.

Pat Jones is The Chronicle's lifestyle editor. She may be reached by e-mail at pjones@chronline.com, or by telephoning 807-8226. The Lewis County Historical Museum's Internet address is www.lewiscountymuseum.org.