Learning from the Tree Crusher douglas robb
While researching the history of the W A C Bennett Hydroelectric Dam at the Royal British Columbia Archives, I came across a passing reference to a machine called the Mackenzie Tree Crusher. This ominously-named device— the largest of its kind — was designed for a singular purpose: to crush trees. Conceived and manufactured by the LeTourneau Technologies Corporation in Longview, Texas, it consisted of a central chassis connected to two spiked drum rollers that functioned as wheels. Above the front roller extended a rigid
beam designed to topple ‘all sizes of vegetation, both large and small’. 1 The spiked rollers would then ‘fell, break up, and partially masticate all vegetation’ that stood in the Tree Crusher’s path, leaving behind it a wake of splintered debris and sawdust. 2
1 Orlemann, Eric. LeTourneau Earthmovers . St. Paul: MBI Publishing, 2001 2 LeTourneau, Robert Gilmour. Land clearing machine. U.S. 2959201A. United States Patent and Trademark Office, 8 November 1960
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