Illinois—the River, the CAT and the Deere!

We arrived in Peoria, Illinois on July 24, 2014 and decided to stay for 3 nights in order to see the town and to catch up.  The Mill Creek Campground—a remarkably inexpensive Passport America park-- in East Peoria is located right on the banks of the wide Illinois River, a major tributary of the Mississippi River, which begins near Joliet, Illinois and 273 miles later, near Grafton, IL, south of St. Louis, the Illinois River joins the Mississippi River, only 20 miles upstream from where the Missouri and Mississippi Rivers join. 

Two river channels loop around the Mill Creek Campground areas closest to the Illinois River.  The ground was quite muddy after rain but we walked out to the river's edge.  We watched a huge tug and extremely long barge combination heading down to Peoria or beyond moving very slowly downriver at about 3-4 knots with the river current.  A short time later we watched a smaller tug pushing a construction barge with a large crane also heading downriver.  There were small footprints like raccoon prints in the mud but we never saw any animals or turtles.  We did see many thousands of minnows swimming in convoy and occasionally something under them taking a gulp of them, probably a bigger fish! 

One major reason to visit Peoria is the headquarters of Caterpillar Inc., the world's largest producer of earthmoving equipment, railway locomotives and a major manufacturer of electric power generators and engines used in petroleum markets and mining equipment. 

The Caterpillar Visitors Center is a large modern building located in the heart of downtown Peoria on the Riverfront at 110 SW Washington St. and is open Monday-Saturday10AM-5PM. We went on Saturday, July 26.  There is a $6-7 admission charge.  Your self-guided tour begins with an orientation film shown inside a two story tall, 400 ton CAT 797F massive mining truck converted into a 62 seat “rumble-seat” theatre—meaning the whole theatre vibrates as the massive machines move across the screen--pretty exciting in itself! 

After that experience, you walk through a hall of massive CAT yellow tractors, trucks, backhoes and other pieces of equipment.  There are 15 different themed areas to go through in this large exhibit hall.

A highlight for visiting kids, beyond the huge machines, is a group of simulators of different pieces of large construction equipment, allowing you to sit in the cab and operate the controls, like a real operator!  Lin was doing well in his bulldozer simulator until he hit a large tree--Whoops!

The Heritage Gallery shows some of the first Caterpillar machines from the 1920s-30s including one of the first bulldozers.  Another area shows production of various CAT construction machines but the highlight for us was a time lapse video of the construction of the giant 797F mining truck (like the truck that is the introductory theatre.)  This vehicle is so large, all the components must be shipped to the jobsite, usually a large mine, and the truck built on site—an amazing logistics and labor exercise!

The “CAT at Work around the World” Gallery is very interesting too.  Since its founding in 1925, Caterpillar equipment has worked on virtually every major project, not only in North America, but the entire world!  CAT products helped build San Francisco's cable car system, the Golden Gate and Bay Bridges, most major dams in the U.S. and beyond, the Alaska Highway in 1942 and much more. Today, CAT machines are widening the Panama Canal and worked on the construction of China's massive Three Gorges Dam.

In World War II, Caterpillar worked 7 days a week, doubled their workforce, added women working in the foundry and machine assembly lines and built 51,000 armored versions of track-type tractors painted Army olive drab and trained Army enlisted men to operate them!  CAT diesel engines and transmissions powered Sherman tanks plus they manufactured howitzer carriages, artillery shells, bomb fuses and much more.  Strangely, Caterpillar did not show their war production in the history display.

Today, Caterpillar has 118,501 employees around the world!  They manufacture, and sell globally, heavy equipment including a very wide range of construction and mining equipment, forestry machines, EMD railroad locomotives, industrial gas turbines, diesel and natural gas engines and all types of power generation.  CAT also has an important Financial Products division supporting their dealer network and customers. Another important division is Parts and Customer Service that keeps machines running worldwide!  69 % of CAT's sales and revenues come from outside the U.S., with 31% in the U.S!

You can even design your own CAT!!

You can take home some CAT too with the CAT Merchandise Center onsite to entice you with CAT toy bulldozers and other machines, T-shirts, boots and much more!  Caterpillar is a very impressive company and this Visitor Center gives you a complete look at the workings of the whole company!

After our CAT tour, we walked a block to the Farmer's Market held in the large Riverfront Park right on the river.  Lots of craft items plus fresh produce, bakery goods, honey etc.  Live music was good and the whole scene had a good vibe.Train tracks run parallel to the market and we were blocked in by a mile long coal train for a few moments. No problem--we like trains!

The next day July 27, we drove east to Moline, IL on the Mississippi River  to visit the John Deere Co., founded in 1837, one of the oldest industrial companies in the United States.  It began when John Deere, a blacksmith, produced a radical new self-cleaning plow that changed agriculture! 

We came to see the John Deere Pavillion and were not disappointed!  The John Deere Pavillion is an incredible showcase of the history and products of the John Deere Co.  Here's what their John Deere Attractions brochure says--

”If you measure fun and excitement by the pound, you'll find tons of both at the John Deere Pavillion.  Our all-new visitor experience features literally tons of big, powerful machines.  Some are staged in their typical work environments, so you can climb aboard to see and feel what it's like to run these machines.

You'll hear real customers as they share their workdays with you.  And you'll want to test your skills in real life job situations by grabbing the controls of our simulators.

There's also lots of history to explore, innovations to discover, prototype machines to inspect, and global challenges to learn about.  Parents, please note that your youngsters may have so much fun in our Discovery Zone that they won't want to leave.

It's fun, exciting and educational.  And admission is always free!” *

A mural of the first factory, the original Deere plow and the old and new logo

We discovered many new things about this legendary manufacturer and really enjoyed seeing so many of Deere's machines up close.  John Deere is the world's biggest producer of farm equipment like farm tractors and combines and also a large maker of construction machinery as well as commercial and home lawn and garden equipment.  John Deere has 67,044 employees globally.  U.S. sales are predominant at Deere with only 36% of sales outside the U.S.  We were impressed with the John Deere core values set forth by John Deere, the founder: Integrity, Quality, Commitment and Innovation.  They see two major challenges facing the world in coming decades: “Feeding a population growing in size and affluence” and “Developing the infrastructure required to support massive urbanization.”

Deere operates with 3 divisions: Agricultural and Turf producing 77% of revenue and 16.1% of operating profit; Construction and Forest Products produc ing 16% of revenue and 6.4% of profit; and Financial Services producing 7% of revenue but 31.1% of profit!

Agricultural products include tractors, loaders, combines, cotton and sugar cane harvesters, tillage, seeding and soil prep machinery and hay and forage equipment for the global farming industry.  Turf is commercial and home small lawn tractors, lawn mowers, golf course equipment, utility vehicles, and landscape and nursery products.  Construction & Forestry includes construction, earthmoving, material handling, timber harvesting, backhoe loaders, crawler dozers, 4WD loaders, excavators, motor graders, articulated dump trucks, landscape loaders, skid steer loaders, log skidders, feller bunchers, harvesters and attachments. Financial Services finances sales and leases by JD dealers of new and used equipment to all industries, wholesale financing to dealers and retail revolving charge accounts.  We were interested to learn that customers can buy crop insurance from John Deere as well!

John Deere is obviously proud of their World War II production record and feature it in their introductory history panels.  Deere produced MG 1 & 2 heavy tractors for moving aircraft, M3 tank transmissions, the Deere Wagon Works produced large mobile laundry units and the Harvester Works produced airplane parts and more.  Many women were hired to replace men called up into the military and these women played an important role in production.

John Deere was an early progressive company in many ways.  In 1880s they started an 8 hour workday from 10 hour days formerly; 1881 added electric lights to the factories; 1887 paid employee health and accident benefits; 1907 established pensions; and in 1909, the company built employee housing when there was a housing shortage.

Yes, John Deere competes with Caterpillar and others in the construction and forestry markets and as we traveled the Interstates after Illinois, we checked the many road construction projects underway and saw a higher percentage of CAT equipment but lots of John Deere in use as well.

Deere & Co. operates a number of attractions all in or near Moline and most have free admission. 

John Deere's World Headquarters in Moline at One John Deere Place is open 7 days a week.  “See John Deere products new and old, as well as a display of 2200 items related to the company's history, inside this architectural masterpiece.” *   John Deere's headquarters were designed by famed Finnish architect, Eero Saarinen.  We ran out of time and didn't visit here. “Next Trip!”

John Deere Historic Site is in Grand Detour, now Dixon, IL and “gives you a first-hand look at the blacksmithing trade in this replica of John Deere's shop” next to the foundations of his original shop.  You also tour the inside of the house he built for his family with period furnishings.* (Fee includes both shop and home) 

You can also visit the John Deere Harvester Works in East Moline on weekdays when it is operating. This factory has produced John Deere combines for 100 years, “helping farmers meet the challenges of feeding an expanding global population with innovative and efficient machines.”  *  This is free, but a reservation is needed.  It was not open on Sunday when we were in Moline. 

Finally the Deere-Winan House, built in 1872, and the Butterworth Center, built in 1892, are “the magnificent mansions and gardens that the Deere family once called home.” *  Open Sundays by appointment with donations appreciated.

To wrap up, somehow we felt more comfortable at the John Deere Pavilion than at Caterpillar's Visitor Center, since the CAT site seemed to be a very elaborate sales tool to take their customers through while the John Deere Pavillion felt like it was  primarily set up for the general public including the all-important farm families. 

For one thing, John Deere was much less technical with many hands-on displays that got the visitor involved and, of course, for a family on a budget, the John Deere Pavillion is free while CAT costs!  We enjoyed both though and would recommend both sites.  Full disclosure—we recently repowered our boat with a John Deere marine diesel engine and love its economy and reliability, so maybe we're a little biased! 

A Toy store for big and small boys!

Incidentally, the John Deere Store is adjacent to the Pavillion and is loaded with lots and lots of green John Deere merchandise from ball caps, clothing of all types, great toys including tractors, books, videos and much more.  Our grandkids will be disappointed to hear that we didn't get them anything—sorry, no room in the RV!        

* from John Deere Attractions “Where the Legend Lives On” brochure.

Taken from the video-- a good example of Deere's agricultural might!