"Hauling wheat to the mill with Caterpillar tractor" is the caption on this photograph from the July, 1915, issue of California Magazine. With five wagonloads in tow, this sun-canopied caterpillar operator goes about his work in the Sacramento Valley circa 1914. Wheat was the top crop in the Sacramento Valley for many years, with production reaching its peak around the mid-1880s. Sacramento and the entire state later faced shrinking markets due to competition from Oregon and Washington who were in a better position to supply Asian markets from their harbors while shipping cross-country via transcontinental railroad.
