The Best Manufacturing Company (sometimes known as the Daniel Best Company) of San Leandro, California was a manufacturer of farm machinery, known for its steam tractors.
The company was formed in 1871 by Daniel Best. The company's initial product was a portable grain cleaner, soon followed by a combine harvester. In 1890, the company purchased the rights to manufacture the Remington steam engine, and produced a range of steam-driven farm machinery, including steam tractors and combine harvesters. In 1891, the company built a gasoline powered locomotive for San Jose and Alum Rock Railroad. This was the first internal combustion locomotive built in the western United States, though it was only a limited success and was returned to Best in 1892.[1]
Around 1900 the company built a number of three wheeled road locomotives.[2]
The company was acquired by the Holt Manufacturing Company in 1908 after a legal battle. C. L. Best, the son of the founder then formed his own rival company, the C. L. Best Gas Traction Company which built gasoline-powered tractors. This new company acquired the rights to manufacture the Lombard Steam Log Hauler, an early tracked crawler, and began producing "tracklayer" tractors.
