A tough, quick animal

Fifty years ago, Melroe Manufacturing Co., Gwinner, N.D., purchased rights to a three-wheeled loader built by Cy and Louis Keller, two blacksmith brothers who built the machine in response to a farmer who needed a better way to clean manure out of the upper deck of his turkey barn.

It was this, and a few other serendipitous occurrences, that led to the beginnings of Bobcat Co., which celebrated its 50th anniversary with a media event I attended yesterday at Loews Lake Las Vegas Resort in Henderson, Nev.

That Melroe self-propelled loader was the forerunner to what would become the Bobcat skid-steer loader, and what catapulted the compact equipment industry.

Sylvan Melroe, whose cousins and uncle first got into the business with the Keller brothers, spoke at this event, sharing anecdotes about the humble beginnings of Bobcat and its evolutions over the years. He told about an advertising man in Minneapolis who brought a dictionary to their lunch meeting to come up with a name for this machine. The definition of a bobcat seemed fitting: a tough, quick animal. All within the same day, they also came up with the Bobcat's color scheme and logo.

The versatility of the Bobcat skid-steer became apparent as more and more industries found it applicable. That also was apparent by the trade industries represented by the media at the event: waste management, ATVs and utility vehicles, hobby farming, landscaping, golf and more.

After the evening presentation, Bobcat's Paul Anderson (pictured) described the evolution of Bobcat machines through features on several models that have been discontinued.

Bruce Collins, vice president of Bobcat's attachments and vehicles, spoke about the company's acquisition by Doosan Infracore late last year. "We have a parent company that wants to be in our business, and they want it to grow," he said. The company also made David Rowles, previously president of Bobcat Americas, chief executive officer of its U.S. subsidiary.

A new product presentation followed yesterday morning, where product and development company representatives showed off some compact utility tractors, a relatively new market for Bobcat. Four more models with horsepower up to 50 will be unveiled in the coming years.

To finish, the company let us press folks jump on some of their machines and give them a whirl. Coincidentally, we tested out the vehicles on the construction site of a future golf course -- Rainbow Canyon, an 18-hole Tom Fazio design that stretches from Lake Las Vegas to the Rainbow Gardens Geological Preserve (pictured left is the course currently under construction in the background of a Bobcat CT235 compact tractor). I gave a decent attempt at moving around some dirt on that machine (lower left). The best part was taking a utility vehicle on an obstacle course complete with deep, continuous trenches and very steep hills (below). I screamed and thought I'd tip over at any moment with tires in the air, but it was worth it. Thanks for hosting me, Bobcat, and congrats on 50 years.