Robert LeTourneau, a roving American evangelist and inventor, decided in the mid-1930s that a plot of lakefront land a mile and a half northeast of downtown Peoria would be a fine place to make earth-moving equipment. Skilled labor and suppliers were plentiful; transport links were good.
Nearly eight decades later, Japan’s Komatsu Ltd…., which owns the plant, still thinks Mr. LeTourneau chose the right location””even though most giant mining trucks made there are shipped overseas to Latin America, Australia, Asia and Africa.