Alameda County CA Archives Obituaries.....Best, Daniel August 22, 1923 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ca/cafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Steve Harrison raleighwood@juno.com July 9, 2010, 1:15 pm Oakland Tribune, August 22, 1923 Oakland Tribune August 22, 1923 (Wednesday) Page 2, Column 2. “Pioneer Passes. Daniel Best, California pioneer and manufacturer, who died today at San Leandro [caption above portrait of him] Best, Tractor Founder, Dies at San Leandro Eastbay Manufacturer, at 85 Years, Ends Long and Active Career. Daniel Best, founder of the Best Manufacturing Company of San Leandro, from which later developed the Best Tractor Company, died this morning at his home in San Leandro at the age of 85 years, following a brief illness. With his death the Eastbay region loses one of its pioneer citizens, who had lived in San Leandro since 1886. Best is survived by four married daughters: Mrs. Lynn Stanley of Oakland, Mrs. Frank Webster of San Leandro, Mrs. George Jackson of Fresno, and Mrs. Charles Manning of Sacramento, and by one son, C [larence] L[eo] Best of San Leandro, president of the Best Tractor company. The funeral will probably take place next Friday, it is announced, but no definite plans have as yet been formulated. CROSSES THE PLAINS Best came west over the plains from Iowa in 1859. The little band of pioneers had to fight several battles with Indians on the plains, and at last had their cattle stolen by the redskins, following which they had to continue their way on foot. Best as a California pioneer, has probably done as much to promote agricultural development as any other man on the coast. He was born in Crawford county, Ohio, March 28, 1838, and was a son of John Best, and a grandson of John Best Jr., a soldier of the Revolutionary, French and Indian wars. All of the Bests were farmers. PLACER MINING FOLLOWED. Daniel Best showed marked mechanical ingenuity while yet a youth, although he had small opportunity of exercising it while on the farm. Good fortune came to him in 1859, when he crossed the plains to Oregon and started to work in a sawmill in Portland. Later on he became a logger, for which he displayed great skill and enjoyed an increase in pay from $1 a day to $5, when he was appointed head sawyer. For two years, from 1860 until 1862, he engaged in farming, and then went to the Powder river mines [in Oregon?], remaining there until 1865. At Auburn he erected a sawmill. The state contained little in the way of equipment and he succeeded in erecting the plant without sending out of the state for a single piece of equipment except a whipsaw. With a partner he succeeded in turning out 2000 feet of lumber a day. Later he sold his mill to the Oregon Railroad and Navigation company and engaged in prospecting, taking out several hundred dollars in pocket gold. He prospected along the Snake river and in the fall of 1866 went to the Puget Sound country to manage a sawmill on the Chehalis river. In 1865 Best came to California to visit his brother [Samuel Best ? or Zachariah Best ? or Henry W. Best ?] in Sutter county, the latter having crossed the plains in 1862. Here he conceived the idea for a portable outfit with which he could travel around the country and separate oats and barley from wheat. The first machine was finished in 1870, and in the fall he completed three more. In the same year he secured patents for this machine and in 1871 sold a half interest to L. D. Brown, who erected a shop in Marysville. In 1874 the company which Best had formed purchased the Auburn canal ditch, 36 miles long, putting in a bedrock flume. The project was sold and Best engaged in placer mining. Later Best returned to Albany [Linn County, Oregon] by team and offered to run a mill three days for nothing, which resulted in a job. Best again took up the manufacture of his separating machine. From 1879 until 1885 Best had a branch in Oakland, and in the fall of 1885 moved to San Leandro. He built the combined harvester later, a horse-power[ed] machine, and in 1887 built the traction engine, which has been developed continuously until the Best Tractor is known over the entire world. On these machines there are over 35 patents.” END AND Woodland Daily Democrat (Woodland, California) August 24, 1923 (Friday) Page 1, Column 5. “C. L. Best, Husband Woodland Woman, Dies at Bay. [Incorrect headline since it was C. L. Best's father, Daniel, that died.] Daniel Best, aged 89, died in San Leandro Wednesday [August 22]. Deceased was the head of the big tractor and harvester plant which bears his name, and with which the late Charles Q. Nelson of this city was connected during the war period. Death occurred at the home of his daughter, Mrs. C. H. Manning. Besides Mrs. Manning, Mr. Best is survived by Mrs. Lynne Stanley of Oakland, Mrs. William Jackson of Fresno and Mrs. Frank Webster of San Leandro, and a son, C. L. Best of San Leandro, who succeeded his father as head of the tractor business. Mrs. C. L. Best was formerly Miss Margaret Gray, formerly of Woodland. Funeral services were conducted in San Leandro today with interement [sic] in the family vault there [at Evergreen Cemetery in Oakland]. Retiring fifteen years ago, he became active as a hunter and fisherman. In his last illness, he expressed regret that he would be unable to go on his annual deer hunt. Best had hunted big game throughout the West and in Alaska, and in the early days of California he killed grizzlies with an old single shot muzzle- loading rifle.” END Additional Comments: Note that there are two different obituaries above. Daniel and several family members are buried in the Evergreen Chapel, Evergreen Cemetery, Oakland. File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/alameda/obits/b/best123ob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/cafiles/ File size: 6.1 Kb