13 Facts About Daniel Best

Daniel Best was an American adventurer, businessman, farmer, and inventor known for pioneering agriculture machinery and heavy machinery.

Daniel Best spent the first nine years of his life here, before the family moved again in 1847 to Lee County, Iowa, where they took up farming and raised stock.

In 1859, Daniel Best, following his brother, joined a wagon train heading west to Fort Walla Walla, Washington Territory where he was employed as an ox-tender and sharpshooter.

In Washington Territory, Daniel Best was involved in gold mining, followed by working in sawmills and eventually building his own sawmill.

Daniel Best then moved to Sutter County, California to work on the ranch owned by his brother Henry Best, where he began inventing machines.

Over a period of 43 years, Daniel Best received 41 patents, including an improved washing machine and combine harvesters.

Daniel Best's first invention, patented April 25,1871, was a portable grain cleaner and separator.

Daniel Best sold his first horse-powered combined harvester in 1885, using the money from sales of this machine to invest in work on an improved design for a traction engine.

Daniel Best saw the need for an improved traction engine to pull his combine harvesters.

Daniel Best first purchased the rights to build a steam traction engine from Remington of Woodburn, Oregon in 1888, before making improvements to the design.

Around 1891, Daniel Best began to experiment with gas engines to replace the steam engines on his tractors.

Daniel Best married Meta Johanna Steinkamp in Marysville, Yuba County, California, on August 29,1872.

Daniel Best died in Oakland, California on August 22,1923, and was interred at Evergreen Cemetery.