Pictured here in 1929 is an E & E Seegmiller Ltd. Erie B steam shovel at work in the Kitchener, Ontario area.
Twin brothers, Edgar and Egbert Seegmiller, had started their local excavating business a couple of years earlier. Through hard work and determination, the family-owned business grew and by the 1950s, under the leadership of the next generation, Harold and George Seegmiller, it had branched out into earthmoving and roadbuilding.
In the succeeding decades, E & E Seegmiller Ltd. was a prominent highway contractor in Northern Ontario while at the same time taking on local infrastructure projects including paving, sewer and watermain work.
In addition, they had several crushing spreads for aggregate production as well as asphalt plants and paving equipment.
There are two restored and operational 1920s era Erie B steam shovels that are regularly seen at Ontario equipment demonstrations. Teeswater, Ontario-based Jamie Armstrong’s Erie B shovel is often featured at the Blyth and Paisley events, while the Simcoe County Museum features their Erie B at HCEA Canada’s annual events in June and October.
To see more than 60 restored pieces of vintage construction equipment in action, be sure to attend Historical Construction Equipment Association (HCEA) Canada’s 2019 Last Blast Event, held Saturday, Oct. 19, at the Simcoe County Museum near Barrie, Ont.
HCEA Canada is a Proud Community Heritage Partner of the Simcoe County Museum.
