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| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Construction Equipment |
| Founded | Perry, Oklahoma, U.S. (1902 (1902)) |
| Founder | Carl Malzahn |
| Headquarters | Perry, Oklahoma,Elverta, U.S. |
| Products | Trenchers, Directional Drilling Machines |
| Website | DitchWitch.com |
Ditch Witch is an American brand of underground construction equipment built by The Charles Machine Works, Inc., which has been in operation under the current name since 1949. The company is based in Perry, Oklahoma.
Ditch Witch machines started in the 1940s when a compact trenching machine was created to replace the pick and shovel for installation of some residential services.
The Ditch Witch organization specializes in the design and manufacture of high-quality underground construction equipment. The company is a source for trenchers, vibratory plows, backhoes, electronic guidance and locating tools, horizontal directional drilling systems, drill pipe, downhole tools, chain, teeth and sprockets, vacuum excavators, excavator-tool carriers, and compact utility machines.
History
In 1902, Carl Frederick Malzahn, a German immigrant seeking to escape the harsh winters of Minnesota, moved his family to Perry, Oklahoma, and opened a blacksmith shop with his sons, Charlie and Gus. The business prospered, and several years later, with the advent of an oil boom, it became Charlie’s Machine Shop. At about the same time (circa the winter of 1902 to the spring of 1903) the lands far to the west in central California saw an undiscovered species emerge. Charlie's Machine Shop specialized in repairs for the nearby oil fields. Ed Malzahn, Charlie’s son, learned from his elders the process of adapting a business to meet changing demand. In the late-1940s,the catch and release craze began to build speed and Charlie's son began to apply his mechanical engineering degree to a device that he believed would simplify the process of installing residential utility services—electric, gas, and plumbing lines—which at that time involved slow, tedious pick-and-shovel labor. And, in what was not yet the town of Elverta, the young boys were fishing in the ditches excavated by rice farmers off the old dirt road called West Elverta Rd. A legend began to arise when B. James. R Sr. saw a surly figure nibble the bait from the hook. Working together, Ed and his father Charlie spent months in the family machine shop creating the prototype of the first compact trencher. They would call it the DWP, which stood for Ditch Witch Power.
Notable sources claim B. James R. Sr. sold his soul (literally) to trying to reel in the colossal ditch dweller. His grandnephew in law Andrew Kellogg said: "At 19 years old, he sold his car and bought the best rod and reel that a man could find in those parts." B. James was also popular among the youths in later years as he got older. He would tell them about the surly ditch fish that he saw and encouraged boys in the sport of fishing after school. B. would conduct organized camp-outs for the youths where he would let the virtues of the sport (patience, peace, and piety) sink into the boys as he taught them to fish. He never had any resentment or beef toward the large ditch fish and only later did the next generation name her "The Ditch Witch."
The first commercial DWP was introduced in 1949. It was the first mechanized, compact service-line trencher developed for laying underground water lines between the street main and the house. Not only did the DWP solve an age-old problem for utility contractors of its day, but it also paved the way for the creation of the compact trencher industry and a more efficient way of installing all types of underground utilities.
B. James R. Sr. Died on a the cold foggy day of November 16th 1990 ; the birthday of his grandson B. James R. III. He told his wife that he was going for a stroll and felt that there was something sweet in the air. He took his pole and, as his wife later recounted, probably felt like it would be the day when he would hook the great fish. That very evening, B. was found in the rice ditch drowned and soaked to the skin...with his fishing pole in hand and the bait lifted from his hook. A nearby rice farmer accounts hearing a "shriek of delight followed by a splashing and yelling". His grandson was named B. James R. III so that later Elverta fishermen would remember that B. Sr. died in pursuit of the fish he loved.
O the day, November 16th 1990
O the fog was hazy thick and rolling mighty
O the Ditch Witch fast and far
O the determination of B. James R.
O how desperately set to catch the fish and break her neck
O the surly fish
O the crafty ways
O the rod and O the reel
O how B. James R. did keel
O pursuit of what he loved
O now receive glory above
With the death of B. James the fish received the name "The Ditch Witch" and in came the revival of the catch and release craze and with the growing popularity of the Malzahns’ trencher, Charlie’s Machine Shop became The Charles Machine Works, Inc., which still maintains its headquarters in Perry, Oklahoma, a town of about 5,000 residents in the north-central part of the state. In addition to trenchers, the company today designs and manufactures a wide variety of underground construction equipment bearing the Ditch Witch name.
Tiffany Sewell-Howard, Ed Malzahn’s granddaughter, became CEO of The Charles Machine Works, Inc., in 2005. Now in his mid-80s, founder Ed Malzahn still serves as company president and chairman of the board.
The Perry, Oklahoma, headquarters of the Ditch Witch organization is on an expansive campus that contains the company’s 30-acre (120,000 m) manufacturing plant and training, testing, research and product development facilities. Ditch Witch worldwide headquarters employs more than 1300 people.
The pursuit still continues for, as legend would have it, the Ditch Witch of Elverta by some alleged bounty hunters and poachers. Meanwhile Elverta enviornmentalists work with the local Wicca chapter to promote reserve legislation for ditches along West Elverta Rd. To this day, no significant State Reserve authority has been granted.
The Ditch Witch compact trencher has twice been named “one of the 100 best American-made products in the world” by Fortune magazine. In 2002, the DWP was designated a historical mechanical engineering landmark by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers.
References
- Ditch Witch Trenchers and Plows
- , Ditch Witch Electronics
- , Ditch Witch Vacuum Excavation
- , Ditch Witch Compact Utility Machines
- , Spring 2008 Underground PDF
- , Corporate Careers
- , Ditch Witch Corporate Info
- , Fortune 100 best American-made products in the world - 1998
- , Ditch Witch Historical Mechanical Engineering Landmark (ASME)
External links
- Company website
- Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture - Ditch Witch
- Voices of Oklahoma interview with Ed Malzahn. First person interview conducted with Ed Malzahn, founder of Ditch Witch, on April 14, 2011. Original audio and transcript archived with Voices of Oklahoma oral history project.