Wherever you live, whatever you do, chances are Valmont is part of your life. Lighting and traffic poles guide your way. Utility poles bring power to your home and business. Communication poles and towers enable your wireless communications. Irrigation equipment brings much-needed water to cropland while conserving fresh water resources. And our long-lasting finishes improve products around the world every day.
It all began with farming. In 1946, after serving in World War II as a Marine, Robert B. Daugherty began looking for a good business opportunity...and found one. Daugherty recognized the potential of a small manufacturing company owned by an inventor named Sam McCleneghan. After careful consideration, he invested virtually his entire life savings – $5,000 – in the company. The company, which was situated on a farm just west of Valley, Nebraska, was named Valley Manufacturing and began by building farm elevators.
Eventually, the new company contracted with Sears, Roebuck to supply 1,000 farm elevators. They soon added speed jacks, wagon hoists, universal joints, hay racks, stalk cutters, minimum tillage tools, and a front-end loader to their product line. When recession hit the farm industry in 1952, Valley Manufacturing began looking for ways to diversify. That search led down the road to Columbus, Nebraska, where a visionary was struggling to breathe life into a revolutionary idea: the center pivot.