By Charlie Warner
Argus News Editor
What started out 50 years ago as an idea by six Caledonia men to better serve area dairy farmers has evolved into a multi-million dollar business that employs over 180 people, has nearly 150 semi tractor-trailers that logged 17.5 million miles in the U.S. and Canada this past year. Caledonia Haulers, Inc. has seen many changes, and tremendous growth in the past half-century.
From meager beginnings
On Oct. 22, 1958, Caledonia Haulers was formed for the purpose of hauling milk from the farmers to the Land O’ Lakes plant in Caledonia. The original six shareholders were Joseph Gavin, president; Glen Derr, secretary; Eugene Kohlmeyer, vice-president; Hugo Muenkel, director; John Schmitz, director; and Walter Schuttemeier, treasurer. The six men invested $200 each and acquired a loan from Sprague National Bank for $10,000 to purchase one milk tank and a 1958 International truck which was driven by John Schmitz.
In it infancy, Caledonia Haulers’ routes consisted of 90 cans of milk which they loaded on a straight truck at 20 different farms and traveled an average of 50 miles a day to transport milk to the Land O’ Lakes plant in Caledonia. Canned milk was picked up in the Caledonia, Eitzen, Hokah, Spring Grove, Nodine and Decorah, Iowa areas.
“When farmers started converting over to bulk tanks, my father and his partners purchased the first bulk truck, which was a 1,200 gallon straight truck,” Caledonia Haulers President and CEO Dennis Gavin noted. “They all had can routes, but felt there was a future in bulk milk hauling.” It certainly appears as if they were right.
A second bulk truck was added in 1960, and the company purchased the Spring Grove milk route and a Chevy truck from Orville Flatten. On Feb. 4, 1962, they bought a new Ford truck and a Ford tandem truck to haul milk from Mabel to Caledonia and from Caledonia to Whitehall, Wis.
In 1964, Lawrence Demmer, Leslie Heintz, and William Koch bought into the corporation. The company purchased the William Jahn truck line which included an International semi tractor, a livestock trailer, a feed trailer, and the rights for hauling. They hauled livestock from Caledonia to South St. Paul for the Armor Company. They also hauled products for Caledonia Implement, Brady Elevator, and Hormel.
On Jan. 6, 1965; they bought Leslie Heintz’s shares and purchased a new Ford semi tractor and a used tank trailer for the milk route to Illinois, which is still in operation today.
In 1969, they bought their second livestock trailer and hired Dennis Hanson to drive for them at a rate of seven cents a mile.
In 1970, they bought out Hugo Muenkel’s shares and purchased another milk route in the area around Decorah, Iowa.
They purchased the Frank Schmitt’s business which included a livestock truck in 1972. That same year, they bought a new livestock trailer and also started hauling milk to Des Moines, Iowa.
In 1973, the corporation bought back Eugene Kohlmeyer’s shares.
By 1977, the fleet had grown to five tractors and they began transporting milk to Carlinville, Ill.
John Schmitz retired from driving in 1977 and Walt Schuttemeier retired in 1980. William Koch is still driving today. Joe Gavin continued to act as president of the company until his death in 1992.
In 1982, they started a customer repair service for other truck owners which has rapidly enlarged their service department.
“The truck repair part of our business grew with the growth of our fleet of semis,” Gavin said. “We now have 10 mechanics on duty taking care of our trucks, as well as servicing and repairing trucks from other companies.”
Expanding their customer base
One of the biggest challenges for trucking companies is staying away from “dead-heading,” which is when a semi drops off a load and then must travel many miles before picking up another load. The challenge is much greater when the trucking company deals mainly with liquid food products.
“We needed to expand our customer base, to cut down on the amount of dead-heading,” Gavin recalled. “At one point, we were deadheading about 50 percent of the time. Now it’s about 28 percent.”
Gavin started out on the ground floor, serving as a semi driver. In 1984, as the business continued to grow, he came off the road and became a fulltime dispatcher. Gavin started making more contacts with regional companies and Caledonia Haulers began taking back hauls of corn sweetener from Keokuk, Iowa to Minnesota and other points to the north.
During the next two decades, Caledonia Haulers has grown from hauling mainly milk, to dozens of food grade products including, cream, juice, water, corn syrup, soy sauce, vegetable and soy oils, yeast, yogurt, and liquid smoke. They haul to 48 states and Canada and have trucks traveling to both coasts, and Florida on a weekly basis.
Recipe for success
Gavin, who was voted in as president/CEO of the corporation in 1994, said having hard-working, dedicated employees, and maintaining a good fleet of trucks are two major reasons Caledonia Haulers has continued to grow.
“We have some employees who have been with us for 20, even 30 years. With about 160 drivers, we do see quite a bit of turnover. But we have many very dedicated drivers, as well as mechanics in our shop and our office staff.
“We also pride ourselves on having good equipment,” Gavin continued. “When you’ve got drivers out there in a truck all week, you want them to be comfortable, and not breaking down. We buy about
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