WEST FARGO, N.D. — An ag tech pioneer has co-written a new book about the legacy of his family and how it has been deeply enmeshed in the history of the region's agricultural advancements.
Howard Dahl co-wrote "The Never- Quitters: The E.G. Melroe Legacy," with author Patrick McCloskey. The book, published earlier this month by Crosswinds Institute Press, in partnership with the University of North Dakota Alumni Association & Foundation, University of North Dakota Libraries and the North Dakota State University Foundation, is available for order at https://theneverquitters.com
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Dahl plans to sign books at the Amity booth at the Big Iron Farm and Construction Show on Sept 15 and 16. Emerging Prairie also will host Dahl at The Never-Quitters: An Evening with Howard Dahl and Friends at the Grand Farm Innovation Campus in Wheatland, North Dakota, on Sept. 16.
In the introduction to the book, Dahl explains why he decided to write the story of his family: "I
was having lunch with my father, brother and two of my mother’s brothers, Cliff and Irv Melroe, in early 2000 when one of them said, 'The story of the Bobcat loader has never been told properly.' That thought lingered in my mind for years and became a recurring call to action."
The book tells the story of the Melroe and Dahl families. E.G. Melroe was Dahl's maternal grandfather, a farmer and inventor who started Melroe Manufacturing Company. After E.G. Melroe's death, the company invested in and manufactured what would become the Bobcat skidsteer. The Melroe family and Dahl's father, Gene, bought into the Steiger Tractor Company. Dahl himself is the president and CEO of Amity Technology, with a long history in ag tech and the innovations built in the Fargo area, including Concord Inc.
Dahl traces those innovations — and the fact that many prominent agricultural machinery dealerships are based in Fargo — to his grandfather's early work in North Dakota and Minnesota. Agriculture innovation would have happened without E.G. Melroe, Dahl wrote, but it may not have ended up centered around Fargo. And it took perseverance to make it happen, he said.
"This story of never-quitters repeated throughout E.G.’s endeavors, throughout my father’s involvement in Steiger Tractor and throughout the struggles my brother, Brian, and I endured establishing Concord Inc. Without the never-quitter ethos, none of these companies had a prayer of succeeding," he wrote.
Never-Quitters chronicles the stories of the business successes and failures of the Melroe and Dahl families and how they persevered through them, using Christian faith and values. Notable difficulties explained in the book include the problems for farm machinery dealers and manufacturers in the 1980s Farm Crisis, personal tragedies and difficulties in family history, wars, legal problems, agricultural downturns, the Great Depression and more.
Along with Dahl's own memories and recollections, Never-Quitters includes numerous citations of news articles about the companies in which his family has been involved, including many stories written by Agweek and other Forum Communications publications.