It was 1953 when Harry Sanders ventured up to the Nicola Valley. With the help of a generous arrangement with his employer, Harry began payment on his first piece of heavy equipment - an International Harvester TD18 Crawler. With this one machine, Sanders and Co. was officially founded in 1957 and would help build Merritt and the surrounding communities into the next millenium.
From these humble beginnings, Harry Sanders began to expand his operation over the years eventually bringing in all five of his sons, Ron, Jerry, Lorne, Ken and Alan to work for the company and running more than 70 machines and between 80 to 100 employees in BC and Alberta. Sanders has gained valuable experience in almost all facets of heavy equipment contracting including logging, bridge building, road building and highway maintenance, dam building, construction and demolition.
Although Harry has left his legacy in the Merritt area and will be missed, Ron Sanders continues to carry Sanders and Company into the 21st century by continuing operations with the same levels of quality, integrity, and innovation that has kept Sanders and Company Contracting as a forerunner in the heavy equipment industry today.