• Rubber tracks
• Rollers
• Idlers
• Sprockets
  and much more!

In 1902, a German immigrant, Carl Fredrick Malzahn, moved his family to Perry, Oklahoma, to get away from the harsh winters of Minnesota. He then opened up a blacksmith shop with his two sons, Charlie and Gus. The business became successful, and a few years later, with the arrival of an oil boom, it came to be Charlie’s Machine Shop, and specialized in repairs for the oil fields that were close by. Ed Malzahn, Charlie’s son, had learned from his elders, the process of shaping a business to meet the changing demand. In the late 1940’s, he began to implement his mechanical engineering degree to a device that he thought would be in high demand once it was made. Ed Malzahn had an idea to create a compact trenchers, that would greatly decrease time and effort for the process of installing residential utility services – electric, gas and plumbing lines – which, at the time, involved slow, tedious pick-and-shovel labor. Ed and his father worked together for months in the family shop to create a prototype of what would be know as DWP, which stood for Ditch Witch power. Ed Malzahn was only 28 years old when the first trencher had rolled off the assembly line.It was the first mechanized, compact service-line trencher made for laying underground waterlines between the street main and the houses. The DWP lead the way for the creation of the compact trencher industry, which today, creates all types of equipment for smoothly installing any type of underground utilities including, sewer, water, and gas lines, and telecommunications, CATV, and fiber optic cables. The name was now known as The Charles Machine Works, Inc. Ed Malzahn’s organization stays a leader in the industry. It is still based in Perry, Oklahoma, and the company manufactures and designs a vast variety of top-quality underground construction equipment, such as, trenchers, vibratory plows, pneumatic piercing tools, backhoes, electronic guidance and locating tools, horizontal directional drilling machines, drill pipe, down-hole tools, vacuum excavation systems, excavator-tool carriers, and mini skid steers. All of the products are recognized around the world for their advanced design, rugged construction, long-term durability, easy use, and reliability. Ditch Witch organization remained true to family and the community, even after achieving household-name status in the world wide construction industry. Ed Malzahn has handed over CEO duty to his granddaughter, Tiffany Sewell-Howard. Since the early 1950’s, hundreds of Perry-area residents have started and had life-long careers in these facilities on the 30 acres. The Ditch Witch Plant employs over 1,300 people, and are committed to making American-made products.