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        Pieter de Boer was an immigrant from Holland, who moved to the United States in 1912 as a 21-year-old butcher.  Flora, Peter’s wife-to-be, joined him from Holland and the couple was married soon after. In 1945, Peter and Flora de Boer bought an 80-acre farm in the town of Sherry and farmed the land until their grandson, William “Bill” de Boer, bought the property from Peter. In addition to farming, Bill worked for local contractors, driving trucks and logging during the winters.  He purchased a John Deere dozer for work around the farm, and soon local farmers began to call and hire Bill to do work for them on a freelance basis.  This marked the start of an excavating business. Bill continued to farm and milk cows, while his wife, Marlene, kept books and children, Pam and Dan, helped out for the newly-established de Boer Excavating. 

          de Boer Excavating was renamed Earth, Inc. in 1974.  A new shop was built on the farm property in 1981 to accommodate the expanding equipment fleet. Later that year, Bill and Dan purchased two dump trucks and started D&D Trucking, which was later renamed Earth Transport, Inc.  In 1987, the Earth office was relocated to the newly constructed office building attached to the shop and later fitted with a computer system to track job and equipment costs, run payroll, keep tabs on general ledger, and carry out accounting processes. In 1999, a rock crusher fleet was purchased, and the first Earth, Inc. quarry opened up, creating the materials division of the company.

          In 2002, Dan acquired the remaining stock in Earth, Inc., completing the transfer of ownership. Under Dan’s leadership, the transformation of the company continued, as the company’s method of excavation switched to excavators, articulated dump trucks, and quad axle dump trucks. The first GPS systems were added in 2004 to improve grade accuracy and job efficiency, followed by a north shop addition and installation of a 20-ton capacity overhead crane system in 2005. An office expansion the same year added a maintenance office and administrative office space.  In 2014, a new 10,500-square-foot storage building was constructed, while the north shop was extended a second time.