The Farm and the Boring Frontier in the Closing of the West

JF Ptak Science Books   Post 1699  [Part of the series on Blank, Empty and Missing Things:  the Frontier, 1885.]

Farming and the closing of the frontier--more notes on reading Larry McMurtry's Lonesome Dove, part 4.

It is difficult to underestimate the impact of the technological revolution on the development of the American West. The impact of the railroad is obvious; efficient fencing material in the form of barbed wire revolutionized land distribution and control. Less obvious is the less glamorous—the plow, harrow, windmill, silo, well drilling, and harvesting machinery. All made farming less difficult and opened the way to ever more land being farmed—the cultivation and civilization of the vast tracks on the Great Plains was made possible by these innovations.

[The use of the railroad in this ad for the famous Glidden barbed wire is interesting because in the history of lines and the American West, it was the lines of the railroad tracks, telegraph wires and barbed wire that changed the face of the place more quickly than anyone could have imagined in the 1840's.  Certainly if Jefferson had been able to survive to his 150th year he would have been absolutely shocked to see how fast the West had been not only explored but brought into some sort of control, a feat that he imagined would take many generations past his exploratory team of Lewis and Clark.] 

All of the machines needed in the West—chilled-iron and steel plows, grain drills, reapers, disk harrows, straddle-row cultivators, and threshing machines—were in use before the Civil War. The appropriate improvements and modification needed for use on the Great Plains came about in the 10 years or so following the war.

The improvements made in farm machinery from 1870-1890 had the following effects on time, effort and money saved in the production of each acre of the following:

Crop Time Worked Labor Cost

Hand Machine Hand Machine

Wheat	61 hours	3 hours	$3.55	$0.66
Corn	39 hours	15 hours	3.62	1.51
Oats	66 hours	7 hours	3.73	1.07
Loose Hay	21 hours	4 hours	1.75	0.42
Baled Hay	35 hours	12 hours	3.06	1.29

 

The effects of technology were staggering—in the 1870’s, a farmer knew he could only plant seven or eight acres of wheat because he knew he could only cut a certain amount during the limited harvesting season. By 1890 the same farmer could plant 135 acres knowing that he had effective means to harvest, bind and store the wheat without spoilage. These improvements meant more production from more farmers, and changed the face of the Great Plains.

Railroads helped a great deal in bringing farmers west—sometimes covertly. The Great Northern Railroad did its fair share in structuring the land during the “Dakota Boom” of 1878-1885. It was formed in 1879 by James J. Hill, a former employee who managed to seize control of the railroad following the Panic of 1873. Its progress west was deeply planned by Hill—since the railroad had no land grants, he realized that income must come from revenue, so he brought revenue-makers with him, building communities along the railroad as he went. He advertised and brought in immigrants from Europe, established model farms, imported blooded cattle, and loaned money to farmers, homeseekers and immigrants of all persuasions. His actions were persuasive and successful.

Its a horrible thing in some ways to identify farming as a "Boring Fronter" in the history of " _____ Frontiers", but it is in some ways accurate.  Not to say that all of farming is boring, not by any means, particularly in difficult places in trying times--but the presence of an easily-accessible borderland defined by a very inexpensive means of identification (as in barbed wire) meant that the property of individuals was defined, and that new property owners would have to fan out and away from existing farms and ranches, thus settling more and more territory.  And this of course meant more and more land was under control.  And "under control" means, well, under control.