Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “This Land of Ours”
Early Agriculture in Kansas Was Far from Easy Agriculture in what is now the state of Kansas began under extremely difficult conditions. The wide open plains that would later become some of the most productive farmland in America initially posed major challenges for early settlers trying to build farms and communities. The unfamiliar landscape, harsh climate, and isolation of frontier …
Reviving a Bankrupt Manufacturing Company American agriculture has long been tied to machinery innovation, and one small but important story in that history begins in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in the mid-19th century. In 1860, entrepreneur Edward P. Ellis purchased a bankrupt manufacturing firm known as Reliance Works at a sheriff’s auction. Though the company had failed financially, Ellis recognized the opportunity …
International trade played a powerful role in shaping agriculture in early America. Long before the United States became a global agricultural powerhouse, colonial farmers and traders were already responding to international markets. In the early 1700s, demand from Europe for both natural resources and food helped drive economic growth across several regions of the American colonies. From the booming fur …
American agriculture has always been shaped by the land—and by how farmers chose to use it. In today’s American Agriculture History Minute, agricultural broadcaster Mark Oppold highlights the work of historian Louis Hacker, who documented how early American settlers managed the land as they pushed westward across the expanding United States. The Pioneer Expansion Era According to Hacker’s historical research, …
Early Settlers vs. Harsh Realities The promise of the Great Plains as fertile, open land for farming drew many settlers westward in the 19th century. However, as Mark Oppold highlights in an American Agriculture History Minute, “Early settlers discovered that the Great Plains were not all that great.” The region’s climate posed formidable challenges that often proved disastrous for new …
Opening the Frontier to Farmers In the mid-19th century, governments in North America began actively encouraging farmers to settle and cultivate vast areas of frontier land. These policies would dramatically reshape agriculture, populate the Great Plains and Canadian Prairies, and establish thousands of family farms that became the backbone of rural economies. One of the most significant policies driving this …
A New Era of Cattle Ranching in the American West In the late 19th century, the western Great Plains emerged as one of the most important cattle-producing regions in the United States. Vast stretches of grassland, relatively few settlements, and favorable grazing conditions made the region ideal for what became known as open range ranching. During this period, cattle could …
America Pushes West: Farming Beyond the Appalachians Following the end of the American Revolutionary War, a major shift began to reshape the young United States. One of the earliest barriers to westward expansion had been the Proclamation Line of 1763, established by the British government after the French and Indian War. The proclamation attempted to prevent colonial settlers from moving …
When many Americans hear the term Northwest Territory today, they often think of the modern Pacific Northwest—states like Montana, Utah, Oregon, and Washington. But in the late 1700s, the meaning was very different. In early American history, the Northwest Territory referred to the vast region north of the Ohio River and east of the Mississippi River. This land would eventually …
Agriculture has been at the heart of the United States since its earliest days. From the first English settlers to the expansive farms of the 20th century, the story of American farming is one of growth, adaptation, and the vital role it played in shaping the nation. Agriculture in Colonial America In the colonial period, agriculture was far more than …
