I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute.
Any modern traveler now retracing the steps of Merriweather Lewis and William Clark after they left the Missouri River and proceeded west would likely wonder how areas of the Dakotas, Montana and Idaho could ever be agriculturally productive. After all, President Thomas Jefferson gave specific instructions to the two that he wanted information about agriculture production potential west of the Mississippi as settlers moved that direction.
Lewis and Clark found land that was dry, barren when they finally traversed the Rockies in late September of 1805. Their report back to Thomas Jefferson did not present the picture we see today.
That’s today’s American Agriculture History Minute. I’m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I’ll see you next time.