Below you'll find a list of all posts that have been categorized as “This Land of Ours”
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Early agriculture in the state of Kansas was not always successful. Settlers began increasing in numbers when Kansas was opened to settlement in 1854. Many settlers brought seeds from the east or from their homeland. They planted mostly corn, but experimented with crops like oats, cotton, even tobacco. Most did not …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Early agriculture in what is now the state of Kansas was not easy. The government sent a young frontiersman to help. His name? Daniel Morgan Boone, indeed the son of the famous frontiersman from Kentucky. Now Boone worked primarily in what is now Northeast Kansas, present day Jefferson County. His work …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Edward P. Allis was an entrepreneur who in 1860 bought a bankrupt firm at a sheriff’s auction, the Reliance Works of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under his leadership, began producing steam engines and other mill equipment. Thomas Chalmers was a Scottish immigrant to America, came to the U.S. about 1842, and was working …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. In New York State, the fur pelt export trade to Europe flourished in the early 1700s and added additional wealth to that region. After 1720, mid-Atlantic farming was stimulated by the international demand for wheat. A massive population explosion in Europe drove wheat prices up. By 1770, a bushel of wheat …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Historian Lewis Hacker shows how wasteful, actually, early settlers were. From the 1770s to the 1830s, pioneers moved into new lands that stretched from what is now Kentucky to Alabama to Texas. Most were farmers, some were ranchers, but most families. He shows how wasteful the first generation of pioneers were. …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Early settlers discovered that the Great Plains were not all that great. They found very harsh climate with tornadoes, blizzards, drought, hailstorms, floods and grasshoppers. It made for high risks and ruined many crops and many settlers that became financially ruined and either protested through the populist movement or went back …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. The federal government issued 160-acre tracts to about 400,000 families who settled a new land under the Homestead Act 1862. Even larger numbers purchased lands at very low cost as new railroads tried to create new markets. The railroads advertised heavily in Europe and brought over hundreds of thousands of farmers …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. The western Great Plains became open range country hosting cattle ranching. In the spring and fall ranchers held roundups where the cowboys would brand new calves, treat them and sort them for sale. Ranching began early in Texas gradually moving northward. Cowboys drove cattle north to the railroad lines, cities like …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. The British government attempted to restrict westward expansion with the ineffective proclamation line of 1763 that was abolished by the new United States government, m. And, the first major movement west of the Appalachians began in Pennsylvania, Virginia and North Carolina as soon as the war was over. Pioneers housed themselves …
I’m Mark Oppold with an American Agriculture History Minute. Today, when we think of the Northwest territory, we think of Montana, Utah, Oregon, and Washington state. But in 1788, American pioneers to the “Northwest Territory” established Marietta, Ohio as the first permanent American settlement. By 1813, the Western frontier had reached the Mississippi river in St. Louis, St. Louis was …
