Human Interactions:
European Settlers

Really good roads were entirely lacking. Most of the settlements were connected by roads that were practicable at most seasons for packers and travelers on horseback, but in times of flood the suspension of travel by land was practically complete (Boggess, 1908).

Two factors played a major role in the rapid settlement of the prairie in the early to mid 1800s. The first was the development of the self-scouring plow by John Deere in Grand Detour, Illinois in 1837. The prairie sod was difficult to break with the cast-iron plows that the settlers brought with them from the south and the east. The soil clung to the plow rendering it useless. The soil had to be scraped off periodically, slowing the laborious task of breaking the sod. The self-scouring plow eliminated the need to clean the plow after every few steps, and was more effective at breaking the prairie sod. Not only was the plow a success, but John Deere was a master marketer. Unlike the other craftsmen of the time, he produced plows before he had orders for them, and took them to farmers out on the prairie to demonstrate their effectiveness, thereby ‘selling’ the product. Ten years after he produced his first plow, he was producing a thousand plows a year. The second important factor in the rapid settlement of the region was the building of railroads across the prairie from 1850 to 1860. The railroads allowed the exchange of goods between the farmers and the urban markets to the east.

Self-scouring plow John Deere and Co.		John Deere demonstrating self-scouring plow John Deere and Co.