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| Hay Rake |
Western Trips explores the world of the pioneer farm and the pioneer farmer.
At the bottom of this photo article we have listed several fun and educational venues where farming during America's frontier era is exhibited. These sites include frontier farm houses, frontier farming equipment and stories of these adventurous pioneers. You'll want to check out these sites because they can make excellent additions to your vacation or road trip planners and they're perfect outings for the entire family.
The very first settlers on the plains typically chose land along a stream or river. Water was an absolute necessity. Droughts could cut off river water but at least by locating near water there was a chance that enough could be provided for the pioneer farm house, the stock and irrigation. By locating near a stream there always was the prospect that water could be drawn from a well perhaps twenty to sixty feet deep.
Where to Farm
The Homestead Act of 1862 provided 160 free acres to the head of a family who resided on the land for five years. The land could also be acquired after only six months for $1.25 an acre. This act helped many people get started in frontier farming but only 160 acres were not enough to efficiently operate a farm in the plains where semi-arid conditions existed.
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| Spike Tooth Harrow |
The other option available to increase one's land holdings was to purchase it from the railroads who were given millions of acres through a federal land grant. Some pioneer farmers, if they were financially able to, found this the better option since farming near the railroads meant easier access to markets. The railroads heavily promoted the sale of their land. The railroads had two reasons to promote the selling of granted land. One was for the money received. The other was that by selling their land they were indirectly promoting more pioneer settlement on the plains and more settlement meant more business for the railroad.
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| Wind Mill for water pumping |
During this era there was also the services available from what were called the "water witches". These were people who would, for a fee, walk over a farmer's land with a "Y" shaped stick, the joint end pointed to the ground, and attempt to find where underground water could be found. These people were also called "diviners". If they were successful in locating a spot where they told the pioneer farmer water could be found by digging a well they would collect their fee and depart. The key was for the diviner to leave with his fee before the digging began. After they left, the farmer would dig for water at that spot. If water was found, which did happen at times, the diviner would build a reputation. If water was not found, the water witch would already have left with his fee and the plains were big enough to find another client far away.
Underground water was much easier to get at near a stream. The other alternative was by digging a well, possibly over 100 feet or more deep. Hand pumping usually couldn't bring the water to the surface and wind mills like the one shown above were used. The wind power turned a crank which pumped up the water. The fin on the top blade kept the blade facing toward the wind.
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| Ring Roller |
Working the Land
Even using improved farming equipment, the pioneer farmer, sometimes referred to as a "sodbuster", would often have a difficult time cutting sod and tilling. The reason was that the roots ran very deep and intertwined to form sod sometimes twelve feet thick. Even after cutting up the grasslands of the western plains, the farmer would often find that the topsoil blew away. This is why the two biggest problems facing a western plains pioneer farm were finding adequate water and contending with the windy plains climate. Without mountains to interrupt the winds, the plains region was and is prime tornado territory.
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| Steel Tiller Center |
Other problems facing the pioneer farmer were natural disasters. Flooding and the dreaded prairie fire were the bane of the plains farmer. Essentially, every season had difficulties lurking. The spring season meant floods. The summer could bring drought. The fall season could bring with it prairie fires. During the fall grasses were limp and dry. There were many ways for these dried grasses to catch fire. Lightening and campfires were the main culprits. Once a prairie fire started it was basically impossible to control. The raging fires would destroy any crops that were in it's path but the land was so sparsely settled that danger to human life was secondary. What a pioneer farmer might do to avoid the flames himself was to burn out an area around him thus depriving the wildfire of fuel. This is of course similar in a way to how modern day wildfires and forest fires are contained. The last season, winter, usually brought freezing temperatures and blizzards.
Pioneer Farm Equipment
A pioneer farm on the Great Plains required agricultural machinery such as improved steel plows, threshing and haymaking machines, seed drills and windmills to pump water from deep underground.
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| Potting shed and root cellar |
The photo left is a potting shed and root cellar exhibited at The Heritage Farmstead in Plano Texas.
See our Western Trips photo articles about the Victorian Pioneer Homes and a Tour of Homes of the 1800's as well as a Visit to Post Texas, the town built in 1907 by cereal magnate C.W. Post.
Visit Pioneer Farm Exhibits
Pioneer Farms is located at 10621 Pioneer Farms Drive in northeast Austin Texas.
Living History Farms located in Urbandale, Iowa, tells the amazing story of how Iowans transformed the fertile prairies of the Midwest into the most productive farmland in the world.
Nelson Pioneer Farm located at 2211 Nelson Lane,Oskaloosa, Iowa.
The Heritage Farmstead site in Plano Texas, a northern suburb of Dallas, features a Victorian farmhouse and various out buildings with a large collection of frontier farm equipment.
The Prairie Museum of Arts and History in Colby Kansas features a sod house, one room school house and many other exhibits of the frontier era.
Pioneer Village in Minden Nebraska has buildings and over 50,000 exhibits. Among their exhibits is a prairie sod house and a wide collection of antique tractors.
Heritage Park and Museums in Dublin California, just east of the San Francisco Bay Area features a large farmstead exhibit including a large collection of antique farm equipment, a barn and farm house, a schoolhouse and a church dating to the latter 1800's.
(Photos from author's private collection)
