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Mechanization on the Farm • Farming in the early 1800’s was difficult, manual labor was the only way to get things done. Manual labor means the jobs are done by hand, without the help of machines. Inventors in the 1800’s, some of which were farmers themselves, created new machines to help make farming easier. Using machines to do work is called mechanization.
Mechanization on the Farm • Now farmers were not limited to a “walking plow” but they could buy a wheeled one that was pulled by horses. • Cyrus McCormick, a farmer and inventor from Walnut Grove, Virginia, perfected the mechanical reaper. A reaper is a machine that cuts grain. One reaper could cut as much wheat as 16 men with hand-held blades. • Steam engines were put to use running threshing machines that separated grain from the plant stalk.
Mechanization on the Farm • Farmers who raised milk cows also benefited from mechanization. In 1862 L.O. Colvin developed the first milking machine. Farmers could now milk more than one cow at a time. • The cream separator was another useful tool. Cream takes about 24 hours to rise to the top of the milk on its own. The cream separator invented by Gustav de Laval in 1879 spun the milk and separated the cream in minutes.
Mechanization on the Farm • Machines worked faster than people could. Because of this, farmers with new machines were able to get more work done in less time. This meant that they could farm more land, and farms increased in size. • Once farmers provided food mainly for their families. As farms increased in size farmers could sow fields with crops they grew only to sell. These were called “cash crops” because farmers grew them for cash.
Industry’s Impact • Industry was growing in larger cities. Factories produced all kinds of goods. A shopper could even buy a washing machine with a new clothes wringer invented by Ellen Eglui. Stores increased in number and size so they were able to sell goods at affordable prices.
Industry’s Impact • Everyone did not live in or near cities, so they were not able to go to the stores. How were these farmers going to buy new factory made items? Aaron Montgomery Ward had an answer: mail order.In 1872 in Chicago, Ward established the first mail-order business. A customer would flip through the pages of a Montgomery Ward catalog, select an item, and the write an order. Ordered goods were carried across the country by trains. • In 1893 Richard Sears and Alvah C. Roebuck formed a mail order company that grew to be large than Montgomery Ward’s. You could even buy houses from Sears and Roebuck.
Getting Connected • In 1876 Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone, and soon after telephone poles and lines began to spread across the country. • Alexander Graham Bell owned the first telephone company. Each mile of line that was installed would serve about 40 customers. In rural areas the same mile of line may only serve 2 customers. This made it too expensive to serve people in rural areas. • Because of this farmers would band together and put up their own poles and lines. They would order the needed supplies from mail order catalogs. The first place this happened was Ahwahnee Valley, California.
Electrifying the Countryside • The first power station in the United States opened in San Francisco, California in 1879. But, the first hydroelectric power plant, which opened in 1882 was built in the town of Appleton, Wisconsin. Hydroelectric power plants use running water to generate electricity. Power stations made electricity available for more than just lighting homes. The plant in Appleton powered a paper mill and supplied power for an electric streetcar system.
Electrifying the Countryside • It was difficult to set up electrical lines over long distances, so people who lived in rural areas had to wait to get electricity, sometimes for years. These farmers continued to rely on windmills and their own power to get work done.
Electrifying the Countryside • In 1936 the Rural Electrification Act was passed. This act gave the government the right to lend money to states to use fro creating and improving electric services to rural areas. Slowly, electricity came to the county farmers.
How Electricity Helped • Electricity helped farmers and their families with their daily chores. An electric iron made ironing faster, because an iron no longer had to be heated on the stove. The electric stove did not need coal or wood to heat. Electric vacuum cleaners helped to keep the floors clean. A family with enough money could even buy an electric washing machine. Electric pumps brought water from the ground, farmers did not have to wait for the wind for the windmills. Electric lights helped the farmers to see inside the barn. Feed for the animals could be prepared with an electric feeder.
