FCS Financial: One Hundred Years July 2016 | Page 12

Chapter One
American Farms at the Turn of the Century

As the United States entered the twentieth century, the Industrial
Revolution that reached its peak during the late 1800s had by now
changed the face of American cities. Many rural folks were moving
to urban areas in search of the opportunities and steady income the
factories provided. As a result, increased farm production became
vital in order to accommodate the needs of the urban population that
depended on the nation’s farmers to grow their food.

Horses and mules were the
only laborsaving device the
early farmers had.

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Nearly 40 percent of Americans were living and working on
farms in the early 1900s, working an average of 150 acres of land.
Many farmers still used hand tools such as hoes, rakes, and sickles
though oxen and mule teams were increasingly used to plow fields
and pull wagons. Horse-drawn binders replaced the earlier reapers
and steam-powered threshers greatly improved the harvesting
process though farmers frequently teamed up to share the labor on
each other’s farms. The impact of the Industrial Revolution wasn’t
limited to the cities; the coming of engine power to the farm did more
than anything else to change American agriculture.

Selected References