The Tool That Won The West
Posted by: T0SHEA
N 49° 17.972 W 117° 38.379
11U E 453495 N 5460950
You've no doubt heard of the gun that won the west. Well, this is the tool that won the west.
Waymark Code: WMFD9Y
Location: British Columbia, Canada
Date Posted: 10/01/2012
Views: 3
The horse/ox/mule drawn single bottom plough was certainly the one tool that allowed homesteaders to open the grasslands of the west to agriculture. With it, the amount of land that could be broken by a single man in a day could be measured in acres instead of square feet.
The plow has a long history, going back to 4000 B.C. and men such as Thomas Jefferson, Jethro Tull, Robert Ransome, and Gideon Davis had a hand in development of the modern plow, but it came to John Deere to make the final definitive improvements and begin mass production.
Deere's adoption of polished steel for the share and eventually the moldboard, as well, to allow the plow to scour (release or shed the soil as it was being turned instead of sticking) was the single most important advancement leading to widespread adoption of his plows.
This particular plow was discovered at the Doukhobor Museum in Castlegar, BC. No manufacturing name, numbers or casting marks could be made out on the plow, so the maker and date of manufacture are as yet unknown. This one is very similar in appearance to the John Deere F19 plow. Since it's painted in yellow and John Deere Green, let's pretend it's a John Deere because it most likely is.