Invention of the Steel Plow

The steel plow was invented in 1837 and greatly increased the possibilities for farmers and food production. Unlike previous plows, the steel plow could churn through the thick, easily clumped soil of the American prairies. The new plow used polished steel in place of cast iron, which greatly increased farmers’ productivity, allowing them to produce more food crops quicker and easier. This increased their profits and the available food produced by American farmlands, which was essential to the country’s westward expansion and overall growth.

Background

Two societal changes helped to contribute to the circumstances that led to the invention of the steel plow. The First Industrial Revolution, which began in the 1750s and lasted until the mid-1830s, popularized the use of steel for many applications. The technology to make steel by combining carbon and iron had existed for centuries. It is believed to have been discovered, possibly by accident, in India in 400 BCE. However, it was initially used only for specific purposes, such as Japanese samurai swords and other specialized items. The First Industrial Revolution changed that as steel’s superior strength and hardness came into demand for the many new mechanized devices that were invented. Factories, sawmills, railroads, and other industries began using steel regularly.

The second societal change was the concept of Manifest Destiny. This was the idea that it was inevitable and divinely appointed that Americans would populate the lower portion of North America from coast to coast. Although the term manifest destiny was not coined until 1845, the concept existed much earlier. It was invoked by President James Monroe in 1823 in the Monroe Doctrine, which stated that the United States of America would see any attempt at colonizing the western part of the North American continent by Europeans as an act of war.

Rapid population growth spurred by increased immigration to North America and an increased birth rate led to growing interest in more places to settle on the continent. Westward expansion, for many, was the natural conclusion. However, the farmers who moved West discovered that farming there was different than where they came from. The soil was very rich and fertile, perfectly suited for growing crops; however, the soil was much denser, thicker, and more likely to clump than soil in the East. Plows—devices with metal or wooden blades fitted into a frame to allow them to be pushed or pulled across fields—cut into, break up, and turn over the soil and prepare it for planting. However, the cast iron blades on the plows used in the East clogged quickly with the thicker Midwest soil. Farmers had to stop every few steps to unclog or scour the plow blade. This slowed their progress and reduced how much they could plant and grow.

Overview

The invention of the steel plow is generally attributed to John Deere (1804–1886). Deere reworked a saw blade into a plowshare, the main cutting edge of a plow, in 1837. He attached the steel blade to a custom curved wrought iron moldboard to form the complete plow blade, which he attached to a thick wooden frame. Deere also polished the saw blade to a very smooth finish, which helped it to shed heavy, damp soil.

It immediately became apparent that the new blade design stopped the scouring problem and allowed farmers to complete their plowing much faster. Within a decade, more than a thousand steel plows per year were sold at a price starting at approximately $10, the equivalent of approximately $320 in the mid-2020s. By 1856, Deere’s plow—revised several times and using cast steel from a mill in Pittsburgh—was selling at a rate of more than thirteen thousand per year.

The steel plow’s invention had a dramatic effect on farmer productivity. Farmers who could plow more could grow more. Increased output with less work encouraged many to buy additional land, further increasing both their profits and output. This helped feed American settlers and fueled the country’s westward expansion. Some sources rank the invention of the steel plow among the top factors that contributed to the successful growth and increasing prosperity of the United States in its first century.

While the plow helped the country expand and grow, some point to a dark side of the improved technology. The ease with which land could be farmed and the increased demand for farmland resulted in large swaths of the prairies being plowed under. This reduced native prairie vegetation, which in turn affected the native animal life, some of which went extinct. It also led to increased erosion, causing loose dirt to fly about as dust. The development of the plow and the ease with which it allowed land to be stripped of its original vegetation is cited as a major contributor to the massive dust storms that assaulted the country in the 1930s. Despite these downsides, the steel plow revolutionized farming and contributed greatly to changing the country.

Although Deere is usually credited with inventing the steel plow, some say it is more accurate to say he perfected it. Deere was a blacksmith’s apprentice who left Vermont for the Midwest in 1836. He settled in Grand Detour, Illinois, a town founded two years earlier by another former Vermonter, Leonard Andrus (1803–1867), who ran a sawmill. The first steel plow was fashioned from a remade saw blade. Andrus lived in Grand Detour longer and was familiar with the problem farmers had plowing. Andrus and Deere did form a plow company in 1843 and ran it together until 1847, when it dissolved as the partners went their separate ways. The Case Company, which took over Andrus’s business, attributed the plow’s invention to Andrus in the company history. Some historians believe it was a collaboration between the two, with Deere getting the credit because he fashioned and patented the device.

Other historians point to John Lane (1793–1857), also an Illinois blacksmith, who in 1833 made a steel plow out of saw blades combined and hammered into shape. Lane, however, never patented his device. Deere applied for and was granted patent number 46,454 and was therefore generally credited with creating the first commercially successful self-scouring steel plow. An astute businessman, Deere continued to improve his plow design. He founded a farm equipment company that remains a multi-million-dollar enterprise in the 2020s. The company continued making a version of its founder’s steel moldboard plow until early 2023. Although the fate of Deere’s first self-scouring moldboard plow is unknown, the second plow he built is in the collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History in Washington, DC.

Bibliography

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