Historical Timeline — 1860
Economic Cycles
1861-65
Civil war prosperity and inflation
1866-67
Postwar recession
1868-1873
Railroad boom
1873-78
Depression and deflation
Farm Economy
1865-1900
Greenbackers and later Populists, representing debtors, fight deflation, high freight rates, and monopoly; these issues partly indicate a shift of power from agrarian to commercial interests after the Civil War
1869
Louis McMurray contracts with farmers near Frederick, MD for vegetables to be canned in his factory, the beginning of vertical integration
1873
Silver demonetized in so-called Crime of '73
Farmers & the Land
1860
Total
population: 31,443,321; farm population: 15,141,000 (est.); farmers 58% of labor force; Number of farms: 2,044,000; average acres: 199
1862
Homestead Act grants 160 acres to settlers who have worked the land 5 years
1865-70
Sharecropping system in the South replaces the old slave plantation system 1865-90 Influx of Scandinavian immigrants
1866-77
Cattle boom accelerates settlement of Great Plains; range wars develop between farmers and ranchers
1870
Total population: 38,558,371; farm population: 18,373,000 (est.); farmers 53% of labor force; Number of farms: 2,660,000; average acres: 153
Farm Machinery & Technology
1862-75
Change from hand power to horses characterizes the first American agricultural revolution
1865-75
Gang plows and sulky plows come into use
1868
Steam tractors are tried out
1869
Spring-tooth harrow for seedbed preparation appears
1870s
Silos and deep-well drilling come into use
1874
Glidden barbed wire patented; fencing of rangeland ends era of unrestricted,
open-range grazing
Crops & Livestock
1860s
Cotton Belt begins to move westward; Corn Belt begins stabilizing in its present area
1860
Wisconsin and Illinois chief wheat States
1866-89
Era of the Great Plains cattlemen
1870s
Increased specialization in farm production; Illinois, Iowa, and Ohio chief wheat States; foot-and-mouth disease first reported in the United States
1874-76
Grasshopper plagues in the West
1877 U.S. Entomological Commission established for work on grasshopper control
Transportation
1860
30,000 miles of railroad
1869
Illinois passes first designated "Grander" law regulating railroads; Union Pacific, first transcontinental railroad, completed
1870s
Refrigerator cars introduced, increasing national markets for fruits and vegetables
Agricultural Trade & Development
1860-69
Agricultural exports: $182 million/year or 75% of total exports
1865-80
Wheat exports increase sharply
1870-79
Agricultural exports: $453 million/year or 79% of total exports
1871
Horace Capron mission to develop Japanese agriculture
Life on the Farm
1860s
Kerosene lamps become popular
1865-90
Sod houses common on the prairies
Farm Organizations & Movements
1860
941 agricultural societies in the United States
1867
National Grange organized
1871
National Grange sanctions cooperative enterprise
1873-76
Granger movement at its height
1874-80
Farmers' Alliance movement begins
Agricultural Education & Extension
1862
The drive for agricultural education culminates in the passage of the Morrill Land Grant College Act
1870s
Many State colleges of agriculture begin experimental work
1874
Chautauqua system founded in New York
1875
Agricultural experiment stations established in Connecticut and California
Government Programs & Policy
1862
U.S. Department of Agriculture set up without Cabinet status
1870s
A few States begin to inspect dairy products
1874
Georgia sets up the first State Department of Agriculture
