1861-65 Civil war prosperity and inflation 1866-67 Postwar recession 1868-1873 Railroad boom 1873-78 Depression and deflation 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 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 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 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 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 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 1860s Kerosene lamps become popular 1865-90 Sod houses common on the prairies 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 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 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   Next Decade >>
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