Geoff Confer’s “Pasture and Plows” argues that the “plowing of the Great Plains for crop agriculture did not happen quickly,” which is true to a certain extent. The Great Plains had existed for many centuries before European settlement. The colonization and technologies that they brought with them allowed for the plowing of the American west to be exacerbated which contributed to a significant loos in farmland and various ecosystems.
Before the introduction of the plow, American grasslands were much more abundant. Humans, expansion, and the environment obviously play a crucial part together. As more people were expanding westward, more of the grasslands were being plowed for agricultural uses as well as disappearing all together to created houses, schools, etc.
Henry Gannett’s map of the westerly plains shows that with the technological state of the 1900s, there is a clear limit to man’s ability to completely alter a landscape. As noted in the map above, we can see that there was some land that was unable to be stripped of its natural state and converted for agricultural use.
References
Cunfer, Geoff. 2005. On the great plains. Texas A&M University Press, pp. 16-37.
Gannett, Henry. 1903. “Production of Wheat per Square Mile at the Twelfth Census 1900.” DavidRumsey.com.
A bit on the thin side, especially as it relates to the Gannett map. These are obviously very different maps too right? What are important points of difference? Late.