3/8/2010:
When settlers began to make their way to the Great Plains and other semi-arid areas, they faced many issues, but especially for the vast array of farmers, the often dry climate was a major one. As more and more land was settled, people experimented with methods to make farming easier and more productive in dry conditions. The dry farming method was born in the 1800s; this was a method of farming that in its most basic definition allowed for agriculture without irrigation. It was supposed to conserve limited moisture during dry weather by reducing and sometimes even eliminating runoff and evaporation.
While farming under this method, farmers planted crops like wheat that required relatively little moisture. They followed several practices, including thorough cultivation both before and after seeding, deep plowing, and alternating summer fallow. When planting crops, they packed the soil so that crops would absorb water naturally.
In the 1890s, Hardy Webster Campbell, a homesteader from South Dakota, invented a subsoil packer, called the Campbell packer. This machinery was used widely in conjunction with the dry farming method. First, the land had to be plowed, to create a reservoir so the water could soak in and remain in the ground; then, using his sub-surface packer, the soil was packed down so the moisture couldn't escape.
Agricultural experimentation did not stop there. On this date in 1911, Peter F. Erb and Claus F. Bloom, two farmers from Roseglen, North Dakota, were celebrating the patent they had taken out on their own invention, a sub-surface packing plow they developed in 1910. This machinery was made in the same vein as the Campbell packer, but could be operated at the same time as the plowing, without additional power, saving time.
Papers reported that the two men had tested it out on their own crops "with great success, their crops being considerably above the average." Through hard work and experimentation, these two contributed to a farming movement that aided in the settlement of our state and others, and in development of farming practices used across the country.
Dakota Datebook written by Sarah Walker
Sources
The Bismarck Tribune, Tuesday, March 7, 1911, p.3
The Bend Bulletin (Oregon), Friday, August 24, 1906, p.1
Oklahoma's Historical Society: http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/D/DR009.html