John Deere: Blacksmith Boy

"Young John Deere enjoyed nothing else so much as helping Captain Lawrence, the blacksmith, shoe a horse or repair the tip of a plow. He was elated when he was old enough to be apprenticed to the blacksmith. Word went around the Vermont countryside that he was a thorough workman. As a young man, John seemed to be pursued by bad luck. He became a blacksmith, but twice his blacksmith shop burned. Most of his customers were farmers, but the farmers were so poor that they couldn't pay cash for his services. At last, he became a master mechanic, repairing stagecoaches. John Deere was born in Vermont in 1804. In those days many people in New England were attempting to make a living by farming, but the growing season was short and the soil in places was exceedingly thin. As a result, many became discouraged. At last farmers began to leave New England and move to more fertile lands in the Middle West. Some of these farmers urged young John Deere to go with them, pointing out that there would be a great need for blacksmiths on the frontier. Finally he yielded to their pleas and moved to the prairie land of Illinois. The farmers who moved to the Middle West soon discovered that their heavy iron plows were unsuited to turning the thick prairie soil. The soil stuck to the plow like glue, and every few yards they had to stop and scrape away the clinging patches with a paddle. A team could pull a plow only a few hours a day. John Deere experimented with a new type of plow for the prairie soil. He made a light steel plow out of an old saw blade. The plow was so light that it could be pulled by only one horse. As it moved through the soil it polished itself and kept itself clean. This was the real type of plow the farmers needed....John Deere began to specialize in designing and making plows....Soon he formed a partnership and established a factory for making plows. Thus he started one of the greatest farm implement businesses in the world."