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Cy r u s H a ll M c c o r mi c k
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In all gr eat economic movemen ts som e man st ands pre emi
nen t as the prophe t and the pioneer C yrus H all Mc Co mi ck a
S cotch Irishman ranks in hist ory as the leade r who showed h ow
peace fully t o con quer the vast p rairies of the American West to
upli ft i ts farming cla ss and by cheapening t he bread o f the t oil
i n g millions t o open to t hem t he possibili t ies of a hi ghe r li f e
A merica owes much t o his s turdy race which claims a g oodly
share of the men who won and developed t he trans Alleghany
T hei r ancest ors had been t aken from S co tland t o subdue C at holic
Ulst er ; but in t ime t hese people had t hemselves become t he vic
tims of civil and ecclesias t ical oppression in Ireland and emi
g r ati on t o No rt h A merica seemed t heir only relief from domest ic
afflict ions L anding on ou e coast by scores of thousands all
the way from P ennsylvania to th e C arolinas and G eorgia a
few in t he sevent eenth but t he ma j ority of them durin g th e
first half of the eighteent h century t hey at once sough t n w and
cheap lands ; fin di ng these up on the fron tier which was not then
far from t ide wat er G radually as the pre su re on available land
became gr eat er the younger generat ions of P ennsylvania S cot ch
I rish moved from their rest rict ed wheat fields southwestward
through the t roughs of the Alleg h an i es either t arrying on the
upper wat ers of the P ot omac o r p ressing on t o th e dee p and fe r
tile valleys of southwest Vi rginia and No rth C arolin a O n
their part the S outh C arolina and G eor gia S cot ch Irish spread
no rthward and northwestward ; and in due course b ot h str eams
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23 4
Mc Cormick
Cyrus H all
of these Ulst e r bo d er men now developed int o e xpert Indian
fight e rs un it ed in that forcing of the mount ain p asses and re a ch
ing out for fresh lands on we tfiowi n g wat ers which was so
consp icuous a feature of American history j ust previous t o and
during the Revolut ionary War
r
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R ob
e r t M c Co r mi c k
were among the earliest S cot ch Irish to set
tle in P ennsylvania In t ime a younger branch followed the
well t rodden pat h to the Valley of V irginia in t he hea rt of
which on Walnut Grove Farm in Rockbridge C ounty Robe rt
Mc Co mi k was bo n on $ une 4 1 7 8 0 th e son of a succ essful
farmer Robert devot ed a large share of his att ention t o the
mechanical side of farm life and early be came an adep t in the
working of wood and iron When he himself came int o posses
sion of the pat ernal acres and ac quired a family he pur chased
for his sons three ad j oining farms t he entire est at e aggregat ing
acres O n three of thes e four farms he successfully oper
ated sawmills and o two of them fi ou mill hi sturdy char
act er unus ual ent erprise and business acumen winning for him
deserved prominence t hroughout t he valley as a subs tant ial man
of a ffairs
Robe rt Mc Co mi ck was more t han this Although like his
fellows slightly sch ooled he had developed a fon dn ess for
ast ronomy and other scienc es was given to hist orical reading
and proved t o be an invent or of no mean capaci ty In his farm
workshops he fashioned an ingenious hemp brake and cleane r
to be operated by horse p ower and it was successfully used by
several of the valley folk as well as by many in the great hemp
growing state of $ entucky A clover sheller a blacksmith bel
lows hydraulic machine a threshing machine and a hillside
plow were also among his contri butions to rural mechanics
A early as 1 8 09 he began t o devot e much t ime in efi or ts t o
devise a reaping machine and appears to have spasmodic lly
worked upon his plan t hrough upwar d of a score of years
1 8 1 6 being generally ascrib ed as t he year in which t he at t ent ion
of his neighbors first b came attract ed t o the ent erpri se Vari
ous cutting mechanisms were tri d by Robert Mc Co mi k O
“
of these is rep ort ed as having been a syst em of r ot ary saw
Mc Cor mi c k s
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23 5
W
W
i scons in H i s tori cal Soc iety
b out 8 or 1 0 inches in di amet e r which r evolved shear fashi on
p as t t he edg e o f a stat ionary kni fe ; t he saws wer e driven by
b ands from a cylinde r wh ich was tu rned by the revolut ion o f
“
another consist ed of tat iona ry curved
th e main wheel
sickles against which t he gr ain was fo r ced an d cu t b y ve rt ical
”
reels wit h p ins i n thei r p e ri p he ries
But non e o f t hese scheme s
w foun d t o be p rac t ic al and a fter a fin al di cour aging t est in
the early harvest of 1 8 3 1 he concluded t o abandon th e pro j ec t as
an unsucce ssful experiment
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Cyrus H all
Mc Cor mi ck
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Robe rt s eldes t son in a family o f
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eigh t children
8 09
the very year to which is commonly assigned the latt er s fir st
att emp t at a mechanical reap er T h e boy was carefully r ear ed
to be a prac t ical farme r ; but i t was eviden t t ha t in hi s case as
in his fat her s the carpent er and blacksmi th shop s were more
attrac tive t o him than the open fiel ds H e had clearly inhe ri t ed
his parent s invent ive quali t ies and was dest ined far t o su rp ass
hi m indeed to become one of t he gr eat es t fi gures in th e indus
trial hist ory o f t he world
When but fif teen ye ars of age this ingenious S cot ch Irish lad
made a di st inc t improvemen t in t he gr ain c ra dle
In the sam e
year he like his fat her invent ed a hills ide plow ; a few seasons
lat er sup plan ting i t wi th a self sharpening hori z ont al plow
claimed t o be t he first o f this charact e r t o be introduced
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T h e $ i rs t Su c c es s fu l R e a p e r
But C yr us Mc Co mi ck s great est contribut ion t o a gr icult ural
economics was ye t t o come T h e fat he r s r eaping mach i ne
st anding out side the blacksmith sho p on t he home farm h ad
from the y ear of hi s bi rth been t o him a familiar and allurin g
spect acle H is ima ginat ion was early fir ed wi th a des ire t o con
quer the great practical diffi cult ies of mechanical reaping When
the father finally acknowledged hims elf defeated C y rus t ook
up the problem on his own account L at er in that same summe r
of 1 8 3 1 when but twenty two years o f age young Mc Co mi ck
con struct ed a machine essen tially un li ke any mec hanism p r o
r
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[
23 6
]
r
Mc Cormi ck
Cy rus H all
posed by his father o any others who had before undert aken the
H e immediat ely demonstrat ed by p rac tical t est s that th e
task
successful type had t hus been creat ed ; and he never depart ed
from that type in conformity wher ewith all success in t his ar t
has ince proceeded
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E v en t
o f th e
immense significance of this even t may be realiz ed when
we remember that since man began t o pract ise the art s of agri
culture the grain harvest has been on e of his chiefest conce rns
T here is nearly always abundan t t ime in which t o plan t and to
cult ivat e ; but from i ts having to be cut when in a ce rt ain st ag e
of ripeness at the risk of losing the crop the harvest ing of gr ai n
is confin ed t o a few days generally not t o exceed t en Th e
amount of grain therefore which a husbandman may success
fully raise obviously is dependent on the quan t ity which he may
ga ner with the means available during this brief season
T hroughout the long enturies in which the primi t ive sickle was
the only harvest ing implement it was poss ibl e fo a man to cut
h lf an acre per day ; thus produc tion w limited to about five
acres f o ea h harvester enough f o the immediat e ne eds of the
people of the dist rict but insufficient for considerable ex port to
distant n o a gricultural communities
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lon g handled scyt he which came i n with the lat er cen
tu i
was more ex peditious than the sickle which latter n
i tated the retention of t he gr ain in armfuls before laying i t on
the gr ound for the binder But while t he scyt he was admirably
adapted to mowing grass in grain it had the disadvantage of
leaving th e stalks in a tangled mass whereas for fu ther hand
ling they should be kept par llel T h e sickle therefore e
mained as the chief instrument of the harvest er unt il th e i n ven
tion of the cradle
scyt he e quipped with finge rs designed t o
ret ain the sever al stalks parallel unt il by the sweep o f the i n tru
ment they were delivered in an even swath T h e cradle scyt he
whi ch was probably a g adual evolut ion appea rs t o have b een in
common use in the United St at es before the opening of the n i ne
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i sc ons in H i s tori cal
Soc i e ty
cen tury and is st ill employed in thos e p arts o f E urope
and A merica where the reaping machine is not pract icable In
deed i n primit ive lands ; o on rough fields whe r e even the
cradle is not possible the sickle still holds i t s own
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E a r ly M ec
h an i a l
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D e v i c es
rigid limit at ion imposed by t he use of the sickle u p on the
supply of the most important food for man had att ract ed the at
tent ion even of t he ancient s and t here ap p ear t o have been a t
least a few invent ive minds among them ben t on over coming it
T h e elder P liny describes a device used by t he G a uls during t he
firs t cent u y of t he C hrist ian era a cart p us hed by an ox
through the grain field bearing a fron tal comb by means of
which i t was said the heads of grain were t orn off and fell int o
“
”
But the wast e by so clumsy a heading ma
th e cart behind
chine must have been considerable and i t cont ained not one es
T his G allic
sen ti l elemen t of t he mechanical r eaper of today
cont rivance must have long been ret ained fo we find a casual
ment ion of it as lat e as 1 5 77 wi th the asse rt ion t hat i t was
“
”
oon t t o be us ed in France
But t here is no evidence that
it was ever really used t o any great e xt ent ; during the lon g
st retch of centuries leading up t o the int roduct ion of the cradle
scy the the harvest er was still chie fl y dependent on t he primit ive
sickle
Not hing furt her is heard of machines for reaping unt il about
the middle of the eight eenth cen tury the firs t modern invent ion
of t his charact er bei ng by one D ff a G erman in 1 7 5 5
T hencefort h several ingenious men on bo th sides of t he Atlan t ic
were engaged upon t he perple x ing problem ; so that previous t o
1 8 3 1 we have more or less veracious records of perha p s t wen ty
fiv G e man French American and E nglish designs worthy of
men t ion t o say not hing of a few unimpo rt an t att empts
Few of
these various schemes were however more t han mere suggest ions
S ome have come down t o us merely in vague dr awings and
de criptions that often bet ray in their authors a curious d fi
c i en cy in mechanical k nowledge ; several wer e p a t en t ed ; and fo r
a few there are evidences that field t rials were actually under
t aken T hose most discussed have been the plans ascribed to
H enry O gle a schoolmast er in the E nglish t own of Remin gt on
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23 8
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Mc Cormi ck
Cy rus H all
in 1 8 25 and that inven t ed t he followin g year by the Rev P a t
rick Bell of C armyllie in the mari t ime coun ty of Forfarshir e
S cotland P rac tically all of them depended for thei r cutt ing
mechanism on blades revolving in horiz ont al planes on shears
rocking upon pivots or on othe r im p ract icable me ans In sur
mountable di fficulties in each of the se devices c ompelled their
permanent abandonmen t ; each was upon a plan inher ently i n
compatible wi th success and no subse quen t ingenuity has ever
succeeded in obt aining from them any prac t ical out come
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T h e Corr ec t Pri n c i p l e E sta b
h d
e
grain supply of the world was therefore st ill bein g
gathered by hand with n o bett er implements t han the sickle and
the radle when i n the harvest of 1 8 3 1 youn g C yrus H all Mc
C ormick ent ered a field of rye on Walnut Grove Farm and dem
on t a t d t o his deligh t ed father t ha t he had at l a s t est ablished
the correct principle of cutt ing H is e xperiment al mechanism
was of the rudest sort ; but finding that the plan was satisfact ory
“
to use his own words
I had my machine m ore complet ely
made w
ith the addit ion of a gather in g reel and with a be tt e r
a rranged divider ready for t rial in a neighboring field of la t e
oats dur ing the same harvest in which I then cut very success
”
fully six or seven acres of crop
I t is recorded that Robert Mc Co mi ck in conversat ion with a
“
T h reaper i a u cc ess
neighbor William T Rush dec lared
and I believe that I could not have made i t so ; but it makes me
feel proud t o have a son t o do what I could no
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T h e R e qu i re m e nt s
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I t will be helpful t o consider some of the con fli ct ing re qui re
ment s of a mechanical reaper that must needs be ove rcome by
would be invent ors before the machine could be eff ec t ive in t he
field It must be capable of de aling wi th grain un der the great
variety of condit ions commonly encount er ed in prac tical o p era
tions ; of so separat ing cutting and depos it ing the fl ex ible and
illus ive stalks as t o avoid any mat erial shelling of the kernels
p event ent anglement and insure thei r being delive red and r e
tai n ed in such par al
lelism as to be p r operly h an dled for cu rin g
of
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23 9
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W
i scons i n H i s tori cal
So c i e ty
preserving and th eshing ; of cu tt ing it subst an tially p arallel
wi t h the surface of the gr ound however ir regular that surface ;
an d of secu rin g suffi cien t p owe r wi thout con fl ic t in g im p u l s es o r
undue weight
It would no t ufli ce t o advance a plan e cutt in g ed g e a gains t
the gr ain or t o use r evolvin g blades or a ut omat ic shea rs t he se
had been abundantly t ried by p rio r invent o rs and all h ad me t
with ir re trievable failur e Th e matt e r of developin g and a pp ly
ing t he re quisit e power was also of primary imp o rt ance ; thi s
could only be ob ta ined from the rot at ion of wheels unde r t rac
t ion and t he amoun t was limit ed t o t he dra ft p ower o f t he t eam
T h machi ne must t herefor e be r educed t o a minimum o f weigh t
lest it be t oo cumbe rsome t o be p ro p elled and guided over r ough
surfaces Th e most economical me thod o f applyin g draught is
on the cen t ral line of resist ance ; ye t in t his machine whe re
economy in draugh t and e quali at ion of str ains are so essent i al
the t eam canno t t ravel directly in front of t he cuttin g app ar atu s
wi thout t ram p ling and shelling the grain M ost of t he early
inventors had arranged t o place th e t eam in the rea r thus mak
ing a push machine Th e d rawing for Mc Co mi ck first p at ent
illustrated alt ernat ive metho ds but from his earliest pract ise he
adopt ed the side draft and thi s is now almost universally us ed
T h machine m u s t be O pera t ed by men who are not mechanics
and generally they are at a dist ance from machine shop s ; in cas e
t he reaper breaks down i t usually i s impracticable to seek
technical aid since protract ed d elay may mean the loss of a
considerable share of the season s harvest Illus trations o f the
con fl icting condit ions which it was necessary t o reconcile migh t
b mul tiplied almos t inde fini tely Unt il a plan consist en t with
all these e x act ions was devised there could be no prac t ical out
come
$ ou r $ i ta l E l e me nts
Th e x perience of the past sevent y seven years has now clearly
demonstrat ed that there a e four vit al element s in a reaper none
of which can even t oday be dispensed with ; and yet all four were
successfully embodi ed in the machine which C yrus H Mc Cor
mick introduced to the world in t he harvest of 1 8 3 1
I A plat form or grain deck one end o f h ich is fl exibly
whi le the other is suppo rt ed by a
a ffixed t o t he mast er wh eel
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Mcc ormi ck
Cy rus H all
mall grain wheel so th at t he platfo rm may readily a ccommo
dat e itself t o the irre gularit ies of the surface
II A reci p rocat in g knife ( operated di rectly fr om the maste r
wheel ) having a se rrat ed edge wit h st at ionary t eet h or guards
pr o j ect ing forward from the p lat form immediat ely ove r th e i n
s o t hat as
n er edge of t he k n ife and ben t backwar d benea t h i t
the knife reciprocat es through them the st alks will b e sustained
by the fixed t eet h and sheared off
III A horiz ont al an d adj ust able reel so sit uat ed as to r ot ate
in t he direct ion of the mast er wheel se rvin g t o swee p the stand
i n g gr ain t owards the cutt in g a p pa r a t us and deliverin g t he s ev
e ral st alks parallel upon the p lat fo rm in a swath adapt ed t o be
raked ofi int o bundles r eady for the binde rs
I V A divider serving as Mc Co mi ck s t ate d in hi s o riginal
desc ri pt ion t o di vide and keep se p arat e the gr ain t o b e cut fr om
”
that t o be left s tandin g an o p er at ion in which the reel also
t akes part
It is not conceivabl e that all four o f these ca rdi nal p rinci pl es
were in their ent irety evolved f om McCor mi ck s inner conscious
nes s Every invent or of a machin e h as nec ess a rily cons ciously
o
un conscious ly ut iliz ed in hi const r uc tion some mechani cal
elements that were formerly us ed S ome o f Mc Cor mi ck s
predece sso rs in thi s field undoubt edly employed p lat form r e
c i p oc ati n g blade
teeth and reel But inven tion consists in
conceiving some new method of organizing elements so as t o
bring them in to succ ess ful c o Op e ration and f or the first t ime t o
achi eve a us eful result
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A R a d i ca l D ep a rtu re
In a ft er years Mc Co mi ck st ated that livi n g in the then i so
lat ed Valley of Virg inia he had never seen o r hear d o f any ex
i
m
e
e
n
t in t he mechanical reaping of gr ain save t hose made b y
p
his father S uch e xperiment s were at th e t ime not infre quently
alluded t o in E nglish agr icult ur al magazines but none o f these
publicat ions had as ye t penet rated t o Walnut G rove Wi thout
doubt there was in this isolation a c ertain advan ta ge for th e
young invent or was free t o approach the sub j ec t fr om a comp a e
ti v ly fr sh and ori ginal poin t o f view
Prob ably thi s was th e ea
son why con t empla t ing o nly t he failu r es of hi s fat he r he m a de
a radical a n d mos t e ssential departure f rom all his predec essors
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[
24 1
]
W
i sc ons i n H i s tori cal Soc i ety
nvent ing a machine along ent irely new lines As is us ually th e
c as e with the firs t form o f an invent ion t he Mc Cor mi ck r e ap e r
of 1 8 3 1 was crude in const ruct ion ; but t her e i s nothi n g on reco r d
indica ti ng t hat any p rio r invent ion embodied such a scheme o f
construct ion o r indeed any scheme that succeeded o r survived ;
and despit e all subse quent invent ion and i t has been lavish no
one has cont rived a success fu l subst it ut e fo r Mc Cor mi ck s ori gi
nal p lan F r om i t has proceeded in unbroken succession and
adh erence t o t he prima y ar rangement
ough subse quently en riched wit h many refinements in det ails
supp lement al imp r ovemen ts t he reap e r that has t aken and
11 holds possession of t he marke t s of th e world
i
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E a r ly T e s t s
In
o f th e
v nti on
e
lthough havi ng mas t ered t he essen t ial princi ples of a r eap e r
Mc Cor mi ck did not like many invent ors immediat ely seek a
a pat ent P apers are oft en grant ed to inchoat e schemes th at
have a ft erwards t o be worked ove r in t hei r mechanical construo
tion and involve subs e quent inven tion befor e they ar e p acti
cable Mc Cor mi ck sub j ect ed his mac h ine to re peated t es ts du rin g
thr ee succ essive harvest se asons under a variety of condi tions
and wit h di ff erent gr ain and t ook out his p at ent ( $ un e 21 1 8 3 4 )
only a ft er having fully vindicat ed and exhibit ed it s prac t ical
value
In i ts issue for S e pt emb e r 28 1 8 3 3 Th e Uni on a small wee kly
newspape r p ublished at t he neighboring coun ty t own of L exin g
ton cont ained t he first det a iled desc ri pt ion o f t he m ach i ne t o ap
pe ar in print ; t his being followed in the same issue by the c e ti fi
c at es of Arch ibald Walke r $ ames McD owell ( a fte r war ds g ove r
nor of Virginia ) $ ohn Weir and William M oo r e neighb ors o f
the Mc Cor mi ck s to the eff ec t th at they had wi tn essed the re ap er
i n success ful ope r at ion cutt in g ab out tw elve ac r es p er day i n
badly lodged wheat Mr Weir test ifie d t o havin g also seen th e
machine doin g good work in t he harv est o f 1 8 3 2 T h e Mech an i cs
Mag a z i ne of Baltimo r e in November 1 8 3 3 g ave a mo e de t ailed
“
accoun t by i ts edit or who had seen our in genious an d resp ec t
”
able coun t ryman M C y us H Mc Co mi ck opera te the ma
“
“
”
chi ne during the lat e harve st in the pres ence of a lar ge
“
”
”
c rowd of cit iz ens t o whom it gave gene ral satisfaction
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i sc onsi n H i stori cal Society
nven t in g a ma ch ine alon g ent ir ely new lin es As i s usua lly th e
ca se wi th th e fir s t f o r m o f an inven t io n th e Mc Cor mi ck map s :
of 1 8 3 1 was c r ude in c ons truc t ion ; b u t t he r e i s not hi ng on r ec or d
in dicatin g th at any prio r inven t ion em bodi ed such a sch eme of
c o n s tructi on o r ind ee d an y s cheme th a t s u cceeded o r s ur vi v e d ;
s e q uen t in ven t ion and i t has been l a v ish no
a n d des p i t e all s u b
on e h as cont r ived a s ucce s s f u l su bs t i t u te for Mc Cor mi ck s o ri g i
nal plan F r om i t h as p roc eeded in unbr oken success ion and
adh e r ence to the primar y ar ra n gement
n
a
n
fi
e
n
r
ched
wi
t
h
m
y
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e
em
e
n
de
t
i
l
n tl
i
t
s
i
n
a
s
y
th e rea pe r t hat h as ta k en an d
( I s u pp lemen ta l im pr oveme n ts
11 holds p ossession o f the ma rk e t s of the world
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Ea r ly T e st s
l ou gh
In v e nt i o n
of t h e
mas tered th ess n ti al p rinc i p les o f a reap er
Mc Cor mi k d i d not lik many inven t o r i mmed iately s eek a
a p a tent Pa p rs a of$ g r a nt l to inc h oa t c h emes th at
m ch ani ca l con str uc
h ave a fte rw r d to be work d ova i n th
ef or
they ar e p r acti
ti on a n d i n vol ve s u bs eq ue nt i n vm t i mz b
Mc Cor mi c k u bj ec te d h i ma in a s t o re p ated te ts d ur in g
ca b le
th r ee su cc emi ve ha rves t se as on s unde r a va rie ty of con di tions
and wi t h diff er n t gra in and took out his p atent ( $ un e 21 1 8 3 4 )
only a fter having f ul ly vi ndicated and ex hib it ed its pra c tica l
value
In i ts i ssue for Septem ber 28 1 8 3 3 Th Un ion a sma ll week ly
newsp ap er p ublished at th e nei ghbori ng county town of L exi ng
ton con tai ned th e first de tai l ed desc ripti on oi th e mac h i ne to ap
pea r i n prin t ; thi s b eing followed in the sa me iss ue by the cer tifi
l ( a fte r wa rds g over
c at es o f Arch i b ald Wa l k e r $ ames McDowel
nor o f V i rg inia )
$ oh n Wei r an d Will i am Moo re nei gh b o rs of
th e Mc Cor mi ck s to th e e ff ec t th a t th ey h ad wi tn essed t he rea p er
i n suc cess fu l o p e rat ion cutt in g a bou t twelve ac r es p e r day i n
ba dly l odged wheat Mr Wei r test i fie d to h avin g als o seen th e
mach in e doin g good wo rk in t he ha rv est of 1 8 3 2 The Mecha ni cs
Mag z i ne o f B altimo re i n November 1 8 3 3 g ave a more de tai led
“
a ccoun t by i ts e di tor wh o had seen
our in geni ous an d r esp ect
”
able c oun tryman M Cy r us H Mc Cor mi ck o pe rate th ma
“
“
”
chi n e
durin g th e late h arvest in th e presence of a la rg e
”
“
”
cr owd of c i ti z ens
to whom i t
gave gen ral sati s fac ti on
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T h e o ri g i n a l
As
M c Cor mi c k
i n ve n te d
in
re a p er
183 1
W
W
B
l a c k s mith sh o p
h e r e i n wa s
ma d e
,
a lnu t
G
r o ve
t h e fi r s t M c Cor mi c k
r ea pe r
Cyru s H a ll Mc cormi ck
Although possessed of his pat ent Mr Mc Co mi ck was even
then not prepare d to sell hi s re aper to th e publi c H e would
“
n ot as was afterwards relat ed by hi ms elf att emp t sales e ith er
o f Machines o ri ghts t o manuf acture until sat isfied th at the
R eaper would succ eed well
in t he great variety o f
”
situations in whi ch it was necessary t o operat e
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M a nu fa c tu ri n g t h e M a c h i n e
Thus season by season from 1 8 3 4 to 1 8 3 9 t he invent or p a
ti en tly carri ed on hi s tri als personally m an ufac turi n g hi s sev
eral experiment al machines in the blacksmi t h shop at Walnut
Grove T hi s hist ori c buildi n g can st ill be seen up o n t he old farm
preserv ed by hi s widow and child en as the birthplace of the
mechanical reaper In these earlier years h owever th e develop
ment of the reaper was not his chief occupati on ; i n a dditi on to
farm duties he devot ed much time to the conduct of an i ron
smelt ing furnace in t he vi cinity whi ch enterpris e succumbed to
th e financial cras h ( 1 8 3 7 ) following t he break of the Unit e d
S tates Bank In 1 8 3 9 h e seriously res umed c onsiderat ion o f
the manufacture and development of the reaper ; and un til hi s
death in 1 8 8 4 with marvellous assiduity and skill devot e d hi s
li fe t o an indust ry that un der his management became colossal
The problem of manu facturing and marketing the Mc Cor mi ck
machine was at once s een to be a path beset by great practi c al
di fficulties After settling in full the accoun t s of t he un for tu
nat e iron indus try ou inv entor w le f t wi thout capital There
were of cou se no railroads as yet penetrating the Valley
of Virginia and the nearest canal was many miles dis tant o v er
rough mountain roads always di ffi cul t and sometimes i mp ass
able All the material must be hauled ov erland e v en th e
sickles wer made forty miles away ; the blad es six feet in
len g th being t ransported on hors eback
In t his manner th e
work was carried on in the old blacksmith shop at Walnut Grove
— the firs t tw o machines be ing s old in 1 8 40 t wo o th ers i n 1 841
;
seven in 1 8 42 twenty n ine in 1 8 43 an d fifty i n each of th e y ears
1 8 44 and 1 8 45
Unt il 1 8 43 the sal es had wh olly been in Vi r
gi nia ; but in th at year h e sold a coun ty right in Mi chigan an d
th e following se ason sent mac hines to New Yo rk Tennessee
Ohio Illinois Wisconsin Iowa an d Mi sso uri
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[
24 3
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,
W i sc on s in H i s tori cal S o c i e ty
E ar y $ i e d T r i a
l
l
ls
By 1 8 44 the reaper was becomin g widely known an d won
gener al a dmirati on because o f its workm anlike s uccess A let
t er in the Washin gton Na ti ona l I n tellig encc dated at Lynch
burg Virgi nia Nov ember 8 of that year refers to a t ri al ne ar
“
All were hi g hly gr atifie d a n d m a ny
Amh ers t Co ur t H ous e
would linger and follo w i t aro un d t he field to a dmi re an d witness
”
it s neat rapid and perfect performan ce
T he pri ce of th e
machine at that time appears t o h ave been $1 00 if pay able in th e
harves t but $1 06 if payment wer e d e ferre d for fo ur m o nths ;
“
and its c utt in g cap a ci ty was warrant e d at sixt een acres a day
”
when properly attended A f ter the c lose of the Vir ginia h a rvest
of 1 8 44 the i nvent or pers onally conduct ed fiel d t rials an d in tr o
du c ed hi s reaper in west ern New York O h i o Ill i nois W i sc ons in
and Missouri This expedition opened h is eyes to the fac t that
“
wh ile reaper s were lux uri es i n Vir gi n i a th ey were a necess ity
”
in O h i o Illinois an d o n th e great plains o f th e West
The
broad vi rgi n pra i ri es of th e t rans Allegh any were seen to be th e
natural market of a mechanism whi c h was revol utio ni i n g agri
culture by breakin g d own th ose ri gi d l im it at ions up on th e pr o
duction of man s chiefest food that had fettered t he worl d
s ince husban dry began Scotc h Iri sh In dian fig h te s fr o m th e
Valley of Vi r gi nia like th e C larks the McAfees an d th e Lewi ses
had by th ei r prowess some seventy years p r evi ous opened t rans
mont ane lan ds t o settlement ; an d now a y oun g Scot ch Iri sh val
ley man was by th e f rui t o f hi s i nventive genius accentu ate d by
an equally keen business capac ity to invad e th is selfsame Wes t
wi th a devi ce d est ined vastly t o i ncrease its wealth an d power
and thus profo undly i nflu ence the co urs e o f Ameri can hi sto ry
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R em ova
l
to
B r oc k
p rt
o
h ad seen that th e West was not only his es
p i l mark e t b ut that th e fac to ry m ust be nearer t o th a t marke t
In a lett er t o one of his brother s from La P ort e Iowa h e wrot e
“
I t seems wron g t o pay $20 or $25 freight when th ey m i ght be
made in th e West consideri ng too the great er un cert ai nty of
”
shipping
In order to carry thi s thought int o executi on h e
made two i mport ant moves in th e lat e month of 1 8 44 Per
Mr
.
Mc Cor mi ck
ec a
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[
244
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.
Cyru s H all Mc Cormi ck
he repaired t o Brockp ort New Y ork whence shi pments
might be made both eas tward an d westward through the Erie
Can al H is y ounger brother Lean der $ was det aile d to go to
C inc inn ati and there superi nt end th e const ructi on of reapers by
a man ufacturi ng firm with whi ch th e invent or had made suit
able arrangements Thither was transport ed the product o f the
home plant from Walnut Grov e a labori ous t ask for th os e primi
tive days $ inished machi nes were t aken by wagon t rains to
th e Vir ginia town of Scott sville th en ce by canal to R ichmond
then down $ ames R iver to the sea aroun d $ lorida t o New O
leans and up the Mississippi and the Ohi o to Cinc innati At
Brockport for the harvest of 1 8 45 Cyr us superv ised in per on
the manufactur e of two hundred machines an output dupli cate d
in 1 8 46 and considerably increased i n 1 8 47 T h e Cincinnati
branch does not appear t o have turned out any product un til
the last named year ; and during the same season other machi nes
wer e being c onstru cted for th e fi m at C hicag o upon a royalty
basis
E s tabl i s h e d a t Ch i c a g o
In the spring of 1 847 Mr Mc Co mi ck h imself moved to Chi
cago which thus early he foresaw was to be the met rop oli s of th e
West and thenceforth dev oted hi mself entirely t o th e con duct of
hi s business at th at point In 1 8 5 1 he est imat ed that in eleven
years he had sold a thousand mach ines By 1 8 6 0 th e Mc Cor
mick Reaper Works i n Chicago were produc i ng four th ousan d
in a single year The Chicago fire o f 1 8 71 dest oyed n ot only all
the b ui ldings of the then thri ving establishment but the com
v aluabl e patt erns and th e ent ire out put of finish ed ma
p any
chines for the next year s h arv est With in domit able ener gy
howev er the great inventor and equally great m aster of indust ry
rebuilt on a far larger scale than before hi s works h avi ng in
1 8 7 5 a yearly out pu t of twelv e thousand reapers
T he capacity
of the Mc Co mi ck H arv esting Machine Company which was th e
largest concern of its kind in the world prior t o its abs o rp tion
into the International H arv e ter Company
was in 1 901
fourt een hundred agri cultur al mach ines of vari ous ki n ds for
every working day of t en h ours— some t imes th e works are
“
”
rushed on a twenty four h our basis At th e bu si est se asons
s even tho us an d persons are employ ed a t th ese w o rks in th e man u
ly ,
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[
24 5
]
W i sc on s in H i s tori cal S o c i e ty
,
fa ct ure of harvest ers mowers rakers t e dders and oth er i mp le
men ts of the so rt
It is n ot t o be suppose d that Mr Mc Cormi ck s bus iness as a
man u factur er grew t o the presen t ext ent si mply by its own i m
s
$
e
t
u
o a lon g perio d o f y ears h is pa th was far fr o m r o se
p
st rewn H e early me t with d isc oura g ement s an d di sh earteni n gs
before which a less resolute man would so on have qua ile d I n
common wi t h oth er labor savi n g i nvent io ns o f th at period his
machines some t imes encounter ed mobviolence espec i ally in New
York and Oh io and b us iness rivalr y was n ot alway s scrup ulous
as t o meth o ds B ut his Scot ch Iri sh fightin g bloo d w as ar ouse d
by the Oppos ition that he encountered in many forms and wi th
remarkably tenac i o us vig or he t riump h e d over it thro u ghout
nearly a h alf cen tury o f b us iness act ivity
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O
pp os i ti on
E
to
x t ns i on
e
of
Pa te n t
law in v ogue when the patent of 1 8 3 4 was pro
c ur ed an inv entor was allowed a monopoly of his d evice for
fourteen years ; which term might be extended f o ano t her
seven at the Option of an extension board consist ing of th e
Commissioner of Patents the Se cretary of S t at e an d the SO
H aving entered the marke t only i n
li i to of t he Treasu y
1 840 Mr M c Co mi k had but enj oyed a bus i ness of e i g ht
years durat ion when in 1 8 48 he appl i ed for an extensi on Up
to that time he had sold 7 7 8 mach ines chiefly on a roya l ty
basis at a profit of $20 each aggregating
In ad di
tion to this territorial rights had been disposed of for
thus making his entire receipts f om the inv enti on b ut
from which as shown by his sworn sta t ement were
”
“
to be deducted sev eral thousand dollars for t ravelling ex
penses and the employment of agents not taking into accoun t
the v alue f his time
The law pro v ided that in considering extensions of pat ent s
“
the board should ha v e due regard to the p ubl i c i n t eres t
”
therein thus lea v ing it pen that if an in v ent i on had come
into extensi v e use and greatly interested the public or i f
other manufacturers wished to escape paying royalty oppo
s i ti on might be brought t o bear t hroug h political and per
sonal pressure This is exactly what happened O ne rival
Un d er th e
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[
246
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W i scon s in H i s tori cal S oc i e ty
by it i n a single year Therefore I w as i n favor of its ext en
”
s io n
Aga in and aga i n the M c Co mi ck b ill wa s reported fav o r
ably b y commit t ees but an immense arra y of p o li t ical soc i al
and commercial infl u ence was brought t o bear a g ains t it b y
a comb ination of pat ent a tt orne ys r iv al manuf ac turers an d
agricultural i nterests ; and in the end i t w as defea t ed The
last and probably the most successful appeal w as made on
behalf of the v ested rights of those who had used and w er e
using the patent since it had expired in 1 8 48 Thr ou gh o ut
thi s protracted and famo us con t ro v ersy it is plainl y t o be
seen in t he debates that Congress had no though t o i nten ti o n
o f detracting from o deciding agains t Mr Mc Co mi ck s pos i
ti on as an in v ent or ; the priority of his claim appears t o hav e
generally bee n recognized and ncomiums upon the far reach
ing e ff ect of the inv ention are qui t e as freel y f ound i n th e
speeches in Opposition to h is request as in those fa v oring it
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aci n g
Co m
p ti ti on
e
The basic principles of M Co mi ck s first pa t en t had t hus
in 1 8 48 been thrown Open to the public and were a t once
adopted by all other manu facturers A hos t of commerc i al
competito s sprang up crowding the marke t with machines
i n which his ideas had been incorporat ed Valuable improve
ments which he had patented in 1 8 45 and 1 8 47 still ga v e h i s
machine an adv ant age o v er their compet itors H is was how
ever not a nature to rest con t ent with this mere relati v e
superiority which in the presence of other keen minds a t
work along the same lines might be but transitory H e was
determined always to remain far in the ad v ance but in t he
accomplishment of this ambition found no easy task Every
change in the condition of the grain or the surface of the
g ound brought new problems to be solv ed ; di ff erent remedie s
mu t be sought and te ted that should be in harmony wi th
existing conditions Experiments in the field were un ceas
ing so that his machine was the subject of constant inv ention
In his v oluminous correspondence preserv ed by the family
are almost innum erable e v idences of this unceasing acti vi ty
throughout se v er al decades . H e attended field trials sold
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[
248
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Cyru s H all Mc Cormi ck
county rights and made royalty contracts in all parts of the
West and South His letters aboun d in suggestions to his
b othe s wh o were ultimately taken into p artnershi p Each
new trial seems to have gi v en him food for thought and these
observ ati on he at once commun icated oft en minutely to
other members Of the family w ho c o Opera t ed with him in
seeing to it that the obstacles met in one harv est should be
o v ercome in the next These interesting hum an documen ts
tell also of the successe s that fired hi s heart ; as when wri ting
“
i n O ctober 1 8 46 he exultantly states
A man h as j us t
written from Wisc onsin that he n cut 23 5 acres with a
”
reaper and all 0 $
United with the determination and persev erance of an i n
defat igable inv entor were his masterly methods of business
organization n unusual combinat ion for invent ors are sel
d om commercially successful More and more w i dely ex
tended became the Operations of the M c Co mi ck Wor ks and
the fame of i t s master soon spread aro un d the world
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p an
T riu m
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s
H is not able disp lay at the World s $ air of 1 8 5 1 in London
M Co mi k
introduction to Europe
The reaper
a s Mr
astonished the O ld World and alone saved the credit Of the
otherwise inferior American exhibit At first the London
Ti m
w
amused at this cross b tween an Astley chariot
”
a wheel barrow and a flying m chine ; but aft er a trial i n
“
the field declared with enthusiasm that it was worth the
”
wh ole cos t of th e E xhibition
The co un cil of juries e
ported
The M Co mi k reaper is the most v aluable ar
contributed to this exhibition and for its originality
v alue and its work in the
”
medal
Philip Pusey M B o e of the trial committee
acknowledged expert pronounced the M Co mi k reaper
most important addition to farming machinery that has been
in v ented since the threshing machine t ook the place of the
”
flail
This unprejudiced judgment by those who kn ew best was
accompanied by some attempts in the British press unduly
t o magnify certain prior English and Sco t c h nv ent ions
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[
24 9
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,
W i sc on s in H i s tori cal S oc i e ty
particularly those of Bell and O gle ; but the claimant s for
these impractical machi nes failed t o distinguish be tw een th e m
and an inv ention that ha d conquered the di ffi cult ies T h e
“
”
O ffi cial board of the Great Exhibition rose superior t o this
insular prejudice and handsomely recognized and honored
th e v ictorious American a cou se hist oric ally jus t ified by th e
fact that n o reaper of British origin has s ur v i v ed
Commenting upon this e v ent William H Seward said
“
The reaper of 1 8 3 4 as impro v ed in 45 achie v ed for its i n
v n to
a triumph which all then felt and ac k nowledged was
not more a personal on e than it was a Na t ional one It was
justly so regarded NO General o Consul dra wn in a char i o t
through the streets of R ome by order of the Sena t e e v er con
ferred upon mankind benefits so great as he wh o thus v indi
c a t d the genius of ou
country at the Wo rld s Exp osi tion
”
of Art in the Metropolis of t he British Emp i re
This was the first Of a series of European triumphs ach i e v ed
by Mr M Co mi ck In later years he was named by Emperor
Louis Napoleon a che v alier of the Legion of H onor ; the
Emperor of Austria conferred on him a similar h onor i n 1 8 7 3
he was elec t ed a corresponding member of the $ rench Aca d
“
emy Of Sciences as hav ing done more for the cause of agr i
”
culture than any other li v ing man
At the Pari s E xp osi
ti on in 1 8 5 5 the Mc Co mi ck reaper recei ve d th e gol d me dal
“
of honor as the t ype and pattern of all other reaping ma
”
c hines to the present day
Indeed from all quarters of
Ch ristendom th ere came t o h i m public recogni tion i n the form
of personal honors or professional awards ; for i n due t i me
his machines were introduced int o e v ery ci v il i zed land bo th
at e xhibit i ons and in th e field and in many cases direc tly
un der the superv ision of the in v entor himself
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Co n ti nu e d O
pp os i ti o n
We ha v e spoken of the i mpro v ements patented b y Mr.
M Co mi c k in 1 8 45 and 1 8 47 In 1 8 60 the inv entor applie d
for an extension of th ese patents Again howe v er he w as
met by well organized Opposition R i v al reaper man uf a ctur
ers operating through th e agency of a firm of pat ent la wyers
industriously work ed up antagonistic sen t iment among th e
farmers and thus bro u gh t a powerful influ ence t o bear upon
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[
25 0 ]
Cyru s H all Mc Cormi ck
senators and representati v es Letters and petitions from
farmers n d manufacturers pou ed into Washingt on fr om
all parts of the country ; and the state legislatures of Ne w
York O hio Indiana Michigan and Illinois adopted resolu
ti ons remonstrating agains t manufactur ers and farmers be ing
”
“
longer compelled to pay tribute to Cyrus H Mc Co mi ck
Commis ioner of Patents D P H olloway yi eld d to this great
pressure and refused the desired extension on grounds o f
“
public policy ; but he ne v ertheless declared
Cyrus M c Cor
mick is an inv entor whose fame while he is yet li v ing has
spread throughout the world His genius has done honor to
his own country and has been the admiration of foreign na
tions and he will li v e in the grateful recollection of mankind
as long as the reaping machine is employed in gathering the
”
harv est
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Pe rfe c t i n
g
th e
H arv e s te r
This second rebuff did n ot in the least discourage Mr Mc
Cormick We find him still industrious ly attending field
trials improving his mach ne
a hun dr ed ways keeping it
in the v an of competition and pu hing the organization of
his work Throughout his life he found no time to be i dle
Automatic r aking and binding had yet to be in v ented before
the harv esting machine could be considered perfect At the
outset of the reaper the grain was raked Off the platfor m
by a man walking beside it Then came the raker s seat in
1 8 47
By 1 8 60 there was added the labor sav ing self ra k e
first experimented with by M Cli n tock Young in 1 8 5 8 In
1 8 8 1 what is known as the M c Co mi ck tw i ne binder was i n
t od u d
based o the Gorham patent but g eatly imp r oved
and made workable by M Co mi k and his talented st aff of
mechanics D uring the past ten years the boun d gav els are
“
”
ejected into a bundle carrier in which they are transport ed
until a ufi i c i en t number are collected t o form a shock where
it is retained unti l dried o ready to be hauled t o a place of
storage No interv ention or impuls e is requi red on the part
of the dri v er sav e the guiding of the horses ; e v en t he binder
requires no substantial attention and is dependent on the
reaper fo its power and its supply In this manner h a th e
simple reaper of 1 8 3 1 developed int o a perfect h arvest er
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25 1
W i sc on s in H i s tori cal S oc i e ty
St i mu
lu
s
A g r i c u l tu r a l I n v e n ti o n
to
We ha v e seen that th e area of the production of gra in
which is man s chief food depends in large measur e upon th e
means a v ailable to garner the crop during t he brief harves t
period of ten days ; and that o long as th e sic k le remaine d
t he prin cipal i nstrument of the harvester p odu tion w as
limited to abou t five acres for each human reap er This area
was materially increased by the introduction of the cra dle
But Cyrus H M Co mi ck in v ention Of the mechanical re a per
at once v astly extended the capabilit i es of the h arv ester
fi fteen acres being then hi s d aily c a pacity with the aid of a
team of horses ; and with the minimum of labor for drivi n g
a reaper is but play compared with the bac k brea k ing toi l of
the sickle wielder
When once the chief limi t a ti on upon gra i n acreage was th us
remo v ed there became noticeable a remar k able increase i n
agricultural patents of e v ery character The Commi ssioner
“
of Patents reported in 1 8 3 5
O f lat e inv entors h ave
directed their attention with pec uliar in t eres t t o t he i mprove
ment of implements of agriculture and many labor savin g
machines ha v e been patented which are of the highest ut ili ty
to the husbandman These are rapidly increasing and i t i s
scarcely possible to conjecture to what extent t h e labor of
the agricultu rist may be diminished and the production of th e
country increased by these impro v ements Already the pro
cesses of sowing of mowi ng and of reaping are successfully
”
performed by horse po w er
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E
x t n di n g
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A r ea
th e
of
Cu ti vat i o n
l
rugged New England the land of small farms hus
bandry is at best carried on by toilsome meth ods ; modern i n
ven ti on
can d o comparati v ely little to broaden the field of
agricultural possibilities In the Mid dle Atlantic Sta t es wi th
their wide stretches of le v el land a quicker soil and a mor e
genial climate grain growing is a fairly profitable industry
Yet even here the problem of c ar ryi ng on ex t ended a g r i ul
tural operations has been far less pressing than in the vas t
re g ion of the tran Alleghany In the days when settlemen ts
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25 2 ]
Cyru s H a ll Mc Cormi ck
w ere first being planted in the Mid dle Wes t the scarc ity of
farm labor and the d i fii ulti of transport a t ion greatl y e
The Opening of th e Erie C a n al in 1 8 25 an d
ta d ed gro wth
s ubsequ ent improvements in other canals high w ays and ra il
roads solv ed the transportation problem ; b ut th at of ag i
cultural labor was still of prime importance
The half billion fertile acres in the upper Mississippi val
ley practically a fourth Of the total land surface of the Uni te d
States are especially adapted to cereal culture But alt h ou gh
o pened t o c ultivation largely duri ng the first third of th e
ni neteenth century and free ly O fi e ed to set tlers by th e fe d
eral governm ent un der a l iber al lan d p oli cy th e vas t are a
of the O ld Northwest could n ot at first be utilized t o its full
est capacit y so long as farm implements were cru de an d th e
supply of labor was limited $ ortunately this remark ab le
e x tension of the area of cultiv ation was no t long hampere d
b y the slow de v elopment incident to primiti v e me thods o f
agriculture ; the reaper came in the ni c k of t i me
The R p o t of the Commissioner of Patents for 1 8 3 5 had some
wha t o v erstated the case as to the condition of ru al mech an
ics in that year patents h a d been taken ou t but few of the
inventions o g lowi g ly referred to were as yet upon the mar
k et E v erything depended upon the reaper for un til th e
grain crop restricted to a ten days harv est co uld be quic kl y
and mechanically gathered there was little need of improve d
methods of sowing and culti v ating f o which processes ther e
i s nearly alw a y s amp le season
The e v olution of th e success
ful reaper w as not as rapid as had been an ti cip at ed ; durin g
six succe siv e ha v e ts it w being deli berately wrought out
in practice upon an isolat ed Virg ini a farm so t hat 1 8 40 ma y
be considered the year of i t s practical introdu c t ion to a wi de
S
are
soon h owe v er as thi s the grea t est of all a g i cul
tural problems was solv ed t o the satisfaction of the inventor
th ere was no furt her h esit ati on No t only th e reaper but
e v ery manner o f fa m implement na turally followi ng in its
wake e xhi bited a ph nomenal improv ement M Co mi ck h ad
sh o wn th e way ; and un der the s ti mulus of h i s success others
rushed forw ard t o complete th e w ork wit h a grea t v a i ety of
mac h ines chi efly for th e cultiv a ti on of crops an d th e t hres h
ing of grain
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25 3
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W i sc on s in H i s tori ca l S oc i e ty
Th e cfl ec t upon American agric ultu re was immedia t e an d
pro found The Paten t R ep o t f or 1 8 44 in di cat ed a wi despread
interest i n the new implements wh ich we re cordially wel
comed especially in the West where their need h ad been
most keenly felt f o the tide of New England and Middle
Wes t pioneers was n ow ready to invade the prairi es and
their conqu est was rendered pos sible only by labor saving de
vices In order profitably to u e this ingenious machinery
many large farmers were lea v ing their timber lan d s and mov
ing into the timberless le v els where roots stumps roc k s an d
steep hillsides did n ot interfere with mechanical mowers reap
and rakers By 1 8 4 6 the period of hand labor was pla inly
seen to b e passing H orse power was now fast becoming the
dominant factor upon the farm
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p u l ari i n g
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M a c h i n ery
The national and the state agricultural socie t ies s t a t e
boards of agriculture and farmers institutes di d their utmos t
t o stimulate interest in ur al machinery and to encourage
it
invention Great t rials of all mann er of implemen ts
were held especially during the ten years previous to t he
outbreak of the War of Secession such trials as we have
seen Cyrus H M c Co mi ck attending keenly watch i ng the
paths along which lay the success of his reaper The greatest
popular concern was very naturally in machi nery for culti vat
ing and harv esting grain we read that d u ing the nine year s
ending with 1 8 60 n o less than
patents were granted for
inv entions relating to cereal culture D espite the expense
of these modern devices i 1 8 5 2 the price of a Mc Co mi ck
reaper in Illinois and Wisconsin was $ 1 3 0 fa mers pur chased
freely ; and from 1 8 5 5 forward the se v eral v arieties of re aping
machine then in v ogue were bought as rapi dly as they could
be t urned out of the fac t ories O b viously it was profitable to
In 1 8 5 9 R v dy $ ohnson declared that the M Co
us e them
“
mick reaper had already contributed an annual income to the
”
whole c ountry of
at least
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W i sc on s in H i s tori cal S oc i e ty
.
thro ugh the addition of the self raker an d th e b in der In th e
Uni ted S ta tes Census R ep o t f o 1 8 8 0 Pro fe s o r Willi am H
Bre w er es ti ma t ed that a t t ha t time fi v e men could with h orse s
and agricultural machinery accompl i s h t he same res ult s in
th e harv esting of grain as those ob t a inable b y fifteen men in
the decade preceding 1 8 40 an d probably th e i r labor w as n ine
or ten times as e ffectiv e as i t would h ave been during the d oc
ade ending in 1 8 3 0 In the work als o of preparing the groun d
planting the crop and c ult ivat ing it a given amoun t o f labor
in 1 8 8 0 was twi ce a fl ti ve as in the deca de be twee n 1 8 20 n d
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In his ummary of th e Statist ics o f Agri c ulture in th e
“
Tenth Census R p o t D $ rancis A Walker s a i d
To ask
what has been done mechanically t o promo t e our agricultur e
i s to challenge a re c ital of t h e be tt er hal f of th e histo ry of
Ameri can i n v enti on R emar k able as have been the mechan
i cal ac hi e v ements of ou peopl e i n the depart ment of manu
f actu i n g industry t he y h ave been excee de d i n th e producti o n
”
of agr i cult ural implement s and machinery
No t only did the reaper prepare the way for other a gri
c ult ural in v entions often wrought ou t by brigh t farmer boys
who had everywhere b een set to t hink ing h o w to i mprove the
me thods of th eir work ; but mec han ics were by th i s e x ample
stimula t ed to th e disco v ery of be t ter w ays o f do in g all ma n
ner o f t h i ngs tha t h ad h eretofore been done i n a crude wa y
It was made plainer than e v er before tha t Ameri cans are a
remar k ably i n v entiv e people ; and the reaper was soon f ol
lowed i nto t he mos t distan t mar k e t s of the world by a h o s t
of American contrivances c alcul t ed to les en the burden s o f
men and grea tly t o i ncrease the produ ct iv eness and c on e
qu en tly the digni t y of their labor
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A dva n c i n g t h e A me r i ca n $
ro n ti e r
Up on th e declaration of peace betw ee n th e warri n g stat es vast
numbers o f disch arg e d Union soldi er s went into the West to
take up homes un der th e milit ar y h omest ea d law Ab undant
land awaite d s e tt lement as lat e as 1 8 8 0 T he young man of
th e Central S tates foun d th e pro spec t of acqui rin g a farm for
h i ms elf more inviting th an t he re tu rn to th e lif e of an ag r i cul
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25 6
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Cyru s H all Mc Cormi ck
ur al renter or laborer By th e ext ensive use o f ag ri cultu ral
machiner y th e cent re of cereal pro duc tio n h as b een k ep t well in
a dvance of the centre o f ou p opulation Willi am H Seward
once claimed that th e Mc Co mi ck reaper h ad exten d e d th e Ameri
can front ier at the rat e of t hirty miles e ac h y e ar a sentiment
practi cally identi al with that utter ed by Sta nt on wh o in hi s
“
previ ously quoted add e s in 1 8 6 1 showed upon a map how Mc
Cormick s invention in Virginia thi rty years before h ad carri e d
”
permanent civili ation westw ard more th an fifty miles a y ea r
As each new re gi on i n the Mi d dle West o i n ti me th e tr a ns
Mi ssissippi was op en e d t o se tt lement aggress ive men pro mp tly
invaded t he new area enga ging i n cereal c ulture up on a cumu
lat i v e scale whic h wi thin the p t three d c de h as become vast
T hu while the trend in thi s count y h as been largely toward
the development of the citi s at t he expense o f t he rural dis
kept pace with th e urban
tri c t s the yield of our crops h
g rowth
T h e E ffe c t U p o n t h e
es t
Socially economically and politically the effect h as bee n far
reaching and revolution ry T he v a t levels of the Nort hwest
have become th e chief seat of our agricultural pro duc tion an d
th e centre of political p ower in the Unit e d St ates T h e new
instruments of labor h ave everywhere reduce d to a mi n im um th e
old time drudge y of th e farm ; th e st orm and st ress period of
p i oneer life h as become a matt er of hi st o ry B y b
i
n
gi
n
g
to
r
th em this 0 o tun i t for lar er prosperity and leis ure a gri
cultu al machinery doubtless sav ed the farm
of t h e Wes t
from sinking nto a p
c ass With prosperi ty and i su r e
came a taste fo culture and the consequent development of
academies colleges and universities T h farmer on hi bro ad
We tern acres is in considerable me su e independent of th e
exorbitant wages formerly demanded by men wh o wo rked only
du ing the harvest seas on ; he is indust rious i nt elligent eff ect ive
h
a wide outlo ok on life and takes a high stand among his
fellows The humblest urban wage earner h a d in turn h a d hi s
benefit the supply of fo od h as been main t aine d scarci ty h as
been prevented and prices are lessened ; wh it e wh eat now rai se d
and harvest ed far more economically than before can be obt a ined
as ch eaply as once were the coarser grains and is now common to
t
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25 7
,
W i sc on s in H i s tori cal S oc i e ty
all The introduct ion of improved agricult ural mac hinery h as
made possible also the great fl ou i n g indus tries of t he O l d
Northwest ; and has promoted th e pro sperity o f gre at rai lway
systems that gridi r on the prairies and pla ins and of monster
fleets of v essels that plough the Great Lakes all engaged in
transporting to marke t the pr o duct s of th e farm
No r are these advan tages confined t o Ameri ca Wh erever
throughout th e world have gone th e reaper an d its l us ty follow
ing of labor saving i nventions life is e as i er th an it w as before
and rustic man is no longer slavishly b o und t o th e gr i n di ng bur
d en of the ickle and the h oe H is lab o r h as been made vastly
more produc t ive and this m eans be tt er th ings in eve r y walk of
life
Pe rs o n a l i ty o f M c Co r mi c k
It is wort h while inquiring wh at manner of man thi s was
wh o emancipated the farm laborer from h i s galling t ask save d
the Western farmer from degenerating into a drudge and made
pos sible a wonderful progress in agr i c ulture through out th e
world ; of what stuff this Virginian was made wh ose invent ion
t aking the place of farm hands dra ft ed from th e fields of th e
North powerfully promoted the abolition of slave y i n th e
South thus counterac ting the effect s of th e ep oc h making cot
ton gin of Eli h itney of Mas sachus tts which h ad great ly
exten ded the area of human bondage
T h e most cursory view of his career shows him t o have been
gifted with forc e a high degree of organizing capacity and power
of m arvelous persev erance It is seldom that a m n is both th e
author and finisher of such a task as he et himself The crude
reaping machine that had be en de vised by hi father did but
set him thinking ; it fo eshadowed ce tain v aluabl e principles to
which he first gav e embodiment Wi th an i nsight given t o b ut
few men he avoided th e mistakes that h ad neut ralized the work
o f his predecessors an d ev olv ed the worki ng mech an i sm which
has held unt o the present day
With patient infinite toil he perfected this mechanism year
by year O pposition met him in every form i n the courts of
la w in Congress in th e business world and in mechan i cal d i fii
u lti
encountered upon the harvest field But he recognize d
no enduring bstacles H e was n ot easily discouraged although
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defeats hurt him ; he was content with nothi ng less than con
quering and he di d not always conquer H e st and tod ay as
a typical hero of the vast ec onomi c movements by whi ch Amer
i ca has profo undly influenced mankind at large t he representa
tiv e of gricultural inv ention for i ncreasing an d cheapening
the fo od crop Of the world
With all his bull dogged tenacity whi ch h e h a d inherite d from
a long line of Sc otch I ish fighting stock this g eat invento r
and powerful master of indu st ry th is typ e of a great hi st oric
movement presented t o his many fri en ds a t ender an d magne ti c
side H e disliked o t entatiou display he was simpl e in hi s
personal t astes he dearly loved his wife and fami ly h e was
deeply religi ou s his philant hropy was ever ac tive an d few will
Up on th e thi r
kn ow the exten t and v arie ty o f hi s chari t i es
te enth of May 1 8 8 4 he p as sed from thi s lif e a t hi s h ome i n Chi
cag o sincerely mourned by those wh o h a d learne d to love as
well as to honor on e of the world s great est benefacto rs
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