![]() Enterprising farmers responded by constructing enormous breaking plows that required five or six yoke of oxen and two men to drive the oxen. A simple wooden plow could hardly penetrate the surface. Below the land's surface were tough, fibrous roots of tall prairie grasses, extending downward a foot or more. The prairies posed a new set of problems for farmers. Every member of the family devoted his or her effort to building and maintaining the farm.Īfter 1830 farmers migrating from New England and the Southeast began to make their way onto the prairies. The Burlends survived and eventually thrived largely by way of hard work and determination. The Burlends planted wheat, corn, and garden crops and earned a small cash income from the maple sugar their trees produced. They owned almost no tools and only a few poor-quality animals. "John Burlend arrived in Pike County from England. ClearingĮarly settlers arrived with few resources. Instead, settlers moved into wooded areas, gradually clearing and cultivating wooded plots. As a result, Illinois' fertile but treeless prairies had little appeal for them. They were convinced that the quality of a piece of land could be judged by the trees growing on it. ![]() Early settlers often came to Illinois from heavily wooded areas. They followed the tree line and the rivers in the southeastern region of the territory. The earliest crop Native American women cultivated was corn, imported to Illinois from the Southwest.īy the early years of the nineteenth century, Euro-American settlers were making their way into what is now Illinois. By the tenth century, Native Americans combined men's hunting with women's agricultural activities to meet the needs of their communities. ![]() Illinois' first settlers, the Native Americans, practiced hunting, gathering, and fishing and made use of the resources of the woods and prairies. Illinois' agricultural history is long and complex.
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