17,394
edits
Changes
→Farming
==Farming==
==Farming==
[[File:Nd-farm-map.jpg|thumb|290px]] North Dakota has always been a farm state. The most productive area is the eastern strip in the Red River Valley, where the soils are good and the water is abundant. Too abundant, sometimes, as the Red River (which flows north into Canada) often floods. Farming here is diversified, with wheat dominant, along witrh sugar beets and other crops.
[[File:Nd-farm-map.jpg|thumb|290px]] North Dakota has always been a farm state. The most productive area is the eastern strip in the Red River Valley, where the soils are good and the water is abundant. Too abundant, sometimes, as the Red River (which flows north into Canada) often floods. Farming here is diversified, with wheat dominant, along witrh sugar beets and other crops.
[[File:Sod-house.jpg|thumb|300px|There are few trees on the plains, so many pioneers built houses from sod and lived in them for years despite the dirt, darkness and insects. This hand-colored photo was taken about 1905.<ref> See Everett Dick, ''Sod-House Frontier'' (1937)</ref>]]
The East Central and West Central regions are dry and are given over to wheat and other grains.
The East Central and West Central regions are dry and are given over to wheat and other grains.
The West region has considerable ranching, but there is so little moisture that crops are seldom grown.
The West region has considerable ranching, but there is so little moisture that crops are seldom grown.
Wheat farming boomed in the late 19th century, in part because of improvements in harvesting technology, particularly the automated reaper/binder that relied on twine to tie wheat into bundles for threshing. In 1899, to meet the rising demand for twine and confront International Harvester's monopolization of twine production, North Dakota and other Great Plains states set up their own twine factories using prison labor.
Wheat farming boomed in the late 19th century, in part because of improvements in harvesting technology, particularly the automated reaper/binder that relied on twine to tie wheat into bundles for threshing. In 1899, to meet the rising demand for twine and confront International Harvester's monopolization of twine production, North Dakota and other Great Plains states set up their own twine factories using prison labor.