As harvest time comes around each year in North Dakota, a state that has always been deeply rooted in agriculture, it’s interesting to think that North Dakotans have been doing this every year for well over a century. Through the good years with great yields to the bad years, or even bad decades, full of loss, we still persevere and work the fields and the livestock again and again. Through our efforts we have become known as “the breadbasket of the nation” and are the number one producers in more than one category.
Let’s take a look back at the agricultural history through these fascinating photographs and remember how we got to where we are today:
- Cattle on a farm in Morton County, with the beautiful farmstead in the background. Taken in 1942.
John Vachon/yale.edu
- Carts pulled by oxen at a railway station in the Red River Valley. Taken in the 1860s.
Benjamin Franklin Upton/Wikimedia
- A huge haystack after a long day of haying in North Dakota. Taken in 1941.
NARA/Wikimedia
- A very old tractor pulling a road grader in North Dakota. Taken in 1918 - almost exactly 100 years ago.
FA Pazandak/Wikimedia
- Farmer tossing corn for pigs on the Fort Berthold Reservation. Taken in 1942.
NARA/Wikimedia
- Loading hay near Dickinson, North Dakota. At the time, hay cost about twenty dollars a ton. Taken in 1936.
Paul Carter/yale.edu
- Cattle being herded into a stockyard pen near Halliday, North Dakota. Taken in 1952.
NARA/Wikimedia
- A huge barn on a big Cass County farm. Taken in 1940.
John Vachon/yale.edu
- Children of farmers getting water for livestock near South Heart, North Dakota. Taken in 1936.
Paul Carter/yale.edu
- An old silo and the remains of a barn destroyed by the winds of the Dust Bowl near Williston, North Dakota. Taken in 1937.
Russell Lee/yale.edu
- A beautiful old barn with a stone foundation near Valley City, North Dakota. Taken in 1948.
NARA/Wikimedia
- Haying with horses, taken in central North Dakota. Taken in 1950.
NARA/Wikimedia
What did you think about these photos? Have any family stories, photos, or memories in North Dakota? We’d love to see and hear about them! This state’s rich history is something that should be preserved and shared. You can even see some of that history in this awesome, rare video taken decades ago.
John Vachon/yale.edu
Benjamin Franklin Upton/Wikimedia
NARA/Wikimedia
FA Pazandak/Wikimedia
Paul Carter/yale.edu
Russell Lee/yale.edu
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