A collection of horse-drawn agricultural machinery, Greeley County, Kansas.
Date: Between 1900 and 1910
Two horses and a collection of horse-drawn agricultural machinery sit in a wooded area of Greeley County, Kansas. Machinery viewed includes a McCormick planter, a dump rake, a mower, and a plow.

Agricultural equipment, Garden City, Finney County, Kansas
Creator: Wolf, Henry L. 1850-1924
Date: Between 1890 and 1900
The photograph shows the first steam powered plow in Garden City, Finney County, Kansas. The photograph also shows a man, who looks to be steering the plow while another man is riding on it. In the background of the photo there are a few buildings.

Angell one-way disc plow
Creator: Kansas State Historical Society. Library and Archives Division
Date: Between 1975 and 1990
Charlie Angell, Sr. of Plains, Kansas, was a wheat farmer with a special knack for machines. In the 1920s, Angell sought to develop a plow that was particularly suited to the environmental conditions in the windy, semi-arid plains of western Kansas where he lived and farmed. Angell's idea was to set all the plow's discs at the same vertical angle on a single axel, which ensured that they each plowed in the same, single, direction. Because of this feature, the device became known as the "one-way" plow. It plowed faster, handled heavy stubble well, broke hard sun-baked soil, and destroyed weeds. Charles Angell built close to 500 plows on his Meade County farm, then sold the rights to the Ohio Cultivator Company.

Angell Plow
Creator: Angell, Charlie J.
Date: 1926
One-way disk plow manufactured by Charles Angell of Plains, Kansas. Angell, a wheat farmer, developed a plow that set all disks at the same angle, or "one-way," to increase tilling efficiency. Farmers liked that it plowed faster and easily broke up hard soil, but its overuse created a fine, dusty layer that quickly blew away in heavy winds. This is a smaller version of the actual plow, which was ten feet wide. Angell made this four-foot model for use in his family's vegetable garden.

Arno Knox farm, McAllaster, Logan County, Kansas
Date: Between 1915 and 1925
This series of photographs shows different perspectives of men and horses polwing and planting on Arno Knox's farm near McAllaster in Logan County, Kansas.

Avery Manufacturing Company catalog
Creator: Avery Manufacturing Company
Date: 1906
This catalog was published by Avery Manufacturing Company advertising their engines, threshers, self feeders, pneumatic straw stackers, water tanks, and farm machinery. All of the pages of the catalog have illustrations and text about the equipment being advertised. There is an index on page 64 and the front and back covers are in color. The company was located in Peoria, Illinois, but it is assumed the catalog was distributed to Kansas farmers.

Breaking sod and seeding wheat in a field, Logan County, Kansas
Date: 1909
Photographs showing a steam tractor and plow being used to break sod and seed wheat in a field in Logan County, Kansas.

Breaking sod, western Kansas
Date: Between 1910 and 1925
This black and white photograph shows a steam tractor breaking sod in western Kansas as a group of men and two children look on. The men standing on the plow are raising and lowering the implement as it turns the soil.

Breaking sod with a tractor, Greeley County, Kansas
Date: Between 1920 and 1930
A farm crew uses a coal burning Case tractor to break sod in a field in Greeley County, Kansas.

Charlie John Angell
Date: Between 1915 and 1927
Charlie Angell, of Plains, Kansas, was a wheat farmer with a special knack for machines. In the 1920s, Angell sought to develop a plow that was particularly suited to the environmental conditions in the windy, semi-arid plains of western Kansas where he lived and farmed. He eventually perfected a new type of implement. It became known as the one-way disc plow because its vertical discs were mounted on the same axle and, therefore, they all moved the soil in the same, single, direction. It plowed faster, handled heavy stubble well, broke hard sun-baked soil, and destroyed weeds. Charlie Angell built close to 500 plows on his Meade County farm, then sold the rights to the Ohio Cultivator Company in Bellevue, Ohio.

Composite photograph showing scenes near Garden City, Kansas
Creator: Wolf, Henry L. 1850-1924
Date: Between 1900 and 1905
A composite photograph showing a steam tractor and plow, three binders at work, a wheat field, irrigation canal gates, a farm, bison, a tree claim, product exhibit at the county fair, and the U. S. Experimental farm near Garden City, Kansas.

Discing a field, Edwards County
Date: 1909
This photograph represents men, women and children operating a steam traction engine pulling a one-way plow while discing a field in Edwards County, Kansas. The other agricultural equipment shown in the photograph is a water wagon pulled by horses.

Doty's Avenue east of Garden City and a steam plow near Garden City, Kansas
Creator: Wolf, Henry L. 1850-1924
Date: Between 1900 and 1905
A composite photograph showing Doty's Avenue east of Garden City and a steam powered tractor and plow near Garden City, Kansas. Visible in both photographs are horse drawn carriages.

Edwin Boyer's plowing outfit near Grainfield, Kansas
Creator: Reed, W. H.
Date: 1906
This is a photograph of Edwin Boyer's plowing outfit on his farm near Grainfield, Kansas. The outfit consists of a Reeves steam engine, two Campbell packers, Lacrosse plows, and two harrows.

Engine with plows in Gove County, Kansas
Date: Between 1908 and 1910
This photograph shows a 35 horsepower engine with sixteen 14 inch plows in Gove County, Kansas. Edwin Boyer is sitting on the plow and several other individuals are in the photo. A wooden structure is also in the image.

First steam plow in Garden City, Finney County, Kansas
Creator: Wolf, Henry L. 1850-1924
Date: Between 1890 and 1900
A photograph showing a group of people posing with the first steam tractor, plow and harrow in Garden City, Finney County, Kansas.

First steam plow in Garden City, Finney County, Kansas
Creator: Wolf, Henry L. 1850-1924
Date: 1892
The photograph shows a group of people around the first steam plow in Garden City, Finney County, Kansas. Also in the background of the photograph there are some tents, buggies, wagons, and a horse.

Frank Boeger plowing a field
Date: Between 1895 and 1915
Frank Boeger using a horse drawn plow in a Western Kansas field.

Gaar-Scott steam tractor, Logan County, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1910
Photograph representing a Gaar-Scott steam tractor using a ten bottom moldboard plow to plow a field in Logan County, Kansas. In 1911, the Gaar-Scott Co. of Richmond, Indiana merged with the M. Rumely Company of LaPorte, Indiana to form the Advance-Rumely Thresher Company.

Gaar-Scott tractor and sod-breaking plow, Logan County, Kansas
Date: Between 1900 and 1915
Photograph representing a Gaar-Scott steam tractor using a plow to break sod in a field in Logan County, Kansas.

Girls at Rogler Ranch
Date: Between 1900 and 1909
This black and white photograph shows two unidentified girls sitting on a plow at the Rogler ranch. The homestead known as "Pioneer Bluffs", is located on 160 acres of land along the South Fork of the Cottonwood River basin, in the Bazaar Township of Chase County, Kansas. The Rogler family owned and operated the ranch from 1859 to 2006. In October of 2006 the historic property, which included the home and 4,081 acres of land, was sold at auction.

Golden Charles Dresher photograph collection
Creator: Dresher, G. C.
Date: Between 1870 and 1940
This collection consists of 326 photographs taken by G. C. (Golden Charles) Dresher of Canton, McPherson County, Kansas. The photos mostly concern the Dresher family, their friends and the surrounding area. Photographs of McPherson College students and the flooding of Cow Creek are also included. Dorothy May (Dresher) Richards, the daughter of G. C. Dresher, donated the original glass plate negatives to the Kansas Historical Society in 1999.

Gray tractor plowing a field, Logan County, Kansas
Date: Between 1915 and 1920
Three photographs of a man using a Gray tractor pulling a moldboard plow to plow a field in Logan County, Kansas. The Gray Tractor Company was founded in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The tractor seen here is probably the Gray model 18-36, also known as the Gray drum-drive tractor.

John Deere big engine gang
Creator: Deere & Company
Date: Between 1920 and 1925
A pamphlet published by John Deere advertising engine gang plows pulled by steam, gasoline and oil tractors. These plows were used to turn sod on the prairie and prepare the land for planting. With the introduction of tractors and the gang plows, farmers in the early 20th century were turning over thousands of acres of soil.

Johnson County co-operative fair
Date: September 15, 1896
This poster announces a fair to be held at Edgerton, Kansas, in Johnson County. Highlights include livestock exhibitions, premiums, and grand attractions. The poster includes color illustrations of a plowing scene and fair exhibitions.