Wooden plows were no match for the sticky, thick clay soils encountered by settlers of the Central Plains states of Wisconsin, Illinois, and Indiana. Even the ironplows invented by Charles Newbold of New Jersey in 1703 and by Jethro Wood of Massachusetts in 1819 caused the soil to bunch up in large sections rather than scour into neat furrows.

Deere developed a steel plow that could cut through the plains mud with the speed and efficiency demanded by the farmers. Deere's implements played a major role in the transformation of the continent's wild prairies into fertile farmland.

Deere was born in Rutland, Vermont. At the age of seventeen, he began a four-year blacksmith apprenticeship in Middlebury, Vermont. After mastering his trade, he spent twelve years working as a blacksmith in various towns throughout Vermont.

In 1837 Deere moved to the small northern Illinois town of Grand Detour where he became aware...