Museum: Agriculture in Idaho Panel 3 – Farming in the Past

From pointed sticks and rock tools to small tractors and trucks, Panel 3, “Farming Practices From the Past” illustrates early farming in Boundary County. The Kootenai People’s traditions as hunters and gatherers gave way to new and different ways of “tending the soil.”

The early settlers coming into the area, set about clearing land, planting berry bushes and fruit trees, gardens, and raising livestock for their own subsistence. As more people moved into the region for mining and logging purposes, these small family farms provided much of the food needed in the camps.

As early as the 1890s, cattle ranches began to appear along the river. Wild grass was cut for hay, and real “horse power” was used to clear, plow, cultivate, and harvest these early crops. Hay growers were commonly known as “haymakers,” and “hurdy gurdies” could be seen lifting hay from wagons into the barns.

By the early 1900s, steam power was introduced in Boundary County in the form of the first threshing machine operated by the Polzin Brothers. Following the steam engine which was heavy, large, and expensive, and required skilled workers to operate, the gasoline engine made its presence known in the county. Small tractors called “motor plows” or “crawler tractors” and belt driven threshing machines began to appear to work fields and thresh and bag grain. Wooden flat-bed trucks were used to haul bags of grain as well as hay and farm equipment.