Prairie Survivor
When the first settlers came to the Illinois prairie in the early 1800’s, an acre of land suitable for agriculture could be purchased from the government land office for a little over a dollar. That same land would cost you over ten thousand dollars today. Hopeful farmers and their families poured into Illinois to establish farmsteads that would support themselves and their posterity. Large families were needed to provide workers for the farm where work was never ending and chore lists were a mile long. Sunup to sundown was the rule of the day. Back then a grown son could hope to purchase a farm of his own eventually and follow in the footsteps of his dad and granddad. As late as the nineteen sixties this was still a good possibility. Today however, unless you inherit your land it is almost impossible to enter into farming. The high land and equipment costs make it highly unlikely. Large tracts of first rate Illinois prairie are being bought up by rich entrepreneurs like Bill Gates who have the money for such large expenditures. Farmers now are farming land they will never own. Grown sons must now seek occupations other than farming if they wish to continue living in a rural area. The land is so valuable now that heirs are selling it off for the money, causing the unbroken chain of family ownership to cease. That dollar and a quarter an acre land that great great granddaddy worked so hard to improve so his family would have a secure future is gone with the Illinois prairie wind to God knows where. A way of life forever changed by the shifting fortunes of commerce.
Prairie Survivor
When the first settlers came to the Illinois prairie in the early 1800’s, an acre of land suitable for agriculture could be purchased from the government land office for a little over a dollar. That same land would cost you over ten thousand dollars today. Hopeful farmers and their families poured into Illinois to establish farmsteads that would support themselves and their posterity. Large families were needed to provide workers for the farm where work was never ending and chore lists were a mile long. Sunup to sundown was the rule of the day. Back then a grown son could hope to purchase a farm of his own eventually and follow in the footsteps of his dad and granddad. As late as the nineteen sixties this was still a good possibility. Today however, unless you inherit your land it is almost impossible to enter into farming. The high land and equipment costs make it highly unlikely. Large tracts of first rate Illinois prairie are being bought up by rich entrepreneurs like Bill Gates who have the money for such large expenditures. Farmers now are farming land they will never own. Grown sons must now seek occupations other than farming if they wish to continue living in a rural area. The land is so valuable now that heirs are selling it off for the money, causing the unbroken chain of family ownership to cease. That dollar and a quarter an acre land that great great granddaddy worked so hard to improve so his family would have a secure future is gone with the Illinois prairie wind to God knows where. A way of life forever changed by the shifting fortunes of commerce.