In this riveting study, historian Merrill Jarchow explores the lives and practices of early farmers in Minnesota, offering a colorful illustration of Minnesota's evolution as an agricultural state. Issues with public lands and their sometimes curious disposal, experiments by ingenious farmers, harvests and markets, transportation, elevators and milling, political struggles, malpractices and legal reforms, buildings and agricultural fairs, advancing mechanization, and the growing understanding of farming emerge from details of farmers' home and living conditions and their social interactions. The tremendous human effort involved in adapting to the distinctive Minnesota farming environment is revealed in this comprehensive account of farmers' struggles, ordeals, and achievements. Separate chapters investigate dairying, mechanization, and bizarre agricultural experiments, and photographs, notes, and an index complete the important volume.