{"id":268903,"date":"2025-06-02T16:40:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-02T16:40:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/agriculture\/agriculture-production-potential-west-of-the-mississippi\/"},"modified":"2025-06-02T16:40:09","modified_gmt":"2025-06-02T16:40:09","slug":"agriculture-production-potential-west-of-the-mississippi","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=268903","title":{"rendered":"Agriculture Production Potential West of the Mississippi"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\"American<\/a>
EverGreene Painting Studios Oil on Canvas 1993-1994<\/a>
The explorers are shown on the Missouri river looking over a Mandan village.
Architect of the Capitol<\/a>. USCapitol,<\/a> Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/a><\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mark Oppold with an American agriculture history minute tells us how any modern traveler now retracing the steps of Meriwether Lewis and William Clark after they left the Missouri River and proceeded west would likely wonder how areas of the Dakotas, Montana, and Idaho could ever be agriculturally productive. After all,\u00a0President Thomas Jefferson gave specific instructions to the two that he wanted information about agriculture production potential west of the Mississippi as settlers moved that direction.<\/p>\n

Lewis and Clark found land that was dry, barren when they finally traversed the Rockies in late September of 1805. Their report back to Thomas Jefferson did not present the picture we see today.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s today\u2019s American Agriculture History Minute. I\u2019m Mark Oppold. Thanks for reading. I\u2019ll see you next time.<\/p>\n