The Sacramento Valley yielded riches of all kinds, but it is the agriculture that developed in the 19th century that made the area what it is. Without the proper tools, the land could not have developed so quickly. John Deere Co. won awards at the State Fair in Sacramento in 1890, but gang plows introduced by Deere and fellow manufacturers as early as 1860 provided several blades positioned for parallel furrows, trenches, and grooves. It is estimated that one man could plow more ground with gang plows and eight horses than 50 men could have done with plows used before the Civil War. There were at least 300 gang plows of four shares or more in the Sacramento Valley by 1871. The top-of-the-line model for farmers able to afford it was a sit-down, six gang plow that worked best when pulled by a steam engine! The profit must have been there because steam operated farm equipment figures in many drawings and photographs depicting daily life in Sacramento Valley fields.
