HIS LIFE AND WORK 



why don't you go West with your Reaper, 

 where the land is level and labor is scarce?" 

 His mind was ripe for this idea. It was the call 

 of the West. So one morning he put $300 into 

 his belt and set off on a 3,000-mile journey 

 to establish the empire of the Reaper. Up 

 through Pennsylvania he rode by stage to Lake 

 Ontario, then westward through Ohio, Michi- 

 gan, Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Missouri. 



For the first time he saw the prairies. So 

 vast, so flat, so fertile, these boundless plains 

 amazed him. And he was quick to see that 

 this great land ocean was the natural home of 

 the Reaper. Virginia might, but the West 

 must, accept his new machine. 



Already the West was in desperate need of a 

 quicker way to cut grain. As McCormick rode 

 through Illinois, he saw the most convincing 

 argument in favor of his Reaper. He saw hogs 

 and cattle turned into fields of ripe wheat, for 

 lack of laborers to gather it in. The fertile 

 soil had given Illinois five million bushels of 

 wheat, and it was too much. It was more than 

 the sickle and the scythe could cut. Men 



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