Linsy Sisemore remembered plowing his wheat fields in Sams Valley, Ore., during the 1880's.
He wrote:
“Our regular time of rising …was 5 o’clock. Before breakfast we fed and brushed the horses and harnessed them. After breakfast (we’d go a mile and a half and get to the field) at sunrise ... Two and a half acres a day was a good day’s plowing with a walking plow … I figured on my boot top that a man to plow 2 ½ acres would have to walk 17 ½ miles.
“It seemed like a shower would come up as I was at the wrong end of the field. By the time I got to the turning place, the rain would stop and I would have to continue on.
“We left the field at sunset… stabled and fed hay to the horses, went in the house, had supper, then got our lanterns and went back to the barn. Fed the horses grain, curried the sweat off them and bedded them with straw.
“We put on no tap dance in the evening after plowing all day. We were ready for bed.”
Source: Sisemore, Linsy. "Growing up in 1870s Jackson County. Account of Life in Sams Valley and Early Life ." Southern Oregon History, Revised. Ed. Ben Truwe. Aug. 2015. Southern Oregon Historical Society, Mar. 1999. Web. 26 Dec. 2015.
