With an Eye to Better Outcomes: The Opening of the Trans-Mississippi Grain Belt Might Have Been Tempered and More Gradual

Abstract

Though historians and the general public applaud our rugged frontier ancestors who conquered the plains, a rational examination of the data makes it clear that the opening of the Trans-Mississippi grain belt at mid 19th century was a mixed blessing at best. More carefully understood, it set the stage for overproduction and diverted capital and labor from industrialization. Today the same land is being abandoned.