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The Success of John Deere's Self-Polisher
Matthew K. Gumbel An earnest young blacksmith came to Illinois from Vermont in 1836 to seek his fortune, and he later produced a polished steel plow that scoured itself clean of sticky prairie soil. That simple implement was the basis of today's thriving worldwide organization, Deere and Company. John Deere was born February 7, 1804, in Rutland, Vermont. He was eight when he lost the father who had taught him to "let truth and honesty be your guide." The daily sight of his seamstress mother's shiny needles gliding easily in and out of fabrics also influenced his later work. John attended school for a while, but being a practical boy, he apprenticed himself to Captain Benjamin Lawrence and began learning the black-smithing trade. The captain's insistence on superior workmanship instilled in his young apprentice an abiding concern for quality. Blacksmithing soon earned John quite a reputation. Farmers bragged that "John Deere's shovels were like no others. . . . [They] scoured themself [sic] of the soil by reason of their smooth, satiny surface." His pitchforks "slipped in and out of the hay like needles." Earning a living was difficult in Vermont, so John decided to head west and set up shop in Grand Detour, Illinois. He soon discovered Illinois farmers faced a serious problem: the prairie soil was moist and sticky, and their heavy wood-and-cast-iron plows stuck in the gumbo. Farmers said it would be impossible to make a plow that would work in the sticky soil, but Deere had heard the word impossible before. When he was an apprentice, John could repair tools that farmers thought were unfixable. One day in 1837, while repairing a broken shaft at the sawmill of fellow Vermont native, Leonard Andrus, John noticed a shiny broken sawblade in the corner. It gave him an idea. Why not use it to form a smooth, polished steel plow to slip through
heavy Illinois soils? In the days that followed, no shoeing of horses or making of tools went on in Deere's shop. The only thing he was working on was his plow. The share, or sharp edge, he cut from the sawmill blade. The wrought-iron moldboard was first formed into a curve by bending it over a log. Then the blade was polished so that sticky earth would slide off. Deere took the finished plow to a neighboring field where he tested it in front of a crowd of doubtful spectators. The plow slipped easily through the gummy soil. By day's end Deere had orders for two more of what was called "the plow that broke the plains." On March 20, 1843, Leonard Andrus and Deere became partners. They built a factory equipped with horse power and steam engines and were soon selling $l0 plows. Within ten years they were producing more than one thousand plows per year. As business increased, the lack of transportation to remote Grand Detour either by rail or on the small Rock River grew to be a serious problem. Deere made the critical decision to leave, dissolved his partnership with Andrus, and picked Moline, Illinois, as his new location. Moline was better suited for business, and the Mississippi River was invaluable to ship raw materials and finished products. There, in June 1848, he formed a partnership with Robert N. Tate, constructed a factory, and was soon in business manufacturing plows. Although securing high-quality steel was difficult and expensive, Deere finally persuaded an American firm to produce the kind of steel he had been importing at high cost. The first slab of cast plow steel ever rolled in America was produced by Jones and Quigs of Pittsburgh for John Deere of Moline, Illinois. In late 1848 Deere and Tate took on a new partner, John Gould. Deere concentrated on improvements, production was left to Tate, and Gould supervised finances. Improvements Deere developed included new concepts of marketing—producing in large quantities, setting up a large sales operation, advertising in papers and farm publications, and giving demonstrations on farms and at fairs. Thus, business increased steadily, and soon farmers in surrounding states were buying Deere plows. The company's continuing success grew from Deere's frequently expressed belief, "I will never put my name on a plow that does not have in it the best that is in me." Another philosophy that proved to be a sound business principle was, "If I don't improve my plow, somebody else will and I will lose my trade." Occasionally his eagerness to improve got him into legal trouble when other manufacturers felt he borrowed ideas too freely. In 1853 Deere decided to conduct business under his own name and terminated the partnership with Tate and Gould. In the following years, Deere plow production soared. The late 1800s also brought many expansions in the company's line—planters, cultivators, harrows, and harvesters—to fill customers' needs. John Deere remained active as president of his company until his death in Moline on May 12, 1886, at the age of 82. After his death, family members continued to lead Deere and Company.
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