| Westward ho! John Deere ads promote pioneer spirit Believe it or not, not all John Deere advertising ran in farm publications. And not all ads sold farm equipment directly.
The Green Girl found proof of this fact in a recent eBay auction purchase. Two full-page oversized (Nine by 12 inch) ads ran in the "Illio," which was the name of the University of Illinois yearbook. One ad comes from the 1927 edition; the other ran in the 1929 book. One would assume that there’s a 1928 version as well although the Green Girl didn’t find that one! What’s interesting is that the ads themselves do not sell a particular plow model at all. Rather, they focus on the importance John Deere equipment had in the development of this country, especially as the West was won with pioneer farmers. Read for yourselves! The 1927 ad read: "That pioneer train followed John Deere plows" "From the Illinois side of the Mississippi river, on an April morning in 1856, came a squat locomotive pulling a half dozen small box cars. With valiant blasts from its whistle, the iron horse snorted its way across to the little town of Davenport, Iowa; and coonskin caps and beaver hats flew in the air, as the crowd cheered the passage. "The first bridge across the Mississippi had stood the test. The new railroad extending into the West, was linked with lines leading into the East. One of the greatest epochs in the commercial life of the nation was begun. "And the West was ready. For an earlier pioneer—the John Deere steel plow—had led the way for that first train across the mighty river.
"Every year, by the thousands, up and down the Mississippi by boat and then by wagon far into the land of the Indian and the buffalo, John Deere plows had traveled. "They were conspicuous among the goods of the first store in every pioneer settlement; the first to turn the virgin soil, as the frontiers of farming pressed westward; the chief equipment of those hardy pioneers who carved farms and states from the wild prairie lands. "The West, with John Deere steel plows, was ready for the stimulation of commerce carried on steel rails. "Since pioneer days John Deere Implements have been leaders because of their high quality." Two years later, there was a similar ad. It read as follows: "The land-looker" "Across prairies and through timber land, where lights in new homes twinkled at dusk, trudged the land-looker of pioneer days. "Back of him, in temporary quarters at a frontier settlement, was his family; ahead of him lay his opportunity to get a home. "No soldier under Caesar, no "doughboy" under Pershing, ever marched with a heavier burden. "A long rifle, an axe, an auger, a window sash with panes in place and a huge knapsack, crammed with clothing and provisions—those were among the accoutrements of the land-looker as he pressed on into the wilderness. "He sought good plow land. Finding it, he located his quarter-section, built his pre-emption shanty, and lived in it the three days necessary to establish his claim. Then, back more than a hundred miles to the frontier village and his family. "Soon his emigrant wagon was on the westward trail—an ox-drawn wagon, making six miles a day. Boys trudged behind, driving milch cows and pigs. Mother sat in the front seat lulling the baby to sleep. Father strode beside the oxen, with long whip in hand, and long rife in convenient grasp. Stored back in the wagon, were the household goods—home-made furniture, home-made bedding, home-made clothing, spinning wheels, loom and crockery. IN a coop, fastened to the rear, were a half-dozen chickens. And, swung up tightly to one side of the wagon, was that symbol of civilization, chief reliance of the pioneer farmer—a John Deere plow. "Days and days of slow travel, and then…a new home-light beamed the message of achievement across the prairie at dusk; another family was established, ready with the John Deere plow to win a prosperous farm from the wilderness. "Thus, long ago, in the hearts of pioneers to whom a good plow meant everything, the seeds of good will for John Deere were planted—good will that extends today to John Deere equipment for practically every farming operation. "John Deere Farm Equipment: Leader in Quality for Nearly a Century." Copyright 2002 Brenda Kruse |
