Snapshots of the Past

Steam plowing, Thomas Ranch, Chico, Cal. – Historic Reproduction

Steam plowing, Thomas Ranch, Chico, Cal., [no date recorded on caption card] — historic photograph
Steam plowing, Thomas Ranch, Chico, Cal., [no date recorded on caption card]. Historic photograph from the Barns & Farms collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

Step back in time with Steam plowing, Thomas Ranch, Chico, Cal., a historic photograph rich in period detail. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.

Choose the framed print, ready to hang the day it arrives, or the unframed print for a frame of your own. Perfect for a home, office, library or classroom wall, and a gift with a story behind it. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past has been bringing history to the wall since 2001, for tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

Steam plowing, Thomas Ranch, Chico, Cal.

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Steam plowing on the Thomas Ranch near Chico, California, shows a large-scale method of breaking ground that was common on big Sacramento Valley farms before gasoline tractors took over. Steam traction engines hauled multi-bottom plows across fields that were too large to work efficiently with horses or mules. The catalog record gives no date for the picture, and its notes flag the information as unverified, so the exact year remains uncertain. Even so, the scene reflects the machinery and farming practices of the region's early mechanized agriculture.

Created / published[no date recorded on caption card]
Medium1 photographic print.
NotesNo. 7264. This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Geogr.; Farm Machinery.
SourceLibrary of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division
Original scan1,536 × 1,237 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-HPA-144413

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