Cyrus Mccormick: Bread for the Masses

by Daniel Alef

Overview

Although Samuel Colt died in 1862 at age 47, he had lived a remarkably full life, one filled with enough controversy, calamity, failure and success to fill several novels. And, at the time, he was America's wealthiest inventor. Colt's widow took over the reins of the Colt Armory, memorialized Colt's name in American mythology, sanitized his foibles and misdeeds, and oversaw the amazing growth of the largest private armory in the world. Although Henry Ford is recognized for introducing the assembly line to production, Colt revolutionized production by employing standardized parts in the production of his guns and rifles, and this was years before Ford was born. Colt's genius was recognized by other great inventors including Samuel F. B. France honored American inventor Cyrus McCormick with the Cross of Legion of Honor and the French Academy of Sciences elected him a member, saying he had "done more for agriculture than any other living man." Although his invention, the reaper, spread throughout the world, his genius helped America produce enough wheat by the time he died to feed the entire nation. His life wasn't always sanguine, and he had his ups and down, but he persevered to become one of the wealthiest and most powerful men in the nation. When he applied for an extension on his patent, the Commissioner of Patents rejected the application noting that "the Reaper is of too great value to the public to be controlled by any individual." McCormick's reaper gave us cheap bread while lining his pockets with enough wealth to help him finance the Union Pacific Railway and to purchase the Chicago Times. Author Daniel Alef brings Cyrus McCormick's fascinating story to life. [1,414-word Titan of Fortune Article].

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781608042005
Publisher:	Titans of Fortune Publishing
Publication date:	06/01/2009
Series:	Titans of Fortune
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	495 KB

About the Author

Daniel Alef has written many legal articles, one law book, one historical anthology, Centennial Stories, and authored the award-winning historical novel, Pale Truth (MaxIt Publishing, 2000). Foreword Magazine named Pale Truth book of the year for general fiction in 2001 and the novel received many outstanding reviews including ones from Publishers Weekly and the American Library Association's Booklist. A sequel to Pale Truth, currently entitled Measured Swords, has just been completed.

Read an Excerpt

The year 1809 produced many world-renowned notables: Poe, Chopin, Lincoln, Gladstone, Mendelssohn, Darwin, and the man who changed the world of agriculture and gave us cheap bread -- Cyrus Hall McCormick.
Cyrus was born in Rockbridge County, Va. His father, Robert, owned four farms comprising 1,800 acres, grist mills, saw mills, a smelting furnace, a distillery and a blacksmith shop. Although built of logs, the McCormick home had a parlor with mahogany furniture, carpets and books.
Agriculture was the principal occupation of 90 percent of Americans living at the time, born of the simple need to survive. It was never an easy life; a pawn to the vicissitudes of nature and less so of man. And the methods employed in coaxing the land to bear its fruit had not changed in centuries. Grain, the principal staple, was reaped by brute strength -- one man could harvest half an acre a day using the scythe. It was such a laborious process, and the window for harvesting so short, farmers with land and seed to spare limited their crop to what they could harvest. George Washington empathized: "I know of no pursuit in which real or important service could be rendered any country than by improving its agriculture."