Archival Anecdotes: Seeds of Change

It's the time of year again when the farmers start itching to get out to the fields. These days the crop of choice can range from corn and soybeans to sunflower and alfalfa. But in the early days of farming, the folks of Eddy County often chose to plant wheat. Spring wheat, in particular, was not only highly valued and sought after, but could be easily transported to be milled and sent on to market. The railroads made this all possible, but so did horses.

Pictured here are four teams of horses seeding wheat on the Charles Hatch Farm, located in Eddy County during the early portion of the 20th century. While we at the Eddy County Museum don't have a date for when this photo was taken, we can infer that is was around the same time as many other photos from the Charles Hatch Farm that ranged between 1912-16. One such photo includes a photo of Charles Hatch standing on top of 6,000 bushels of wheat!