Land+Use+in+the+Amana+Colonies

Original Author: Cait Bodenbender, ENG340 FL10 Revision Author:
 * Land Use and Agriculture in the Amana Colonies, 1855 – 1895**

Prior to the Society’s move to Iowa, a land surveyor described the township that held most of the land they had purchased as “… [A] very good township. There is a good proportion of timber…. The soil is very good… [amenable to] a large population “ (Clark 76). Not only do the Iowa River and Price Creek run through the site, providing the Inspirationalists with the waterpower necessary for a number of their industries, it also featured limestone, sandstone, clay, and timber for use as building materials (Clark 76, 77; Hoehnle 29). The timber could also be used for fuel and material for furniture and other manufactured items. It was primarily located along the banks of the river and on the bluffs bracketing the river valley (Clark 75). Between the timber lines was prairie, which had been rated “first rate” by surveyors (Clark 76). The presence of prairie meant that the settlers would not have to remove boulders or clear timber from land on which they wanted to farm (Clark 76). These physical features are certainly what attracted the Inspirationalists to the site. The landscape also determined the location of the six villages they erected.

They built their first village, Main Amana, on the terrace between the Iowa River and Price Creek. This location was high enough to avoid flooding, but close enough to the water to insure easy access. The usefulness of the river and creek were enhanced by the creation of a seven mile long millrace along what would become Middle and Main Amana, which diverted water from the Iowa River to generate power for the Society’s mills, factories, and machine shops. The millrace was carved out by men with shovels and oxen pulling scrapers, and took four years to complete (Clark 93, Hoehnle 30). Another reason for building Main Amana on the terrace was its proximity to the site’s outcropping of sandstone and its only limestone exposure (Clark 86). In no other instance did the Society build on prime farmland. Rather, the remaining five villages were built on either the bluff or close to the base of the bluff (Clark 86). All seven villages had its own farm district of about 2000 acres (Hoehnle 29). Barns, corncribs, and other agricultural buildings tended to be built on the edge of town near the greatest area of cropland (Clark 93). The cropland was farmed in an “open field” manner, the defining element of which is the lack of individual farmsteads – farmers live in the same village and work together to farm the land around it (Hoehnle 29). In the Amanas, men began working on the farms at age 14 (Hoehnle 35). Each village had a manager who was responsible for every aspect of running the farm, and he reported to the Society’s general farm manager. The general farm manager dictated livestock assignments and which crops each farm would produce (Clark 121).

The primary goals of Amana’s agricultural activities were to feed its population and produce materials for the Society’s business enterprises, although in cases of surplus production the excess would be sold (Clark 121). This mode of subsistence farming meant that the colony’s landholdings were “improved” at a significantly slower rate than the rest of the land in Iowa County, since the Inspirationalists only cleared, broke, and cultivated new land if the population required it (Clark 123, 125). Although the Amana Society, like most Iowa County farms of the period, practiced Corn Belt agriculture (meaning that the grain they grew, especially corn, was used to feed hogs and cattle instead of humans), the colony’s emphasis on farming food for their own consumption lead them to grow different amounts of crops than their neighbors (Clark 128, 133). While both Amana and the rest of Iowa County grew oats, wheat, and corn in somewhat similar quantity (of the three, only wheat was an important human food source), Amana produced a significantly higher percentage of barley, potatoes, turnips and beets. The Society needed the barley for the impressive amount of beer production in the colonies, and root vegetables are a cornerstone of the German diet. They also produced more rye than the rest of Iowa County, which they used in their breads. The Amana Colonies were the only area of Iowa to produce grapes for wine production. In 1875, the colony turned 51,095 pounds of grapes into 6,500 gallons of wine. Additionally, the Society grew tobacco for cigars and pipe smoking.

Another important difference between most of Iowa County and the Amanas was the conservative manner in which the Inspirationalists used their natural forests. They used their woodlands sustainably, while most pioneering communities cleared their land and used its wood as soon as possible (Clark 43, 125). As a result, much of the Amana forest still stands today. Additionally, the Society routinely cut and used less desirable and aggressive species with greater frequency than the more desirable oak and walnut trees (Clark 147, 148). This “balance in harvesting” insured that the lesser species did not take over the forest (Clark 148). The Society also planted trees. Some examples of arboriculture in Amana are the fruit tree orchards in Homestead, Middle, West and South Amana, and the cultivation of “basket willows” and Walnut trees (Clark 89-92, 148). Interestingly, the Inspirationalists surrounded their cemeteries (each village had its own) with tall Austrian pine, which is a tradition carried over the sea from Germany (Clark 95). There, pine trees (with their unchangingly green needles) are considered a symbol of the immortality of the soul. The settlers also planted groves of Austrian pine east of Upper South Amana and west of East Amana. It does not appear that these groves were ever harvested (Clark 146).

Animal husbandry was an important part of Amana’s agriculture. They raised cattle for milk and meat, although in 1875 hog slaughtering outpaced cattle slaughter in the colonies by about a ratio of almost three to two. Meat from hogs, in the form of boiled or smoked ham, bacon, and sausage, is another cornerstone of the German diet. Sheep were raised for their wool in significant numbers on the Homestead sheep ranch. In 1875, 2,775 sheep produced 169,470 pounds of wool. The Amana farmers also kept bees, and in 1875 they harvested 260 pounds of honey from forty-five stands of bees (Clark 132). Regarding beasts of burden, the colonists first broke the prairie using oxen. Their horses were too light to break the heavy soil. There is record of heavy draft horses being used for plowing by 1875 in Iowa County, but there is no mention of horses being used for agriculture in Amana until 1895, at which time an agricultural inventory was taken of the county (Clark 131, 136). By that time, the use of oxen had significantly declined and their labor had been replaced by horses. As tractors became part of regional agriculture, Amana Society farms shifted toward a combination of heavy draft horses and tractors (Clark 136). By 1895, Amana’s agricultural practices differed only minimally from those of the rest of the county (Clark 134). Their crop production came to closely match that of their neighbors, and they used similar tools and technology (Clark 137). This trend continued through the Great Change of 1932 (Clark 140).

Clark, R. “A Cultural and Historical Geography of the Amana Colony, Iowa.” Diss. University of Nebraska, 1974. Print. Foerstner, Abigail. Picturing Utopia. Iowa City: University of Iowa Press, 2000. Print. Hoehnle, Peter. //The Amana People: The History of a Religious Community//. Iowa City: Penfield, 2003. Print.
 * Works Cited**

See also Early Conservation

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