Farm machines let U.S. become an urban nation.(Brief Article)

Horse-drawn equipment was common into the '30s

A century ago, California's farms were on the brink of a technological age that would swap machinery for muscle.

But in 1900, the technological age had not arrived yet.

In the 1880s, about four Americans in five were farmers. Most of them worked on small, family-owned farms, with the primary goal of subsistence.

"They fed the other 20 percent" of the population that lived in cities, said Linda Heidrick Lucchesi, a docent at the Heidrick Ag History Center in Woodland. "By the 1950s, 20 percent were feeding 80 percent.

"I'm not sure," she added, "if it's even 2 or 3 percent (farming) …