The great prairie plain that extends from the Allegheny River and Ohio River valleys on the east and south, west beyond the Missouri River, forms a geological and topographical patchwork of smaller prairies of different sizes, with varying soil quality, vegetation, drainage, and climate. Today, the differentiation of agricultural and industrial activity across the region reflects the contours of this topographical and environmental diversity. Such an alignment, however, evolved only through a long historical process of land-use differentiation that followed the course of settlement and economic and social development.

At first, the process through which farmers sorted out the most efficient uses of the land across the Midwest was interwined – indeed, at times, submerged – in the dynamics of mass migration and settlement. Before farmers could begin to formulate precise market strategies and differentiate land use according to topography, location, and market orientation of their farms, they first had to find a suitable plot of ground, clear the land, till it, live on it, and try to market a few crops. The latter process, given the broad choice in locating a farm and the uncertainty about what factors made for a good farm, was far less precise, systematic, and rational than the former. For any individual or group, the choice of where to settle was complicated by a wide range of factors and variables. In addition to goals, intentions, decision-making power, and behavior, access to transportation, economic interests and assets, cultural values, timing, and luck also affected the ability of settlers to reach certain destinations.