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Inventors and Inventions

John Deere

John Deere
Reading Level
     edHelper's suggested reading level:   grades 7 to 8
     Flesch-Kincaid grade level:   6.26

Vocabulary
     challenging words:    self-scouring, steamship, booming, waterpower, further, forge, cleanly, solution, arrival, reputation, packet, repaired, finding, banks, provided, customer
     content words:    East Coast, John Deere, When John, New Englanders, Grand Detour, New England, Great Plains, Atlantic Ocean, Illinois River, Mississippi River

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John Deere
By Sharon Fabian 		  
1     Many Americans were moving west. Business was no longer booming on the East Coast, and there were reports about a land of opportunity further west. So, adventurous people packed up everything they had and bought a ticket for the stagecoach.
 
2     One of these people was John Deere. John Deere had grown up in a poor family. His father had died at sea, and his mother tried to make ends meet working as a knitter. When John turned 17 years old, he became an apprentice blacksmith. He made shovels and hay forks. He was a hard worker and soon had a reputation for doing fine work. For a while he made a good living but then, in the 1830's, business slowed down. Like many other New Englanders, John decided to go west.
 
3     He bundled up his tools and began his journey, which took him to the village of Grand Detour, Illinois. Grand Detour had already been settled by other New Englanders. As it turned out, they were very happy about John's arrival, because they badly needed a blacksmith. John set up his forge and was hard at work by his second day there. He repaired farmer's plows and made shoes for their horses.

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