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An important chapter in agricultural history won’t be lost to time, thanks to this marker along Lost Nation Road, about 1/4mile south of Flagg Road northeast of Dixon. John Deere, who had a workshop in Grand Detour — not far across the river from this spot, where he forged the first self-scouring steel plow from a discarded steel sawmill blade — rode on a ferry to this farm in 1837 to test his new invention. That plow led to Deere’s fame and fortune as a leading name in farm implements that continues to this day. The marker is one of three along Lost Nation Road, and according to the Lee County Tourism Council’s website, the text on it was written by the family who donated it. The other two markers designate the birthplace of former Dixon Mayor Joseph Crawford, and the location of LaSallier’s Cabin and Trading Post during the 1830s — the first such post between Chicago and the Mississippi River. The online Historical Marker Database has more information on the Crawford and LaSallier markers, along with others nearby. Go to hmdb.org/m.asp?m=131910.