Question

In the 1800s, how did farmers on the prairie handle the difficult soil?

Answer 1

I believe the answer is: They used steel plows and other new forms of technology.

Prior to this invention, the farmers only rely on the buffalo's step or manual hooes to process the field and left the part where the soil composition is too hard to process.  This of course resulted in lower amount of production that the farmers obtain per area of their farms.