Odebolt, Iowa - July 21, 1910 Agricultural Tour

 

Agricultural Tour, July 16 1910


(Click photo to enlarge)
Automobile owners of Odebolt provided 26 cars to take a delegation of 80 students
from the Iowa State College Graduate School of Agriculture on a tour of the surrounding
territory in 1910.  This scene is looking south down Main Street in Odebolt.

 

Source: Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette, Saturday, July 23, 1910

GREAT STATE OF IOWA ON DRESS PARADE
EXPERTS FROM MANY STATES SEE IOWA

Agriculturists View the Garden Boot of the World,
and Make Flattering Comments - "Iowa the Garden of Eden"
"Best land in Iowa to Be Found Anywhere."

Ames, Iowa July 23, 1910 - "This is the Garden of Eden," said Prof. Hamilton of the United States department of agriculture at the close of the inspection trip made by the members of the graduate school to some of the leading farms of Sac county. "It is everything that a fertile soil can be," he went on. "farmers like these hold up their heads and feel that they are a part of the United States."

Cedar Rapids Evening Gazette


(Click for the original article, which is transcribed here - 652 KB)

"This day's trip is worth all the expense of the graduate school," said Prof. Rice of Cornell University. The fertility of the western soil is a revelation to men from the east."

"It is certainly fine," said Prof. Working of West Virginia.

"I have seen communities where there were one or two exceptionally good farms," said Prof. Weeks of Nebraska, "but I have never before seen so many first class farms together."

"That is the greatest sight I ever saw," said a millionaire agricultural student from Pennsylvania, as he stood at one side of a 640 acre field of oats on the Adams farm and watched the twenty-four binders eating their way in toward the center.

"I've never seen better land. I don't know how it could be improved." said Prof. Lauman of New York.

It was a satisfied bunch of agricultural experts that boarded the special train at Odebolt at the close of the trip. They had seen a first hand glimpse of some of the best of Iowa's farming country, and the sight was a revelation. They had come expecting great things. What they saw far exceeded their expectations.

The party of about 80 left Ames by special train early in the morning of July 16. The going trip was made by way of Carroll, giving the visitors a bird's eye view of a prosperous section of the state. Elaborate arrangements for entertaining the visitors had been made by the people of Odebolt and vicinity. Twenty-seven automobiles were lined up in front of the station. The best part of it was that two-thirds of the cars belonged to farmers. The farmers in the vicinity of Odebolt have spent $30,000 for automobiles since the first of January, but they still have over half a million dollars in the three banks of that town, so their extravagance does not need to cause financial embarrassment in the east.

 

BROOKMONT FARM

The entire delegation were loaded into the autos and taken to the noted Cook farm. The Cook farm was at one time the largest in the state, but has since been considerably reduced in size in order that it might be managed more effectively. Mr. Cook has abandoned his former plan of managing the entire farm through a foreman system, and is now renting a large share of his 3500 acres to selected tenants, furnishing everything and getting a share of the crop. All feed grown on the farm is fed there. Cook's specialty is Herefords, and Brookmont farm has long been noted for the excellence of its Whitefaces. By keeping a large amount of live stock, the Cook farm has been raised to a high state of fertility. Mr. Cook is especially proud of his pastures, which are good enough to support considerably more than one steer to the acre. At noon an excellent picnic dinner was served on the commodious lawn at Brookmont.

 


W. A. Helsell with one of his fine horses.

LOOKOUT FARM

After inspecting the barns and live stock the party was taken to the W.A. Helsell farm west of Odebolt. This is a 900 acre ranch owned by a prosperous attorney with strong leanings toward agriculture and Angus cattle. Mr. Helsell also has a number of fine standard bred horses, and he takes a great deal more pride in them than he does in his automobile. His farm is a good example of practical farm management.

 

FAIRVIEW FARM

The next stop was at the Adams farm with nearly ten sections - 6160 acres, to be exact - lying in one contiguous tract, this is the largest farm in the state. Organized and operated on strict business principles, the Adams farm is a striking object lesson of the value of business methods on the farm. The fields, for the most part, are laid off by sections - corn rows a mile long and oat fields a mile square. Sixty miles of woven wire fencing and concrete posts separate the fields from the roadways.

The farm is managed from a central plant and two sub-stations. The main set of buildings is located in the center of a section, with a diagonal elm-bordered driveway running to each corner. The corn cribs, elevators and machine sheds, together with the mess and bunk houses, the mule barns and the residences, make an establishment that looks more like a manufacturing plant than a farm yard. The largest building is the mule barn, 50 x 232 feet in size. The motive power of the farm is furnished almost entirely by big Missouri mules, shipped up from St. Louis.

The farm is under the direct supervision of a manager. Under him are ten or twelve foremen. At this time of year there are about 140 men employed. They are housed and fed on the place. Although there is always [unreadable] or [unreadable] shifting, Mr. Adams has very little trouble with the labor problem. Probably one of the main reasons for this is the wage scale, which is so arranged as to make it to a man's advantage to stay as long as he is wanted.

Aside from the mules, there is little live stock on the farm with the exception of sheep. The sheep sheds will easily accommodate 14,000 sheep, which is the number that were fed out last winter. A consistent rotation is followed, consisting of two years corn, one year oats, one year corn, one year oats, and one or two years of clover. About one section a year is manured. The cultivation is of the best, scarcely a weed being in evidence on the whole place. Under this system Mr. Adams has laid by million dollars in profits during the past fourteen years, which is not so bad. He is still prospering, and from all indications seems likely to do so for some time to come.

 

ECHO VALLEY FARM

From the Adams place the party went to the Henry Hanson farm. This is a place that would delight the heart of Joe Wing. Everything is cement, from water troughs and chicken roosts to the dwelling house. Even the stall partitions in the horse barn are of cement. It will take more than an occasional stray wind to blow away the Hanson place. Mr. Hanson has taken especial pains to conserve the liquid manure. It is taken by drains to an underground cistern, from which it is pumped out once a year and spread on the fields. The Hanson farmstead presents a very attractive appearance, and the only regret of the visitors was that they could not stay longer.

While these were the only farms at which stops could be made, on account of the limited time, the whole territory about Odebolt is dotted with prosperous farms that would be well worth visiting. The whole countryside wears an air of prosperity that is the Iowa trade mark. Just rolling enough to provide good drainage, with no steep hills and no wet draws, there is not a foot of soil around Odebolt that is not tillable. The soil is of such inexhaustible fertility that centuries must elapse before the fertilizer price list takes the place of the automobile catalogue.

After a supper served by the Methodist ladies, at which the best of Iowa products were served by some of the best of Iowa's cooks, the party left for Ames, satisfied that they had seen the bread basket of the world from the inside.
- C.V. Gregory

[Transcribed by B. Horak]

 

THE CHRONICLE, Vol. XXIV, No. 12,  July 21, 1910

ENTHUSIASTIC VISITORS
Eighty Members of the Graduate School of Agriculture at Ames View
Odebolt and its Trade Territory and Call it the Finest Country in the World

Saturday forenoon at 11:15 a special train from Ames carrying eighty students of the Graduate School of Agriculture, now in session at the State College of Agriculture, Ames, pulled into Odebolt.  Among the visitors were included distinguished specialists and agricultural journalists representing nearly every state and also Canada and Cuba.  Awaiting them were twenty-six autos, whose owners generously contributed their time and machines, and the visitors were soon seated and started on a trip of thirty-eight miles.  The route was north to Brookmont farm; thence west and south to Arthur; thence east to Lookout farm; thence southeast through the Adams farm and south to the Echo Valley farm of Henry Hanson & Son; thence north to Odebolt.  The autos went at a slow pace in order that the visitors might have opportunity to see everything along the line.  At Brookmont farm a stop was made for lunch, which Mrs. Cook had provided, and every one in the party partook of the many good things prepared by their charming hostess.  Stops were made at Lookout farm, the Adams and Echo Valley farms, and at 5:30 the autos streamed back into town, where the visitors, chauffeurs and the Odebolt people who accompanied them on the trip were served with an excellent supper in the Methodist church parlors, prepared by the ladies of the church and paid for by contributions of public spirited citizens.  At 7:30 p.m. the party left for home.

ag_meeting16july1910.jpg (103795 bytes)
(Click photo to enlarge)
A photo of the group at Brookmont Farm where they stopped for lunch

A more enthusiastic party never visited this section of the country.  Without exception they declared that Odebolt was the prettiest town they had seen in the west and that the country adjacent was the garden spot of the world, surpassing all their expectations.  Many of them had heard of Odebolt and its trade territory, and at their solicitation Profs. Curtiss and Kennedy arranged for a visit to what had been represented to them as the finest country in the United States.  Mr. Kennedy came to Odebolt and asked if our citizens would furnish autos for the trip and provide supper.  Mayor Graham called a meeting and appointed committees and arrangements were made which were complete in detail and eminently satisfactory to all.  It was the best advertisement Odebolt ever had and worth a thousand times its cost. 

The autos for the trip were contributed by W. M. Dean, John Fuchs, A. C. Petersmeyer, F. J. Dinges, Dr. A. Groman, John R. Mattes, Dr. C. J. Hinkley, Chas. E. Larson, John Briggel, August H. W. Reuber, A. J. Paul, S. E. Kurtz, O. E. Huglin, J. A. Cranston, John Pfeiffer, Will Drury, A. P. Nilson, Chas. W. Irwin, A. E. Cook, Ira Conger, Arthur Mason, Ben Broughton, Scott Rutledge, Alden Armstrong, Joseph Konradi and Henry Hanson.  G. P. Weitzel and G. H. Frey also offered the use of their machines, but there were enough without them.  The courtesy of the auto owners was highly appreciated by those in charge of the arrangements, and special thanks are due those who brought their machines from distant points to aid in making the reception a success.

[Transcribed by B. Ekse]

Also see
Brookmont Farm
Adams Ranch
Henry Hanson


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