Martin Halstead Hartung, who since 1907 has been engaged in the land business in Wyoming, handling farm lands and ranches under the firm name of the Hartung Land Company, with office in Cheyenne, was born on a farm in Benton County, Iowa, December 1. 1870, his parents being Martin and Martha (Halstead) Hartung, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania, whence they removed westward, becoming pioneer settlers of Iowa.
    Under the parental roof Martin H. Hartung was reared and his education was acquired in the schools of Des Moines, Iowa. In his boyhood days he lived upon the home farm, meeting with the usual experiences that fall to the lot of the farmbred boy. Shortly after completing his school work in Des Moines he secured a position in the Cedar Rapids (Ia.) National Bank, with which he was connected until he resigned to engage in the book, stationery and wall paper business in Des Moines. Having always been interested in live stock, he at length disposed of his commercial interests in Des Moines and removed to Wyoming to become secretary and manager of the Camp Stool ranch, fourteen miles east of Cheyenne, he resided thereon until the settlers began coming in from the east in considerable numbers and proved that farming was a success on what had been previously considered only grazing land. Recognizing the great opportunity for the development of this region as a farming district, he then turned his attention to the land business about 1907, organizing the Hartung Land Company, under which name he still continues In handle farm lands and ranches. He has negotiated many sales which have made his business a large and profitable one and through this agency he has done much to develop the agricultural possibilities of his section of the state.
    In Des Moines, Iowa, on the 27^th of November, 1895, Mr. Hartung was united in marriage to Miss Christine Gilcrest, a daughter of J. K. Gilcrest, a pioneer lumberman and capitalist of Iowa, who became the founder of the Gilcrest Lumber Company of that city in the year 1856. To Mr. and Mrs. Hartung has been born a son, Kirk Gilcrest Hartung, who is now being educated at the Colorado School of Mines at Golden, Colorado, where he is pursuing; a mining engineer's course.
    Mr. and Mrs. Hartung are very active in the social and club life of Cheyenne. Fraternally he is a thirty-second degree Mason and member of the Mystic Shrine. In politics he is a stalwart republican of the standpat variety, giving unswerving allegiance to the principles in which he believes. He was elected to represent the district in the state legislature, becoming a nicnilier of the ninth and tenth general assemblies and occupying the position of speaker pro tem, during his second term. The Wyoming Tribune stated that: "The name of Martin H. Hartung and dry farming are so closely associated that to mention one is to suggest the other, and this is not only in the fact that Mr. Hartung was chairman of the board of control of the National Dry Farming Congress, but that he is also the author of the dry farming appropriation bill, which, together with a bill compelling railroads to fence their rights of way for the better protection of the stock and range, were notable features in the ninth general assembly." This quotation indicates something of the important work which Mr. Hartung did as a member of the state legislature.
    He has closely studied the possibilities of Wyoming for agricultural development, and becoming convinced that its lands are necessarily rich and productive, he has done much to bring about the settlement of the section of the state around Cheyenne and convert it into highly cultivated fields, from which are annually gathered extensive crops. While he has prospered in his undertakings, the public has been a large and direct beneficiary of his labors.