The weekly pioneer and Democrat. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. Territory) 1855-1865, 1863-10-02
SAINT PAUL. FRIDAY, OCTOBER 2, 1865

| III Cuo idtullldf conversation Oh Tile way,
we learned from him the history of his
early life, his struggles with poverty, and
his gradual success, from the time he emf
grated to Illinois, nearly forty years ago,
with but a few dollars in his pocket, until
now, when his landed estate covers an
area OF full forty square miles (25,650
acres)!
We have space but for a few of the
more interesting items Mr.. Funk arrived
in Illinois and commenced work in 1924.
In 1926 he gathered up 110 head of cattle
and started. with them to market in
| Ohio, About $50 miles distant, much of
the route through the woods Of Indiana
| and Western Ohio. They werc thirty-on
to thirty-two days on the road. The dri-
vers rode ON horseback, carrying their
provisions, and camping out with the
drove. The first price -realized for the
cattle was 1925 per head, and afterwards
it gradually rose to S125O and then to
! $500, and droves were increased to 200
and $50 head. To make up these droves,
several settlers turned in their cattle and
received an agreed price, or a proportion
| OF the sales, on the return of the drover.
AS fast as the results Of these
enterprises, and of raising and feeding
cattle, furnished the means, Mr.. Funk
purchased land at the government
price of $1,25 per acre, and about one
third of his present estate was secured on
these terms. The other tWO-thirds have
been purchased OF others, at prices rang
ing from S. so up to $50 per acre. Mr..
E,,ply hoe ,>o;1 +bo Ttl;p<,;, Noptrol pail
road Company alone, some $4,000 for
portions Of their land lying adjacent to his
original purchases. We entered upon the
main farm some six or seven miles from
Bloomington. This consists of 2O,50O
acres, in one tract, longest from east to
west, with farms owned by others iutting
into it at several points. (The balance,
about 5000 acres, is located east and
northeast of Bloomington The general
character of the main farm is prairie, but
there is abundant timber along Sugar
Greek, which runs through the estate in
southwest direction, and which, with its
branches, furnishes au abundant supply Of
living water for the stock, throughout dry
est seasons. The surface is rolling, and
the sloughs pronounced sloos) are so To-
Gated that nearly the whole can be drained.
This feature, together with the woodland,
the running water, and the general fertil-
fly, render the whole tract one of the best
in the State.
About three thousand acres are devoted
to corn, and small portion to other crops,
including improved grasses; the great
bulk is natural grass pasture. The corn
land is mostly let out on shares. The
cultivators usually return fifths of this
crop for the use of the land, Including
certain other privileges, and Nj. Funk
then buys their three fifths. This is gen.
orally taken in the field, unhusked. A few
average shocks are selected by the two
parties, and husked, and the whole num-
ber of shocks is then counted, and reck-
oned in bushels by the product of the
husked ones. The price is fixed by the
average price of corn in the country, for
eight or ten miles around, or at two or
three cents per bushel below the value of
shelled corn at the nearest market town.
The main business of the farm is the
pasturage and feeding of cattle for beef.
These are purchased from the surrounding
country, pastured for season, fed with
corn in the winter, and the next season
sold to dealers to go to distant markets,
usually New York city. Mr.. Funk says
he finds it most profitable to buy only the
best cattle. Generally, however, he is
obliged to take them in lots. In this case
the best are fitted for market first, and
smaller and poorer animalsare kept year
longer. A few cattle are raised on the farm.
We noticed "little bunch of $50 COWS
with their calves. The calves run with
their dams, and have all the milk. Only
good COWS are used for this purpose; the
sires used are or ! Durhams (shorthorn).
Generally, Mr.. F. buys cattle to use up
most of his pasturage, but sometimes,
when cattle are high, and the future price
of beef quite uncertain, he takes hundred
or thousand cattle to pasture, at thirty
to fifty cents each per month. He keeps
400 or 500 hogs, or just enough to eat up
the waste corn left by the cattle, to which
the corn is fed on the stocks. He has only
800 or 1000 sheep at present, and some
800 horses and mules. About sixty mule
colts are raised each year. The breeding
mares are not put into the harness at all.
The cattle are sorted into droves of
similar ages, about 200 to drove. The
pasture fields are so arranged as to have
running water in each. The animals are
salted twice week; the salter taking two
or three barrels upon a wagon, drives out
to the herds and scatters the salt upon
the ground, spreading it SO much that the
weaker animals shall have access to it.
Though we are accustomed to see three
or four thousand head of cattle in the
yards on market days, we were much in
terested in observing a herd of two or
three hundred come scampering across the
field at the familiar call of "po-o-o, po-o-o, >
to receive their expected salt rations. And
fuch tieldsi 500 acres in one; 1000 in
another; 1900 in another, and 2, 500 acres