Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1881-09-29
r. b. HAYES-HIS FARM.
A Visit to the Famous Farm Owned
by the Ex-President or the United
states---A sample or Economy---A
Large Field for the Henefaetor. or
Mankind.
Correspondence of the Inter Ocean.

MdnksGu.
Correspondence of the Inter Ocean.
BISMARCK, Dakota, Aug. 2O.-An old
Spanish proverb has it, that s'he is a
benefactor of man who makes two
blades of grass to grow where only one
grew before"
There is plenty of room for bene-
factors ia this part of the country,
Stretching for leagues, north AMI south
of us, lie millions of acres of rolling
prairie, great pillows of earth, covered
with ripened buffalo grass Of beautiful
gray, waiting for benefactors of men to
come and till them; and if he who
makes two blades of grass to grow
where only one grew before does such
a service to mankind, what shall be
said of him who replaces these miles
of useless, but rich soil, with fields OF
grain, bearing twenty-five and thirty
bushels to the acre of "No. hard
and sells his crop at 81 40 a bushel, as
President Hayes did last year.
Verify, he hath his reward.
| asked gentleman who had been
successful at farming, the other day,
why Lilio CoultIy, Will lIS
INExHAUsTABLE MINES OF WEALTH,
lying only two inches or so under the
surface, was not filed with men reap
ing the harvests, and storing the easily
gained thousands, like himself.
His only answer was a remark that
men were reluctant to become pioneers
But the pioneers are here. They have
tried the country, and found it good
and while the growth of population has
been comparatively slow, judge that
this year will see the greatest advance
| asked Colonel Lounsberry, the genia
Postmaster at the booming town of Bis
marck, how the place got its name.
He said that about the time of the
International Exhibition at Vienna the
Northern Pacific Railroad was complet
ed to the Missouri River, and Jay Cooke
attempted to settle the country by for
eign immigration. The new territory
thus opened was extensively advertised
and as trick of the trade the name o.
the great German Chancellor was given
to the new town at the then terminus
of the line.
But the scheme did not succeed, as
the Bismarck of to-day, with its 2,50(
population, has as little of the German
element as any town in New England
1t is purely and distinctively '.nerican
THE HAYES FARM.
Elk President Hayes owns a farm
about six miles north of Bismarck,
near the Missouri River He pur-
chased it in 1876 with Northern Pacific
stock, which was then at dead-low tide
in the market, being quoted at about
Is cents on the dollar; so that the land
cost him but trifle, the stock being
interchangeable for land at the rate oil
s. an acre par. The land thus OBJ
tanned at about 60 or rs cents an acre
is now worth about Sl5, so that the ex-
Presidents faith in the Northern Pa
cific has been we'll justified
The farm is managed by a Mr.. Cush-
man, the collector Of customs here--a
relative of the amiable W. X. Rogers,
who used to be the presidents private
secretary. 1t is said that Mr.. Cushman
manages the farm for nothing, and it
looks rs if he did. While the crops
have always been superb, and the farm
has paid for itself many times over
every year it has been cultivated, none
Of the profits have been spent in inn
proven ents, and the buildings are
IN VERY POOR SHAPE.
Mr.. Hayes, in his farming, exempli-
flies his well-known disposition to make
all he can and save all he makes-the
Yankee rule for getting rich The
house is shanty, the barns are worse,
and there is none of that neat attrac-
tiveness that is seen so commonly
among the Dakota farms 1t is the
most shabby place l have seen in Da-
kota.
But the farm is famous for its big
crops. Five hundred acres are in
wheat. Last year the yield was twenty
six bushels to the acre, and the crop
cost s. an acre. That Mr.. Hayes is
economical, will be seen when it is
stated that 81 20 an acre is the average
cost of tillage. The wheat was sold at
the enormous price of Sl.40 a bushel
last year, so that Mr.. Hayes reaped a
profit of about $4,000 from his 500
acres.
1t should be explained that the enor-
nous price received for the wheat
came from the local demand, a large
Touring mill having been erected at
Bismarck, and flour was very high here
then.
This year Mr.. Cushman has 800 acres
in wheat, his crop being twenty-five
bushels an acre, and 200 acres in oats,
the crop being about forty bushels to
the acre. Both crops viii be sold for
local consumption, and Mr., Hayes will
receive about 81 80 for his wheat and
about IS cents for his oats, so that his
farm continues to be profitable in
vestment.
a H.. L.. .s....