The Somerset herald. [volume] (Somerset, Pa.) 1870-1936, 1885-06-10

whizzes by Highspire, a little rail-
road station perhaps eight miles out,
it plunges into a succession of white
fences and red gates, with here and
there an immense barn painted In
the same colors. The acres appear
10 be in the highest state of cultiva-
ton. They are beautiful to look
upon, and are as profitable as they
are beautiful. After two miles OF
this the engine rushes by an iron
foundry. with black smoke belching
from its tall chimney, and draws up
at the station at Middletown. Just
here the unsophisticated traveller
will turn to the man in the seat
behind him and ask:
"Who owns all that land back
there?n
And the man In the seat behind,
who is pretty sure to be one of the
PSI members of the Legislature, will
answer:
s There are eight farms there, or
were originally, for they have all
been turned into one farm now.
There are over 900 acres in them.
Just'below the town here are two
more farms and the entire estate COW
ers1something like 100 acres Who
owns it? Why, Jim Young. He
lives here in Middletown.
Middietown is a very old place.
1t was here that Gen. Simon Cam
eron, when he began to rise into
prominence, was a bank cashier.
The biggest man in the place to-
day is Col. James Young, familiar
ly known TO everybody as Jim.
Col. Jim Young lives in a big
brick house, facing the business street
of Middletown. Itis within a stones
throw of the railway station, and
the front room in it is an office.
Here he pays his men, hires them
by the dozen in the busy season,
and transacts his bushes. The NAM
es of good many prominent men
appear on his visitors book If the
farmer has time to drive you around
his possessions it il a trip worth TAX
ing. Out of the busy town and into
the farming land is question of but
few moments. The Young farm is
easily recognized the moment the
horses foot falls upon its soil. 1t is
different from all others. The fresh
white-washed fences are winter than
others, the red gates are redder and
the grain and grass are greener. A
short drive and the trotter passes the
Eagle Farm, so called from the i'm
mense eagle which surmounts it,
and enters road leading to Grand
View, perhaps mile beyond. The
road is as level as billiard table
and as smooth. Trees line the sides.
II is Col. Young's race track, and it
is here that he tries his new horses.
Like the wind the fast trotter speeds
down the road and draws up at the
Grand View farm. Near the great
barn stands a pretty house, with a
cupola on top, and from this cupola
on top, an idea lof the farm can be
obtained.
II is a beautiful sight. Just below
is an orchard which gives place to
fields of green, ,sloping gently toward
the Susquehanna, which flashes
back the sunlight in the distance.
Within sight,running into each
other are the eight farms that
Col. Young has gradually acquired.
A thousand acres of wheat, oats,
grass, and clover spread themselves
out in all directions. There is the
Fair View Farm, the Eagle Farm,
the Rose Dale, the Oak Lane, the
Thorn Dale, the Keystope and the
Roland. On one of them, away off
there in the distance, with the roof
of the barn just showing, is where
he raises his stock. Here at the
Grand View the young calves from
the stock farm are kept
Each one of these eight farms has
an immense barn and comfortable
house. There is a tenant in each
house who looks out for details.
while there is a foreman to super
wise generally. Every thing is done
by machinery. Down at the stock
farm, with its long rows of Jerseys,
all the water is pumped bya wind
mill. A steam engine thrashes all
the wheat and cuts the feed for the
cattle. The best of labor-saving
machines cut the grain when ripe
for the harvest Few vegetables,
comparatively, are raised, wheat,
oats and corn being the staple pro-
ductions. But what strawberries the
Colonel raises when he feels like it
The berries that will ripen soon will
be as large as English walnuts and
as sweet as sugar.
1t is not difficult to understand,
up here in the cupola of the Grand
View, the immense amount of work
that has been done on this great
farm. Let your eye wander where
it will and there is nothing to mar
the pleasing impression. Not a
rock is TO be seen nor an angle. In
place of corners the curve of beauty
has been substituted. There are no
abrupt hills or mounds. All such
have been rounded off until there is
level surface, or a gently undula-
ting one everywhere. The entire
place seems to be as a parlor. 1t is
q Col. Young's pride to keep it so.
Once he went across the country to
California and visited all the farms
he could find.
To the left of, the Grand View {
cupola the spires and chimneys OF
Middletown raise their heads. Be-
yond the town is cluster of hills,
The highest of all is Col. Young's
Sunset Farm. At the foot of the
hill is Locust Grove. Here are 30C
acres, on which live two tenants and
a foreman. The hill farms were.lit.
tie more than mountains of rocks
when they were purchased, and all
Middletown called the farmer a foo
at the time. It was during the Fl.
nancial panic of the Hays admins
tration when improvements began
Labor was very cheap then, and
when anybody applied Col. Young.
Office for employment he was set tc
work blasting rocks at Sunset ano
Locust Grove. Gradually the two