Bismarck weekly tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1943, 1890-06-27
That is What the Farmers Of Bur-
leigh County are Hum
ming Just Now.
A Little Biography OF Mathew Gun.
nan and His Experience at
Farming Near Bismarck.
Clarence Price, the GARNER Prince
and a Word or Two About the.
P~enitentiary Garden.
Twenty Years on the Slope.

BISMARCK, June 23.-[Special. l-Mathew
Cunnan was born in 1916 IN county of Sill
20, Ireland. MY FIRST experience in the
northwest was at Fort Buford in 1870,
where l went in the employ of Col. Blunt,
quartermaster, and as a stone mason
helped in building the post. When l got
through there I came down to work at
Fort Abraham Lincoln which was being
established at that time. This was before
the railroad reached Bismarck, in 1873. l
filed on the northwest quarter Of section
2S-1S9 80-built a log house, sunk a we'll and
broke eight acres. Col. VIM. Thompson
was on the southwest quarter of %, on
which Paddy Whalin had built a cabin,
but let the colonel have it,"
&c. II. Fairchild secured a claim on the
northwest corner of section 28-Dalameter
-afterward DR.. Porter on the southwest
corner of section %, and Singheiser, after
him John Richards on the southeast quar-
ter OF section 2S-all pretty good neigh
bors, weren't they?
81 had a contest with Charles Galloway,
lasting over a year and a half. Aftel 1 won
l began to improve the land for general
farming. 1t was In 1880. l seeded a part
to grain and finding it grew we'll and the
crop and prices were good l continued
seeding to grain, always planting a few
acres to potatoes and vegetables. At the
time of the big boom excitement l reluct-
antly sold eighty acres to Van Epps of
Sioux Falls and others for $4,000. l con-
tinued cropping the other eighty.
| have had two crops of wheat and oats that
yielded heavily and sold well and three
that yielded fairly and sold at a lower
price. By hot winds in '84 or '85 l lost the
crop, getting back only the seed. The cold
threshing l lost 500 bushels Of oats by fire
that originated from the engine. I saved
400 of oats and $50 of wheat. Last season,
1889, was a complete failure, caused by
drouth. l have been fearful for
the past two years that the
and that 1 would have to quit farming;
still, l seeded the place to twenty-fve acres
OF wheat, twenty five of oats, two of pota-
toes and planted a garden. l think l
struck It,, as my crop looks very good and
the land is thoroughly wet. This has re-
always known that with a fair amount of
rain good crops could be grown here. The
soil is very rich and durable and stands
dry weather better than l thought it could.
The heavy fall of rain we are now getting
will fix the land for a long time. 1 have
always raised a crop of vegetables. Why,
last year, the dryest season in twenty
years that l have been in this part of the
northwest, l got a good yield of potatoes.
81 have as good water OF my land as
there is in the state. l used to hire help
on the place, but found that it did not pay:
that l must work the land myself, which,
reasonable in price than in the early days,
l find the labor not so very hard. l
invested a part of the money
received for the eighty I sold in city prop
erty, in W lots on Second street, eight in
Fishers addition, and built a new resi-
dence on Fourth street joining my old
good health here, so has my wife until the
last year or two. She is better now. We
like Bismarck as a place to live and think
that in a short time the bad effects of the
dry seasons will have passed away. This
is not the only place that has suffered by
portion OF the country that has been
flooded and drowned out. l hear and read
of much complaint by farmers all over the
United States and Canada. 1t may be that
too many have engaged in grain raising.
If so they will soon find it out and change
| W Ut1lCl pIOuuCIS. 1 dlu WdGCuluK Tile move
ments toward sheep. think that's a good
thing for this country"
Mr.. Cunnan's eighty is a half mile i'm
mediately north Of the state capitol, and is
as good an eighty as can be found. 1t
slopes to the south and east and is under
wire fence. Nothing has been done on the
eighty bought for speculation since it was
plated. 1t would look better under fence
and in crop, and its value would be en-
HANGED.
CLARENCE PRICE.
Clarence Price, the young farmer prince,
who is about to make a visit to the coast to
satisfy his own individual mind in regard
to that country, has taken the ]precaution
to leave a GRUB stake" at home for use on
his return.
In the spring of 1880 (why, it's ten years
ago) Clarence, then in the bloom of health
and vigor, dropped off the Northern Pa
citic cars. He came direct from Cincin-
section l0-1S8-79, and since that time has
been a true and faithful farmer. We
haven't the record he has made, but the
mere fact that he has grown in weight
over fifty. pounds since his arrival; that he
always has a happy %countenance, is
| place, 800 acres, in charge of Mr.. Wilson.
The crop consists of 100 acres of wheat, so
Of oats, 40 of millet, rs OF corn and 2 acres
OF garden truck.
He says; ats way up; never looked bet
ter. Hope it will turn out as good as it
now looks"
We all hope so TOO, and then when the
:scold, chilly winds of December strike
the Cascade range boom, Clarence will find
the "old log cabin home" a pleasure resort
that he will return to and appreciate. 1t
is to be hoped that he will not return sing
ing.
I'm hard up! I'm hard up, and never can for
The day that I was better off, may be we'll off
yet"
THE GARDEN AT THE PENITENTIARY.
Warden Williams has leased the j. II.
Marshall quarter, northeast 2-1S8-8O, cor
nering on the penitentiary grounds. 1t is
all under fence and Hay creek runs
through it,. A portion of this is used as
pasture and twenty acres are seeded to
millet and four acres nearest the prison are
fenced and has pipes laid to it to conduct
water from the big tank in the prison
yard. In this four acres daily Deputy War
den Haggart and another officer take a
number of the prisoners out for exercise at
-#HEN