Omaha daily bee., 1892-04-24

farm. Although he was not among the first
o settle in Madison county, and vet got his
land cheap, he thinks there Is q better show
for poor man hero now than when he came.
George Bryant.
George Bryant Is the owner OF one OF the
incest little farms IN Madison county. He
took a homestead six miles southwest Of
Madison In 1870 and worried through the
grasshopper years along with his nei9hbors.
He has since added 100 acres to IL, making q
half section. 1t is all under cultivation and
well improved In every way. MIR. Bryant
has splendid house and ample barn and
shed room. AT first he sold some corn, but
of late years feeds IL all and buys more. Last
years corn crop was rather poor, averaging
thirty-fve to forty bushels per acre on his
farm. Raises some wheat every year. lie
has met with some losses, especially hogs, OF
which he lost a., 900 worth at least. AS an
example of the hard times the early settlers
encountered and the small amount of money
they were permitted to handle Mr.. Bryant
states that at one time for sixteen months at
stretch he never handled one cent. He
bought his -four with butter and eggs and al
most went naked. He lives in better style
now, and dug his prosperity all out of the
soil
II. w. Barnes.
F. w. Barnes Is known among his neigh
bors as the original proprietor OF the site OF
tne city OF MaQlSOn, lie pre-elnpJeu tuo
quarter section the center OF which Is now
about the center of the city, IN the spring OF
1867, never dreaming that some day county
scat town would spring up on ms
patch of wild land. But IL did, and Mr..
Barnes is now better fixed than he was then.
In fact, he had nothing but his claim those
days, not even neighbors. He bought lum-
Der III Omaha at Sl50 a thousand to puild
shanty, and went to Columbus, forty-elght
miles, for his mail. Mr.. Barnes stayed in
al, ,tNpa t,ofA t,rr 70 adj
county, and then drove cattle through for
other parties He broke his land with oxen
and raised crops under the well known dihi.
cuties of that period. But he saved q little
money and bought more land in later years,
perhaps over a thousand acres in all, selling
off some aud buying more, but he always
stuck to his first love. He now owns only
200 acres of land and pays no attention TO
farming, having established the First Ma
tonal bank several years ago. The city OF
Madison has made MIR. Barnes wealthy, but
it all grew out of that pre-emptlon claim on
which he braved pioneer life and expected to
farm it while he lived. From that little ven-
ture he has disposed Of $4,000 worth OF lots
and has some left. When Mr.. Barnes began
life in Madison county there was not road
or bridge across stream; the postoffice
was forty-elght miles away, the nearest gem
eral supply place was Omaha, 12O miles, and
the nearest grist mill on Logan creek, sew
enty-five miles distant. But the most dis
troubled more or less every year and finally
rounded up with grand three years ban
quet, during which time, in 1924, they
took everything.
Gottleib Bittner.
Gotteb B;ttner who is now one OF the
largest farmers in Madison county, lives on
Union creek few miles west of Madison.
He settled there in 1866, in company with
some brothers, brothers-in-law aud his aged
mother, all taking homesteads. He had
small amount of means to start with, Whlch
was big thing in those days, and has im-
proved his opportunities so we'll that he now
owns a large number of farms bought from
his neighbors who were less thrifty and
could give his check for $4,000. He is
strictly farmer, raises corn. hogs and cat
tie and hauls the manu!e on to his fields.
Sawed Wood.
C. F. Haase resides on his splendid little
farm of 800 acres, two and half miles from
Norfolk near the sugar factory His history
is similar to that of many of the representa-
tive farmers of Madison county. He first
took q homestead and settled on 1t, but had
absolutely nothing to live on. and In early
years, 1912 used to walk to Norfolk with
his saw and buck on his back, no matter how
severe the weather, and saw wood for some
of the six or eight families who lived there
The % or 80 cents he could make in that way
was absolutely necessary to keep his family
from starving. He is now worth at least
farm He has never speculated, bought and
sold, or anything of the kind, and might have
been worth more money If he could have
kept stock earlier in his farming history.
w. II. Lowe.
w. H. Lowe is one Of the best known men
in Madison county, being identified with tho
early settlement of the county. He home
steaded land in Cunning county In 1862 sold
his claim and came to Norfolk IN April, 1871.
Like many others he claims he allowed good
opportunities to 20 by and for that reason he
has not prospered as he might have DONE In
the grasshopper years, lS74-5.6 ne could
have bought quarter sections OF choice lands
almost anywhere from $3.50 to $500 which are
now worth $1,000. Can call to mind fifty
men who were forced to remain on their
claims, because nobody would Duy them. ana
are now comparatively wealthy men, made
so from tho product of the soil. In the
twenty three years he has been hero has
never known of drought sufficient to af-
feet crops to any extent. The grasshopper
days were tho times that tried mems souls
and stomachs too, but that is all past. Mr..
Lowe speaks encouragingly of tho beet sugar
industry and says it cannot fail to become an
important source of income to the farmer.
True there are some discouraRing features
connected with the management OF the
business under present conditions, but few
years will suffice to place the manufactures
in the hands of the people and in the mean
time farmers will learn all about raising aud
marketing the plants. So far 1T Is all ex-
pertinent, but even tho first year with us
was not altogether unsatisfactory. Mr..
Lowe claims that beets assayihg IA TO 10 per
cent of saccharIne against to IL per cent IN
the old countries, raised on land worth S25 or
$40 per acre against 5000 land in Germany,
and yield about the same number OF tons per
acre without fertilizing is bound to be pay
ing business.
An EightyAcre Farm.
Thirteen years ago j. f.. Horr bought
eighty acres Of land near Norfolk for $500
ana farmed it in the usual manner, raising G
corn, hogs and cattle and never dreamed
that his little farm would ever De OF value
for anything but farm land. Norfolk did
not begin to grow for several years at,er
that, but now it is crowding Mr. Horr off
his land. He plated one forty and sold it in
acre lots at $3.50 lot, and has been offered
5000 an acre for tho other forty Mr.. Horr
is well known shipper of live stock ana for
years paid $50 car TO Chicago. He can how
get a car to Omaha for S2S. He tells of Que
of his neighbors who went TO mill and had to
wait three weeks for his grlst, SO he took his
OK team aud went to plowing near the mill
and came home with more money in his
pocket than he had ever had before. In
those days men were always willing to work,
but they could not always get the chance to
work for money.
Started at the Bottom.
George Williams is one OF the successful
Madison county farmers, who started at the