The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1898-09-04
SUCCESS OF A BOY FARMER.
How n Flfteen-Year-OId Youth Man
aged a Farm, Made Money and
Cared for Brother and Sister.

How n Flfteen-Year-O1d Youth Man
aged a Farm, Made Money and
Cared for Brother and Sister.
From Crookston (Minn) Dispatch.
Charley Johanson, known in the Red
River Valley as the bonanza boy farmer,
expects to clear nearly 5000 on his farm
this year. FIe is seventeen years old and
has a brother, Frank, aged fourteen, and
sister, Lena, aged eleven.
Twelve years ago John Johanson came
here from Norway, bought few farming
utensils and a team of broken-down car
horses, and one bright April morning in
1889 left Chicago, headed toward the great
Northwest After weeks of travelling over
rough roads, the half-starVed man and
WORKOUT horses arrived at Crookston.
Here misfortune overlook him. One horse
died and the other broke a leg and had to
be shot 1t was a crushing blow to johann
son. Half his earnings for nearly two
years were gone. 1t meant two more years
of struggling before he could have his
family with him, but he set at work pluck
lily, and in the fall of 1890 entered home
stead on 100 acres of faeming land about
thirty miles from here. He bought horse,
some lumber and tools with the money he
had earned and before the first snow had
| put up small shanty on his claim. Here
| he lived all winter, undergoing a great
| deal Of hardship. The next summer he
worked for his old employer, but in 1892
| he worked his own farm, produced his
| first crop of wheat, and cleared enough
money to enable him to send for his fam
| lily in Norway
About this time his wife died and the
| three children were left alone. The United
| States consul was consulted and he Sc
cured passage for them on a trans-Atan-
Il t. rx.I ~ E.-,rv H..
| soon on their way to their new home. The
| children arrived in Crookston all right
In the fall of 1896, after five years con-
| tinuous residence on his claim, in only one
| of which Johnson's crop failed, he took
| out his second papers, became a full
| edhged citizen of the United States and
| secured a patent from the government for
| the land. 1t was shortly after this that
| he was mortally hurt in an accident He
| lived in an almost helpless condition for
six months, during which all the respon-
| slbilities of the household and farm fell
on the shoulders of Charley, who was fif-
| teen years Old.
! After his fathers death Charley per-
| suaded the guardian of the three chill
| dren not to sell the farm, but to let him
| and his brother and sister try to run it.
| He hired a man on shares to help him
| with the heavy work, while Frank and
| Lena looked after the poultry, the Vege-
table garden and the two cows. All three
| pitched in and did the housework. The
| first crop was a success and brought a
| handsome price. A Minneapolis grain
| man who was travelling through the coun-
| try buying wheat during the harvest took
| the entire crop for Charley and handed
| over to him 81, 800 clear profit for 1897 This
| stimulated Charley's ambition, and he i'm
| mediately began to make preparations for
| the harvest of 1898. Improved farming
| implements were purchased, woman was
| hired to do the homework, Frank and
| Lena were sent to school, and two men
were employed and put to work breaking
| In new land for the next seasons crop At
| the suggestion of his Minneapolis friend
| 100 more chickens were purchased. and this
| branch of the business was turned over
| to Lena and Frank. The wheat crop is a
| phenomenal one. 1t Is estimated at TWEEN
| ty-eight bushels of wheat to the acre.
| Harvesting has begun and the crop will
soon be marketed. The profit on the wheat
| alone 1t Is estimated, Will reach $1,000,
| while the fax win bring $3.50 more, and the
| chickens have already earned $50 more
| than their keep with the holidays coming
| on when the young chickens will be killed
! and marketed.
You remind me so much of my poor,
| T.o,s frs