The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1898-12-06
FORTY SQUARE MILES OF WHEAT.
A Field That would Take One Man Thirty
Years to Plough and Plant.
From the San Francisco oall.)

From the San Francisco Call)
What is said to BIS the largest single
wheat field in California is now being
planted to the grain that makes the staff
of life. IL covers over $4,000 acres, or for
ty square miles.
This enormous field of grain is located
on the banks of the San Joaquin River,
near the town OF Clovis, in MADEIRA coun-
ty. The field is part in Fresno county
and part in Madeira county.
Clovis Cole is the man who is putting
in this vast acreage. and he has under
taken one of the largest jobs that any
man has yet done in California.
While it is true that larger acreages of
wheat have been planted by certain
ranchsrs in this State, there seems to be
no record of an exact parallel to the
present case. On the Miller g. Lux ranch,
in Kern county, 30, 600 acres were planted
one year, but the fields were scattered
about in different places. They were
really series OF fields, located wherever
there was q fertile spot. Few of the fields
were 2, DOC acres. and in many instances
there would be half mile OF bare land
between them The acreage planted GOULD
not be called wheat field of so, QUO acres
any more than all the wheat fields in the
State could be classed under one head.
The Clovis field, however, il an ideal
wheat field. 1t is almost az fiat as floor,
with gentle slope toward the river. The
outer lines Of the field make 1t almost a
perfect square Each side is little over
six miles, and II the day is clear every
part of the field can be seen from any
other part. 1t will be beautiful sight
worth seeing when all the grain is up
and waves gently In the breezes of spring
time There are no roads through the
Clovis wheat field. 1t Ia to be one solid
stretch of grain. and every square foot of
lind is to be utilized.
ploughing and planting began in the
big wheat field about the middle OF last
July and will hardly be completed before
the next two months at least. But the
grain will all mature at about the same
time. Then will come the herculean task
of harves ting IL.
To get an idea of the enormous size of
this great wheat field let US imagine that
1t Is close to San francisco. II one end
OF il one mile wide touched on Marke
street the rest of the field would stretch
one mile wide almost to San Jose. This
same wheat field is over four times the
size of the improved portion of San Fran
cisco The whole city and county of San
Francisco, including all the outlying dis
tricSt, is about the same size.
With the big improved machinery 1t
does not look as though there WAS murh
work spent on planting and harvesting
the field. But suppose one man had TO
handle the crop, If such were possible, |
how long would it take himf
Suppose the field was one mile wide and |
forty miles long, and the one man had q
double gang plough cutting furrow |
twenty-four inches wide. He would start |
at q corner Of che field in San Francisco |
and plough south toward San Jose. a dis |
tance of forty miles. Then be would |
come back and cut another furrow to San |
Francisco, making eighty miles for the
round trip.
This amount of work would only be a
tiny scratch four feet wide along one side |
of the forty mile field, and the process
would have to be repeated at least 1870
times, making total distance of about |
l05. 600 miles.
Suppose that the ploughman worked at
the rate Of twenty miles day. To get
over the 105, 600 miles would take $3.50
avs. 10 plant would take about the
game time, making total of 10, 500 days,
or nearly thirty years. 1t would be like
spending lifetime, and the distance |
travelled would be equivalent to going |
around the world four times. And all in |
one California wheat field.
To accomplish the necess Try amount of
work within the time at his disposal the
owner of the Clovis wheat field has to
employ over 200 men. over 1910 horses and
several tons of machinery. The men are
working early and late now, and if the
whole acreage is planted by January and
sufficient quantity OF rain falls there
will be such crop of wheat as has never
been heard Of FIR the land is good Ian
and the seed is good sesd. Then will tue
bread eaters of the world give thanks for
the existence Of the largest field in Cali
fornia.