Wheeling Sunday register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1882-1934, 1899-01-29
FORTY SQUARE MILES OF WHEAT.
A Field Out in California That Would Take
One Man so Years to Plow and Plant

One Man SO Years to PIow and Plant.
What is said to be the largest single
wheat field in California is now being
planted to the grain that makes the
staff of life. 1t covers over % 900 acres,
or 40 square miles.
This enormous field of grain is locat-
ed on the banks of the San Joaquin
river, near the town of Clovis, in Ma
dera county. The field is part in Fres-
no county and part in MADEIRA county.
Clovis Cole is the man who is put
ting in this vast acreage, and he has
undertaken 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
ranchers in this State. there seems to
be no record of an exact parallel to the
present case. On the Miller & Lux
ranch in Kern county, $4,000 acres were
planted one year, but the fields were
scattered about in different places.
They were really series of fields, To-
Gated wherever there was fertile spot.
Few of the fields were 200 acres, and In
many instances there would be half a
mile of bare land between them. The
acreage planted could not be called a
wheat field of $4,000 acres any more
than all the wheat fields in the State
could be classed under one head.
The Clovis field, however, is an ideal
wheat field 1t is almost as fiat as a
floor, with a gentle slope toward the
river. The outer lines of the field make
it almost a perfect square. Each side
is little over six miles, and if the day
is clear every part of the field can be
seen from any other part. 1t will be a
beautiful sight worth seeing when all
the grain is up and waves gently in the
breezes of springtime. There are no
roads through the Clovis wheat field. 1t
is to be one solid stretch of grain, and
every square foot of land is to be util-
lied.
Flowing and planting began in the
big wheat field about the middle OF last
July, and will hardly be completed be-
fore the next two months at least. But
the grain will all mature at about the
same time Then will come the her
culean task of harvesting it.
To get an idea of the enormous size
of this great wheat field, let us i'm
agine that it is close to San Francisco.
If one end of it one mile wide touched
on NdIh6J SlIttI lllS lCSJ VI IAC liCAu
would stretch one mile wide almost to
San Jose. This same wheat field is
over four times the size of the i'm
proved portion of San Francisco. The
whole city and county of San Francisco
including all the outlying district, is
about the same size.
With the big improved machinery it
does not look as though there was
much work spent on planting and har-
vesting the field. But suppose one man
had to handle the crop, if such were
possible, how long would it take him
Suppose the field was one mile wide
and forty miles long, and the one man
had double gang pillow cutting a fur
row "a inches wide. He would start
at a corner of the field in San Fran
cisco and pillow south toward San Jose
a distance of 40 miles. Then he would
come back and cut another furrow to
San Francisco, making so miles for
the round trip.
This amount of work would be only
a tiny scratch four feet wide along
one side of the 40 mile field, and the
process would have to be repeated at
least 1900 times, making a total dis
lance of about 100000 miles.
Suppose that the plowman worked at
the rate of 20 miles day. To get
over the 100000 miles would take $3.50
days. To plant would take about the
same time, making a total of 10000
days, or nearly 80 years. 1t would be
like spending a lifetime, and the dis
lance travelled would be equivalent to
going around the world four times.
And all in one California wheat field.
To accomplish the necessary amount
of work within the time at his disposal
the owner of the Clovis wheat field has
to employ over 200 men, over 1000
horses and several tons of big machin-
cry. 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 a crop of wheat as has never been
heard of, for the land is good land and
the seed is good seed. Then will the
bread eaters of the world give thanks
for the existence of the largest field
in California.-San Francisco Call.