The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-03-06
RICHEST AMERICAN FARMER.
HE Is DAVID RANKIN, PATRIARCH
OF MISSOURI


Never sells Grain-StabIes and
Horses stall Lighted With EIec-
tricity-Unique Character Person
nIIy-His Curious ExpIetive-Owns
Many business Concerns-HOVv He
rounded n COIIege-StOries of His
Generosity.
Tarkio. Mo. March "A millionaire
farmer is clearly to be reckoned a sort
of latter day miracle; all the more If he
lives In Missouri. and farms all round,
and all the year round.
Tarkio. Atchison county. is his local
habitation David Rankin his name To
be strictly accurate, the Hon. David Ran
kin; he has served more than one term in
a state legislature. He owns and man
ages 23OO0 acres of land in Atchson coun-
" worth from $50 to 500 the acre. and
not in the market even at those figures.
lie has bought every acre of it since 1876,
mostly from speculative Eastern holders,
who were gleeful at getting $6 to $40 an
acre for their holdings, because the rail-
way. you see, had passed them by
1t gives a new idea of magnificent West
ern distances to know that the Rankin
lands are scattered over an area of forty
odd miles. Yet their owner visits them all
every little while. lie lives in hand
some house just outside the town Of Tar
kio. Five o'clock every fine morning finds
him in his buggy whirling to his main
office as fast as a spanking span can carry
him He finds a confidential secretary
awaiting him. A brief interval of talk,
clear and pointed Instructions. a few notes,
mental and written, then he whips away
for a round of maybe half a dozen of his
fourteen farms before he thinks of turn
ing his horses heads home.
The farms run from 600 to 5000 acres.
To work them requires between 100 and
$50 hands. 700 horses more than 100 wag
ons, ploughs, harrows, planters, cultivat-
ors and seeders innumerablc. Each ranch
is in charge of competent foreman, who
gets $50 a month and board. Farm hands
are paid 500 a month and board. Usually
the foreman's family runs the farm board
ing house. Besides the various foremen
there is a farm superintendent, at a salary
many a bank official might envy. 1t Is
questionable, however If his best endeav-
ors are worth as much as the eye of the
master.
Never Sells His Corn.
All the land is arabic, yet but little
more than half goes yearly under plough.
Perhaps 1000 acres are sown to wheat
The remainder is planted in corn, and
yields, in average years, 100000 bushels.
Not a grain of il is sold until il has
been transformed into fat stock. In ad-
diton to his own crop, Mr.. Rankin buys
whatever corn his neighbors have TO sell
He buys also their stalk fields, after the
corn is gathered, and turns into them
NJ n
gleanings. Besides all that he buys ton
upon ton of cotton seed meal for feed
ing. Small wonder that his lands grow
and increase in fertility under continuous
cropping.
All land not under plough is laid down
In clover. timothy and blue grass pas
lures. After standing four years they are
fallowed and put in grain, the grain fields
meantime going back into grass. Thus
part of the SOIL originally as rich as any
in the world, is always resting.
Once, at least his iron-clad rule against
the sale of corn led him into funny
mistake. 1t is, of course, quite impossi-
bic for man who owns so many teams
and hires so many drivers, to keep all
of them accurately in mind. But there is
an infallible Rankin ear-mark-at least
Mr. Rankin himself though so for a good
while. II is the wagon harness. He uses
the old-fashioned trace chains. as being
both cheaper, handler and more lasting
than the new-fangled outfits of straps and
leather. So whenever he meets a team
so ACQUIRED, he naturally sets 1t down as
part of his property. Some little time
back he met a four-horse team. brave
In chain-harness, drawing a big load of
corn through Tarkio streets. The sight
of IL set him wild. Thou shalt not sell
cornW was a sort of eleventh command
ment with him.
A favorite expression with him, and one
that he uses to give vent to his feelings.
is Set Fire" repeated two or three times
quite rapidly. On this occasion he COM
meneed with "Set Fire! Set Fire,! What
are you doing here with that corn?" The
driver calmly replied that he had brought
1t to town to sell This gave rise to
renewed storm of "Set Fires" but fortu-
nately, some one who knew the man came
forward and explained matters. He was
farmer who had adopted Mr. Rankin's
style of harness, and it was his own corn
that he had brought to town to sell.
Fatten More Cattle Than Any Other
Man.
Mr.. Rankin fattens more cattle than
any other man in the world. Every year
ne buys and fattens 5000 to 10000 head. The
bulk OF them come from Texas, though
Kansas, Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri
are fair sources of supply He has been
known to buy 5000 head in a bunch. ana
pay on them a freight bill of sos. 900 He
has just now bought 5000 head of Texas
cattle TO be delivered next November. nav
ing for them $50 a. head. His shipments
OF fat cattle begin in June. From the LIST
of June to the LIST of September he ships
two or three trainloads each week.
He keeps 10000 to 1900 head of hogs
all the time, and sells fat ones TO the
value Of $4,000 yearly. All these he raises.
In fact, he never buys a pig, except for
the infusion of new blood into his breed
ing stock. Some years back, while there
was money in horses, he undertook The
breeding of dTaught beasts, and built upon
his home farm just outside Tarkio a horse
barn very much up to date. II cost $4,000,
and is an octagonal brick building. four
stories high. 1t is lighted throughout
with electricity. Each stall has lis own
incandescent lamp and the cupola an arc
light which turns midnight into day all
over the bamyard.
David Rankin Personally.
II is worth while to look little into
the genesis of this man and his fortune