The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-02-10
LARGE INDIANA FARMS.
One of Them, Comprising 32,000 Acre

fafmS in lndlana--one Of them the larg-
 est of it's kind in the world--are strung along through the narthern part of Jas
 per and Newton counties and the
 southern part of Lake county. The
 largest of these farms is the B. F. Cliff
 now consist of 32,O00 acres. It its doubt
 less the largest body of land ever held
 by one individual in Indiana. There
 have been larger farms, but they have
 been held by firms or men representing
 the centralized interests of others. From
 the viewpoint of the large farms nf .he
 West the Clifford farm is not so notably
 large. But in Indiana, where farmer
 that has from 80 to 160 acres Is consider-
 ed in good circumstances, the size of
 this large holding is enormous.
 In one respect are Clifford farm is a
 notable one compared to any tract. It
 is the largest cultivated swamp land in
 the world. It was only ten years ago
 that the section which MT. Clifford Is
 now converting into pastures and vege-
 table and grain producing land, was a
 series of marshes, pools and lak4s--a
 part of the Kankakee swamps MT. Gif-
 ford had previously developed a great
 tract similar to this near Champaign,
 Inn. When MT. Clifford first conceived
 the idea of converting a portion of the Kankakee lands in Indiana to agricul-
 tural purposes he acquired at nominal
 price about ten thousand acres. He
 then bought two dredges similar to
 those used by the Government in it's
 river dredging. The dredges were put Ito cutting large ditches, almost the size of small rivers. This work has been go- ing on day and night for years, and now
 there are 5000 acres in a high state of | cultivation. The last year the tallest corn and probably the best in Indiana was raised on this tract Instead of fences Mir Clifford had waterways be- tween pastures. He has seventy-fve miles of large ditches through the farm and has thousands of miles of smaller ditches. In addition to this he is now putting in drain tile The soil taken from the ditch beds have been shoveled back over the fields, and thus the fields have been raised little by little as the ditching work went on. The work is still going on, but 1t will take years to put all the tract into cultivation.
 Mr. Clifford has between 300 and 400 tenement houses on the farm and the population is probably 2,00O people. He has spur from the nearest railway and ships his products direct to the markets. The land, when in a state of cultivation, is as productive as any in Indiana and is worth from $50 to $75 an acre. It cost MT. Clifford from $1 to $1.50 an acre. MT. Clifford lives at Kankakee.
 Leroy Templeton, few years ago the Populist candidate for Governor, owns a farm of 5000 acres in Newton county, and is said to raise more corn and cat tie every year than any other man in the State. Less than ten years ago the | State sold the land for IT cents an acre. The only crop then was bullfrogs and | malaria. A drain thirty feet wide and 1 eight feet deep was constructed and the land soon became productive. MT. Templeton paid $16 an acre for it and would not take less than $50 an acre now. Year before last Mir Templeton raised 100000 bushels of corn on his farm. He cleared $16,00O on the years crop. During the year just ended he raised S0,00O bushels of corn. He has
  farm. He employs fifty men to look af- ter the work.
 The Allen Gregory farm, which is now being divided among the heirs, includes 5000 acres. The William Kent farm, southeast of Fair Oaks, consists of 7,5OO acres The Otis farm comprises nearly 10000 acres and lies parallel along the Monon Railway from Fair Oaks to Rose Lawn. The farm of w. H. Cooley, who recently fell deal in his office in Chi cago, has almost 5000 acres and last year 1t produced nearly 100000 bushels of corn. Browan Bros, of Crown Point have farm of about 5000 acres. The Hamlet Hay Company has about 10000 acres near Hamlet Nelson Morris has 10000 acres and w. L. Shelby of Grand Rapids has nearly 15,000. Portions of these farms are in state of cultivation. The tenants are largely Polanders, 5wedes, Germans and Hollanders One of these large farms is owned { md managed by woman. She is Mrs Jennie Conrad, and owns 1000 acres in Newton county. She farms every acre i ,f it, conducts big cattle business, l breeds horses for the, Chicago market tHu IS IIlethlllS u BIGdl uGdl UL money. z She is woman of about 45 and has all ] he graces of her sex. But she looks $ liter her farm and vast business per- l onally, not trusting any one to attend C o it for her, The land is worth from g 40 to $50 an acre. f Many years ago Adam Earl and Mos l S Fowler owned the largest farm there t yer was in Indiana. Before the war t hey acquired a stretch of 41,0O0 acres U n Jasper and Benton counties. The 4 arm took in almost all the vast prai- b ie lying from the North of Boswell to II he Sumner holdings. Fowler held n bout 25,000 acres in his own name, and c ,earl had the remainder, which centred I l and around Earl Park. They farmed O ogether. During the war they grazed c nd stocked it with tens of thousands p cattle and filled large Government s Their Benton county inter- s sts caused them to push the Indianapo- l S and Lafayette Line through their q ,nds. Fowler caused the county scat ? , be moved, and built the present town il Fowler on the eastern border of his f' lrm by making land donations and giv- e lg $4C,000 toward the erection of ft ourthouse. After a while Fowler & 1T