Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1903-08-26
w. Burbank and Coifsx.

The eastern part of the township Of
Burbank is continuation of the san.
dy prairies of Roseville and of the
fiat bottoms of the north fork of the
Grow River Tor the Paynesville River,
as it is usually called in these parts
to distinguish it from the middle fork }
The middle fork of Grow River enters
the county in Section 4, Burbank,
and winds its way through the west
central portion of the township, flow
ing into Mud Lake on Sec. 80. The
western portion of Burbank is more or
less heavily wooded, with the excep-
ton of few sections along the Lake
Prairie district of Colfax. The soil
of Burbank is sandy loan, easily
worked, and which in the good old
days produced large crops of wheat.
Being easily affected by drought,
wheat raising has proven unfortunate
during the past few seasons. The
wheat sown this year was badly dam
aged by the chinch bug and the Hes
sian fly. The staple grain crop this
year in Burbank is oats TWAS quite
a surprise to US to see the large fields
of oats on every farm: And the same
proves fairly good crop this year.
Corn-is more and more becoming one
OF the principal crops in this section.
Prospects for fully matured crop in
this cold season are better, it appears
on the sandy soil than in some other
sections. Nearly every farmer of
Burbank is the. patron of some cream
cry, and as consequence cattle rails
ing is receiving good deal of atten-
ton. Good-sized droves of hogs are
not uncommon. All the corn is cut to
save the fodder, and some corn har-
vesters are already being pulled out
OF their sheds preparatory to the har-
vest of fodder corn. Burbank has its
full quota of farms with beautiful resi-.
dences and large commodious farm
buildings. A numb-r of the old citi-
zens have acquired competency and
have retired to live at the villages of
New London or Belgrade,
What is true of Burbank is also
substantially the case of the Lake
Prairie district of the township of Col
fax. The two towns were under one
township government from 1866 to
stands near the line between the two
towns and that has a large member
ship in both, serves to unite the north
ern portions of the same into one COM
munity. Colfax might we'll be desig-
mated as the Colorado of Kandiy obi
county. It is noted for it's hills. The
Pixies Peak of Colfax is Mount Tom,
conical hill that raises it's bald head
up above the wooded range of prom
ontories of which it is part. AS in
Colorado there are hundreds of peaks
yet unnamed although extending far
above the timberline, so has Colfax a
number of majestic hills known only
by the farms of which they form
part. Goat Ridge, (Get-ryggen)
Mount Tom, High Hill and Wooded
Hill (Hauge- skogen) are about the on
ly promontories which have desig-
nation known outside CT the immediate
locality. The soil of the southwestern
part of Colfax has a clay sub. soil.
South of the hills lies the basin which
contains the beautiful Lake Andrew,
Games Lake and Norway Lake.
These lakes formerly fairly teemed
with fish, The wooded hills furnished
a favorite resort for elk and deer.
From the tops of the hills command
ing view could be had of the surround
ing country. Small wonder that the
hostile tribes of Dacotahs, kings of
the prairie, and the Chippewas, rul-
ers of the woodland, waged many a
hard-fought battle for the control of
this favorite resort.
We began our trip for the purpose
of gathering historical data and Sc
curing landscape views in these towns
last Monday morning. Having pre-
viously examined the town records of
Burbank of which David J. Price is
custodian, we visited his home upon
that morning for the purpose of TAX
ing notes from the records of school
district No. 81, of which Margaret J.
Price is clerk. Miss Price lives with
her brother in their coy little cottage.
One object of interest upon the Price
farm is witness tree marked by the
government surveyors in 1857. It is
burr oak and the surveyors notes
state that it was 10 inches in diameter
at the time. It now measures So inches
in circumference or about Is inches in
diameter, a slow growth in 36 years.
The marks cut by the surveyors are
not entirely overgrown. The tree
stands in q cultivated field, Mr.. Price
having considerably spared the same
when the ground was cleared. In